Earlier, I identified 7 Scottish towns where at least one Wighton had been born before 1600. To refresh your memory, those towns were Brechin, Coupar Angus, Dundee, Errol, Kinnoull, Monifieth, and Perth. (See map to the right.) That leads to my next question:
Did these towns become the main population centers for the early Wightons after 1600?
I counted the number of Wighton births/marriages prior to 1725 in each parish and here's what I found.
The inhabitation pattern that I had found for our very early ancestors was not maintained after 1600. Brechin, Errol, Perth, Monifieth, and Kinnoull had no history of continuous Wighton habitation after that date. Instead, Alyth, Coupar Angus, Dundee, and Kinnaird were the key population centers for Wighton families. (See the bright green marks in the map to the right. Kinnaird is unnamed but is the green mark just west of Dundee.
Smaller Wighton-populated centers (noted in red) were Kettins (north-east of Coupar Angus), Cargill (south-west of Coupar Angus), and Perth.
Below are brief descriptions of the four main population centers and their Wighton presence. In addition, you'll find links to more detailed information on the Wighton history in each town and to a history of each town itself.
Dundee: With 89 Wightons in residence between 1600 and 1725, Dundee (and the neighbouring Liff and Benvie) was our largest population center. (James Wigtoun, our first recorded ancestor appeared in Dundee in 1492.) Dundee parish records didn't begin until 1646, but when they did, there were 17 Wighton births and marriages recorded within a brief 20 year period. This high number of Wightons appearing in the records so soon after 1646 suggests that far more than 89 Wightons had lived in this eastern sea port.
Wighton Families in Dundee: Part 1
Alyth: With 66 Wightons, the second largest Wighton center prior to 1725 was Alyth. Alyth's parish records didn't begin until 1623 and no Wighton was mentioned in any of the other, early sources of information. However, with eight different Wightons appearing in Alyth's marriage records between 1633 and 1650, we can assume that those family members would have been born close to the turn of the century. Moreover, the sheer quantity of Wightons at that time would suggest a flourishing community that easily could have been started in the 1500s. This Alyth community is important from a geographical perspective since it establishes a Wighton presence inland and away from the Tay River. Also, a Wighton presence in an agrarian environment like Alyth demonstrates that Wightons didn't live solely in "urban" centers like Dundee and Perth.
Coupar Angus: Since we're already in the area, we'll skip our third biggest center and travel about 6 miles south-west until we get to our #4 town with 27 Wightons - Coupar Angus. In the Middle Ages, there were four major towns in this area: Perth, Dundee, Alyth, and Coupar Angus and we have fairly solid evidence that Wightons were present in all four towns prior to 1600. Although parish records in Coupar Angus didn't start until 1682, the size of the family at that time suggests that Wightons had been present in the vicinity for quite some time. (On top of that, we have Lawrence Wichtane's name mentioned in a will in 1514.)
Wighton Families in Coupar Angus
Kinnaird: For our last pre-industrial revolution community, we'll leave Alyth and Coupar Angus in the valley of the Strathmore and travel about 10 miles south to Kinnaird - our third most populous center up to 1725. This parish is about half way between Perth and Dundee and it is marked on the map with an unlabeled green rectangle. Like Alyth and Coupar Angus, Kinnaird's records start well after the turn of the century, but with three Wichtans present in 1632, we can assume at least one family member was in Kinnaird before 1600. With 39 Wightons prior to 1725, Kinnaird would prove to be the most significant early Wighton community in that region of Perthshire.
Sources
Various web sites, including:
ScotlandsPeople Database (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/)