William's infancy

William Wighton, our second generation ancestor, was born on June 15th, 1735 in Potento, Meigle to John Wighton and Helen Mill. William's childhood was probably usual for that era. He would have been exposed to smallpox during his childhood. In the 1700s, 96% of the population was exposed to/caught smallpox and the disease had a 20% death rate. It's entirely possible that his younger sister and brother succumbed to that disease (or some other illness) since there are no records of Susan or Charles marrying or having children. William also would have started working quite early in life. He may have had a couple of years of education in the parish school, but farm work would have taken precedence. Everyone in a farming family would contribute to the household income. In those days of subsistence farming, it would not be unusual for the tiny income that a child could bring to a family to make a difference.

Life in Scotland when William was growing up

William would have been too young to take much notice of the second Jacobite Rebellion in 1745; however, his parents would certainly have been aware of the possible dangers from either the Jacobites or the English army fighting them. Perth, 18 miles away, was occupied by the rebels for a short period and any of the city's inhabitants who assisted in the cause were persecuted when the Jacobites were driven out.

At the age of 21 in 1756, William would not have been affected by the beginning of Britain's Seven Years War with France - an extension of the conflict between France and England in North America. However, he and his parents would have been directly affected by bad weather and crop failures that occurred in Scotland on a regular basis. I read of one such incident in 1756 but it was unclear how much of Scotland was affected. Other crop failures (e.g., 1762, 1771) could also have influenced William's life.

Family turmoil

William's father, John, died April 30, 1758, presumably leaving William at 23 to take over the tract of land that the family farmed. William's mother, Helen, died in 1765 but she lived to see at least three of her grandchildren.

There is some evidence that William lived an exuberant life before he was married as his name appeared in the Meigle Kirk Session Records for December 28, 1760 as follows: The Minister reported that whereas Marjory Anderson, late a parishioner here (who was married about four months ago to John Fairweather in Glammis) had brought forth a child upon 21inst., she having accused William Wighton, a young man in this parish, as the father of the said child. He had [caused?] the officer to summon him to this Diet, who compearing acknowledged his sin and scandal of [?ness] with said Marjory Anderson, whereupon the Minister seriously exhorted and gravely rebuked him for this his sin and scandal and the Session agreed that an extract of this confession be sent to the Session of Glammis. This child was Thomas, our third generation forefather.

The Kirk Session was the disciplinary arm of the church at the time. Anyone breaking any of the numerous rules of the church could be expected to be brought in front of the church court to be interrogated and, if found guilty, to be rebuked in front of the church congregation and fined. A person who was required to appear in front of a court was said to compear. The phrasing that you read above, for example "sin and scandal", "seriously exhorted and gravely rebuked him" were stock phrases that appeared in most of the accounts of these situations in Meigle's parish records. Such interrogations/fines were relatively common and although the Church tried to govern the moral lives of its parishioners as much as it could, slates were wiped clean with the fine. In a few situations, I read the records when the man denied his involvement (hard to do for the woman). These cases could drag on for months until the Church was satisfied. To learn more of these courts, click Kirk sessions.

As reported in the Kirk Session minutes over the ensuing weeks, Will Wighton was rebuked on January 11 and January 18, 1761. On January 25, 1761 he was rebuked and absolved. His fine of 4 pounds was received on February 8th. That ended the incident for Will - Marjory's punishment was different. (Incidentally, I found the appearance of William's name in the records as "Will" to be quite moving. Knowing that he was known in the parish as "Will Wighton" gave me a feeling of familiarity that we can't get from dry statistics.)

William's family

Eleven months after his last rebuke from the parish minister, William married Margaret Finlay on November 28, 1761 in Meigle. Both were parishioners of Meigle at the time and their marriage was one of approximately 100 weddings held in Meigle between 1759 and 1763.

William and Margaret Finlay would have 9 children between 1762 and 1779 - all of them were born in Potento, Meigle. It's likely that at least three of these died young - I was unable to find any records of these three marrying or having children. The other six may have been married although the certainty of this varies.

William's work

William lived in Potento up to at least 1789 when his last child was born. We don't know when William died so we can't say for sure that he stayed in Potento all of his life. Presumably, he would have continued to farm the same land as his father for at least a period of time. However, that changed at some point. Thanks to Greg Wighton who put me in touch with Kirstine Baxter, we know that William was a corn dealer later in his life. I was unable to get any information on the functions of a corn dealer during the 18th century, but I imagine such a person acted as a middleman between the farmers and the merchants. Corn in this usage is meant to represent grains of all sorts. Wheat was white-corn, barley (bear) was barley-corn, pease were humble-corn and beans were black-corn.

It's interesting to speculate on the progress of William's life, first as a cottar and then to that of a corn dealer. William was living at a time when agriculture in Scotland was undergoing rapid and tremendous change. To give you a sense of those changes, you might want to read Agriculture in 18th Century Scotland: Part 4 -The Agricultural Revolution.

Meigle's marriage records give us some insight into the onset of the Agricultural Revolution in the parish. These data show that the population of Meigle increased steadily from the onset of the parish's recordkeeping in 1727 up to the 1760-1770 decade when 320 marriages were recorded. In the 1770-80 decade however, only 240 marriages (25% drop) were recorded. From that point on, marriages declined steadily to 210, 178, 150, and 100 by 1810-1820. My assumption is that marriages declined because the farming families were being forced off their land and had to leave the area to find work elsewhere. As such, we could speculate that the Lowland Clearances began in Meigle sometime in 1770-1780. (There will be an essay on the Lowland Clearances in a biography coming up soon.)

The Statistical Accounts for Meigle reveals another important event. By the 1790s, the village of Meigle was sitting at the intersection of two turnpikes - one leading to Dundee 12 miles away. The other connected Meigle to Coupar Angus (6.5 miles to the south-west) and Glamis (5.5. miles to the east). You've probably read earlier how there was no established network of roads during William's father's time in the following essay. Agriculture in 18th Century Scotland: Part 3 -Transportation. So, what happened?

Road construction had been empowered as early as 1719 when every householder could be compelled to give six days of paid labour each year towards road construction and maintenance. However, real development of a road network didn't begin until after the Jacobite revolution when the government realized that it had to have an effective way of moving troops into trouble spots. What followed was a period of rapid development of what were called turnpikes. The first Turnpike Act in Scotland in 1750 moved the responsibility for road construction/maintenance from the parish to Turnpike Trusts which were able to borrow money for road construction and could finance this through tolls on their roads. (For further information, click turnpikes..

It seems reasonable, therefore, to assume that Meigle became connected by a passable road to Dundee at some point in the 1770s or 1780s. A second turnpike between Coupar Angus and Glamis was probably constructed afterwards. This means that the road network connecting Meigle to larger centers began at about the same time as the Lowland Clearances. This only makes sense. Larger landowners were forcing tenants off their land so that they could increase their crop production so that they could make more money, but they would do that only if a road network existed that allowed them to get their crops to markets. The urge for profits drove both movements which took place at about the same time.

Let's go back to William's life now. We know that he was living in Potento in 1779 when his last child was born. However, with small farms starting to disappear in the 1770-1780s, William apparently decided to take advantage of the new turnpikes by becoming a corn dealer - possibly as an employee of the Earl of Strathmore who owned the Potento lands at this time. We don't know when he changed his occupation - he might actually have continued to farm for a period of time while he was also serving as a corn dealer.

We do not know when William died.

William's favorite joke

It was back in the 20s (in William's time that would make this the 1720s), when a clan chief offered his daughter to the son of a neighbouring chief in exchange for two cows and four sheep. The two clans agreed to make the exchange on the shore of a stream that separated the two families. Father and daughter appeared at the appointed time only to find that the groom and his livestock were on the other side of the stream. The father grunted twice, took his daughter's arm and then walked away. Later that evening, he explained to his wife that he wouldn't have his daughter marrying an idiot. The fool doesn't know which side his bride is bartered on, he exclaimed in disgust.

Sources

Family Search, The LDS Genealogical Website: (http://www.familysearch.org/)

Greg Wighton of Tasmania provided me with an excerpt from Meigle's Kirk Session records that linked our Thomas to William.

Kirstine Baxter is a descendent of William through his daughter Isabella Wighton. She found William's occupation on Isabella's death certificate.

The LDS microfilm of Meigle's parish records held the Kirk Session minutes

ScotlandsPeople Database (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/)

Scots Ancestry Research Society (March 26, 1971). Report to John L. Wighton

Statistical Accounts of Scotland (http://edina.ac.uk/stat-acc-scot/)

Where to now? To read more about Generation 2 William's immediate family, just click top to make a selection from Generation 2's genealogical table at the top of this page. The navigation buttons just below will give you quick access to biographies in other generations.