History and genealogy of the family of Wauchope of Niddrie-Merschell

VI
they have bought themselves free of that servitude,
anno 1700. Woolmet of old was a cadet of
Edmiston.
The Giffords of Sheriffhall.
The Lauders of Bass.''
The Niddrie-Merschell family passed through the ordeal
of those unhappy feuds and civil wars, by which many of the
old race were swept away; and though they suffered con-
siderably, both at home and abroad, yet their descendants
bruilc the same heritage in which their forefathers rejoiced
five hundred years ago.
In drawing up the following narrative and genealogy, we
have been almost solely indebted to the Niddrie charter-chest
and the public records, so that whatever is stated rests on the
best authority. It is to be regretted that, in consequence of
more than one accident, many of the earlier family documents
have been destroyed, so that little could be gleaned of the
first two or three generations. Even the public records — from
similar causes — are extremely scanty prior to the fifteenth
century ; still, from such facts as could be gathered, it will
be found that the genealogy is very entire. Though the link
of the chain cannot be connected, the Wauchopes — no doubt
the same whom the Niddrie-Merschell family represent — are
distinctly traceable in the reign of William the Lion, who
ascended the throne in 1165.
August 1858.