Just the facts

When I started my research I only knew my family history as far back as my great grandparents. I knew that my dad’s family, the Moffats, were from Paisley and that my mum’s family, the Robertsons, were from Leith.

Two years later I now have a complete set of 6 generations on both sides and some lines that go back to the early 1600s. What helped me stay on track was committing to the principle of only using proven sources for each relative.

You do this by finding records that link people to each other e.g. a birth record shows the names of one or both parents and where the person was born. Sometimes there just isn’t a link and you have to give up.

Before 1855, when statutory records were introduced, church ministers were responsible for collecting data on their parishioners. After 1855 records became much more detailed and contain addresses, birth place, mothers’ maiden names, and occupations.

Catherine Man, whose will is picture here is someone I would love to claim as kin. She was born in Dundee in 1661 and married Peter Wedderburn, a ship owner who died young and left Catherine with two sons.

There are many people on Ancestry.com who think that Peter Wedderburn is the grandfather of John Wedderburn b 1748, farmer in Perthshire, my great great great great grandfather.

The story goes that after Peter died, one of his sons went to St. Andrews University and while he was there had a fight with another student and killed him. He left and went north to Aberdeen to avoid prosecution and settled there. He apparently married a woman named Marjorie Westland and they had two sons, Charles and John.

The story is told in a book called “The Wedderburn Book” by that was written in 1898 by an amateur family historian. He claims he interviewed John Wedderburn’s granddaughter and she told him this story. The Wedderburns were a prominent family in Dundee and several of them served in city government and were close to the King, gaining wealth and titles along the way.

I’m not convinced yet…