Parish records in Dundee were not kept prior to 1646 so we don't know how many Wightons evolved from our first known ancestor, John Wigtoun who lived in Dundee prior to 1500. However, we can surmise that there was a healthy presence of Wightons by the 1600s since at least 19 Wightons were living in Dundee prior to Monk's attack in 1651.

The parish immediately to the west of Dundee - Liff and Benvie - would become part of Dundee proper during the Industrial Revolution. Prior to 1725, the parish consisted mostly of tenant farmers in the two little villages of Liff and Benvie. In all, there were 35 Wightons born/married in this parish before 1725. We can assume that most of these Wightons were farmers and expect that they were able to avoid the destruction and plagues that were inflicted on Dundee only a few miles east.

While our early inhabitants in Liff and Benvie were very likely farmers, we can assume that most Wightons living in early Dundee did not live off the land. Dundee's strength from its early beginning was its commerce and so it's likely that they made their living in some related way to that industry.

For me, the most striking aspect to Dundee's early history was the realization of how much turmoil this line of the Wightons had to endure what with plagues, sieges, and devastation inflicted on the city. That's not to say that other lines didn't face significant hardships too, but having to live with the prospects of having your home burned to the ground and your family killed by British soldiers seemed to be somewhat more agonizing than normal. Our Wighton ancestors were just as exposed to death from bombardment, siege and attack by the British as they were from the plague. There were no standing armies at the time to defend the cities. Levies were called and all able-bodied civilians were pressed into service. Dundee lost 1/6 of its population during General Monk's assault and we have no reason to believe that Wightons were excluded from that count. In fact, although Dundee had 48 Wightons born/married prior to 1725, most of these were recorded prior to 1651 or after 1700. There were very few Wightons in the city records between 1650 and 1700.

For those of you from the Meigle Line of Wightons wondering if any of our ancestors lived in Dundee prior to the Industrial Revolution, --- the answer is that none of them did.

Sources

ScotlandsPeople Database

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