Wedderburn book > History

THE WEDDERBURN BOOK.
introd. Alexander Wedderburn, the first of these clerks — "the old clerk," as he
is sometimes called in after years — was born about 1530,
wedderbum, admitted a notary in 1554-55, and on 5 Oct. 1556 was elected
isio-i&si 161 *''' to the derkship of Dundee. His formal "gift" of the office,
still extant among the Dundee charters, is dated 6 Feb. 1557,
and is remarkable as being a gift to him for life. He must have soon
gained the confidence of his fellow citizens, as in 1563 they elected him,
with two others, to attend the parliament in Edinburgh, anent various matters,
including especially the liberty of the burghs. He held the office of clerk
for just over a quarter of a century, resigning it 20 Sept. 1582 to his eldest
son. Several of his official books remain on the shelves of the Dundee
charter room, thus fulfilling so far the prophecy contained in some lines
written by him on the title-pages of two of them, to the effect that
This book shall last heir in Dundee
Quhill that the emmet drink all y e see,
And quhill the snaill with speedie ferd
Sail perambill throw all the eird.
He lived on the north side of Argylegait, near S. Matthew's close, which
thus came to be called " the auld clerk's close," and he also acquired a charge
on the lands of Wester Gourdie, which became later the property of his
eldest son, and have ever since remained in the family. He married in 1560
Janet Myln, daughter and coheiress of James Myln of Dundee, and by her had
issue six sons and two daughters. His wife died in 1582, he himself three
years later, both of them leaving wills, which are registered in the com-
inissariot of Edinburgh. I make no doubt that they were buried together in
the Howff of Dundee, under a tomb bearing, probably, the quaint inscription
(post, vol. ii., p. 164), which is recorded in the Compt Builc of their second son.
I shall deal later with their eldest son, who succeeded his father in the
clerkship, and was the first proprietor of his name of the estate of Kingennie,
co. Forfar. Their second son, David, was born in 1.562-63, and has left, a
record of himself in the curious MS. Compt Buik, to which I
w^dd rb have just referred, and which has been recently (1898) published
of the by the Scottish History Society. From this book we are able
1563-1633 UI ' to gather many particulars in regard both to his family and his
career, and also to the commerce and customs of the time.
The latter have been dealt with in the abovenamed edition of the MS., and
I have given in the second volume of this work both a general account of
the contents of the Compt Builc, and exhaustive extracts fiom it of all that bears
on the history of the family. David was evidently a prosperous merchant in
Dundee, but his interests were not confined to his business. His MS. shows
him to have had a taste in literature, astrology, and in the decoration of
his house. Thus we have a list of books lent by him from his library, a
list of "evill" and " blissit dayis" of the year, and the inscriptions to be
" ingravin in the lyntis aboue the pilleris of my galry" in his house in the
Marketgait. All sort of commercial transactions are carefully noted, and the
book also contains a list of his " evidents " or charters, the title deeds to
various properties in the burgh, which he owned or in which he had an
interest. With commerce he combined some knowledge of legal affairs, and,
having inherited some of his father's protocol books, he, in 1603, got himself
admitted a notary. The book also contains an elaborate register ot his
immediate family, and many references to his brothers and sisters and more
distant relations. At one time he was evidently not in accord with his elder
brother, and among the papers of my grandfather (J.W. 105/) I find one
in the hand of James Thomson, the historian of Dundee, who once
owned the Compt Builc, and which I take to be a copy of some pages of it
now destroyed. It is headed " Ane remembrance to the clerk my broyr off