Wedderburn book; a history of the Wedderburns in ... - waughfamily.ca

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honourably
THE WEDDERBURN BOOK.
Introd. Yet another reference to a person of the same name may also be to the
same individual. This is the papal dispensation in 1431 for the marriage
of "William of Widdenborne (Wedderburn) and Catherina de Stane (St.Andy,"
a sanction rendered necessary no doubt by some kinship between the spouses
which brought them within the prohibited degrees.' The bridegroom named
in this dispensation is, I make no doubt, the Will' Whedyrburn named as
one of an assize, to inquire into the lands of Broxholm and Butterden, co.
Berwick, in 1431,' and he may be the William of Wethirburn who, twenty
years later, 24 April 1452, witnesses a grant of lands in co. Berwick to
Patrick Dunbar (G.S.R. 4).
Such is all the information I have obtained relating to persons of the
name in the county of Berwick up to the middle of the
fifteenth century. In the sixteenth, I
Wedderbume
have but two references
1632-39. to the name. Of the.'fe. one is to a Dame Isobell Wedderburne,
one of several signatories, who, together with Euphemia Leslie,
priore.ss of Elcho, sign a tack (8 July 1.532), and a precept (12 Sept. 1539),
in favour of John Swinton {The Swintons of that ilk, Charters
^^' ^'^^
w^derburn
'
""^^'^^ ^^^ other is to a David Wetherburne, who is
1573.
mentioned in a list (1573) of cattle stolen by the
Scots from the tenants of the Earl of Northumberland, as
having " lifted " sheep from persons at Houghton, Howyk, and Ellingham.^
It would have been interesting to have discovered the exact connection of
these Wedderburns in co. Berwick with the family who from early in the fifteenth
century are known to have been prominent in the good town
•
The of Dundee. But, apart from tradition, the evidence of connection
between them consists
in^ljundpe'^^
of the identity of a somewhat uncommon
1400—1500. name and of the arms of the abovenamed John de Wedderburn
in 1364 with those which the members of the Forfarshire
house are found bearing a century later, and of the fact, indicative of a
change of county, that while, so far as we know, there is no record of
any such family of importance in the county of Berwick much after
1450, there is no doubt that at that date there was already established in
CO. Forfar and chief!}' at Dundee a large and rising family of the name.
The rise of the Dundee family seems immediately to follow the decline of
the Berwickshire house, and though tradition is, as we have seen, in error
in suggesting that the lands of Wedderburn first passed to the Homes by a
marriage in 1430-50, it may be correct in asserting that the male representative
of the Wedderburns of the Border travelled north and founded the family in
Dundee.
But, while no family of importance bearing the name is found in the
border county after the end of the fifteenth century, the name itself survived
and still survives there and in Northumberland. Thus we meet with a family
* See Raine'a North Durham, :— No. Dcx.xsis " PerambuUtio inter t'ras de again p. 110,
Butterden. Heo pAiubulatio facta xiv Junij HCCCCXXXI int' t'ia.i de
Brokhoie
BrokhoU k
&
Nerwode
ex p'te una cS: t'ras de Butt'deu ex p'te alt'a de conaenmi etc. P'oris & couentua de Coldyngham
& Georgij de Nelliam p' i.^tos sub.scriptoi?, p' dca ambulacioiie in magna a.ssisa electos etc., tz
Pat'ciu de dunbar, Patriciu Heryng. Georgiu Gram, Adam de Xesbit, John de Haynton, Hugone
de Spens, Pat'ciu de Nesbit, Ric' de Edyiigtoa, Tliom' dc lumy.sden de Fastacastell, Andr' de
Blakedyr, Will'm de Mardyraton, Joh' de Maudyr.ston, Thoin de Mandyr.stou, Joh Chyrnsid,
Ric' Sleyglit de Culeyg, Will' Whedyrburn, Thorn' de Edyngton, Rob' de Edyngton, Patr' de
EdyDgton, Joh'ema Siccus de Dunbar, Gilb' LQmysden. & Thorn' de Lumysden de Cold'.
Thom' Atkinson, Ric' de Wardlaw' & Joli' de I'axtou qui iiuidm sup niarchiaa pdictas terras
plenius aviseati dixerut, etc., & p iustii marchijs int' pvlcas t'ras, etc., pambulvuerunt, vz
incipiendo ad quoddam vadum de Ey qil nuo dicif Halyford & sic de.scendendo & teuendc
Bemp p cui-su aqne pdce uuc & in ppetuu v»q' ad cxituiu t'raa pdicta.^ de Butyrdeu f'ta qd, etc
(Eight armorial .seals)
' See a list of I'apal Dispen.'i.itions from the Dataria, Vatican JIS. Eugenius iv. cited in the Appendix
to vol. iv. of G.K.C.'.s Cinnp'cte Peerar/e.
» See original list among the M.S.S. of the Duke of Xorthumherland, cited in vol. ii. of the History
of Sorthumbertand, by Eti. Batesou. (A. Read & Co., Newcastle, 1895).