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The birth and baptism of James Waddell were recorded, apparently retrospectively, in the Shotts (Lanarkshire) Parish Register, in 1783:

James Waddel Tenant in Mont Cord and _____ Gramare his Lawful married Spouse had a son born there upon the 24th July and Baptized Named James Waddel

An entry, relating to the payment of 2/6^d and dated 2^nd August 1818, refers to the marriage of James Waddell and Marion Chalmers. The event was also recorded at Torpichen, in the County of Linlithgow (renamed West Lothian in 1921), also dated 2^nd August 1818:

Collected Proclamation of James Waddel in this Parish & Marion Chalmers in the Parish of Shotts ... 2.6.

James and Marion had already taken up residence ‘in Woodend’ by the births of their sons James and John in 1826 and 1828 respectively.

At the time of the 1841 census, James Waddell was a farmer, aged 50, at Woodend, in the Parish of Torpichen. Living with him were Marion, 45; Elisabeth, 20; Ellison and Marion, both 15; James, 14; John, 12; and Janet, 7. Neither James senior nor Marion had been born in the county. All the others had. Two other males and two other females were living on the farm. They appear to have been servants.

In 1851, James was a ‘Farmer of 600 Acres’ at Woodend. His age was now more precisely given as 67. Marion, his wife, was 57. Both were entered as having been born in Shotts, Lanarkshire. Living with them were their various unmarried sons and daughters: Alison, 27; James, 23; John, 21; and Jessie, 16. All were stated to have been born in Torpichen. Whether any of them had occupations is not clear, since they are designated merely as ‘farmer’s son’ or ‘farmer’s daur’ as the case requires. Also living in the household were Peter Gentleman, unmarried, 25, an agricultural labourer, born in Torpichen; Hannah Russell, 21, born in Glasgow and Margaret Thomson, 36, born in Bo’ness, both ‘dairy servants’ and unmarried. Peter was probably related to Peter Gentleman, a farmer of 80 acres, aged 64, at the nearby farm of Cantie. He was not however his son, as the farmer of Cantie had a son named Peter living with him.

James ‘Weddell’, a farmer (widower), died on 1^st May 1858 at four in the afternoon, at Woodend, in the Parish of Torpichen. He was 75 years of age. The cause of death was certified as debility arising from a hernia, from which the deceased had been suffering for ‘a long period’. He was buried in Shotts Churchyard. The informant was James Weddell, his son, who had been present at the time of death.

Note that daughter Alison’s name was rendered as ‘Ellison’ in 1841. This would tend to suggest the manner in which this family spoke and goes some way to explaining how ‘Waddell’ became modified to ‘Weddell’ on occasion, e.g. James’s death certificate. An alternative explanation would be that since James Waddell Junior signed the papers relating to his father’s succession three times using the latter form, it may to some extent have been an affectation of his own.

James ‘Weddell’ was interred in the family plot in the graveyard at Shotts Kirk, Lanarkshire.

Testamentary Writings

James Waddell’s final disposal of his estate was effected by means of a Disposition and Settlement (Wills and testaments Reference SC41/53/6, Linlithgow Sheriff Court, pp. 259 - 270), subscribed by the testator at Bathgate on 2^nd February 1853. The witnesses were ‘John Smith Writer in Bathgate’ and George Sinclair, his apprentice; the latter gentleman had written the deed on four sheets of stamped paper.

This Disposition and Settlement was not thereafter amended, by codicil or otherwise.

Inventory

The ‘Personal Estate of the late James Waddell Senior Farmer Woodend, in the Parish of Torpichen’ was inventoried as follows:

1. Cash in Repositories	£5	-	-
2. Value of Farm Stocking, Crops, Im- plements of Husbandry, Dairy Uten- sils, Household furniture &c., which belonged to the Defunct, Conform to Inventory and Valuation thereof taken by Mungo Chapman, Licen- sed Auctioneer and Appraiser Bath- gate	£497	18	–
3. Sum contained in Interest Receipt by the Agent for the Branch of the National Bank of Scotland in Bathgate in favor of the said James Waddell dated 6 January 1858 400   -   - Interest thereon from 6 January 1858 to 1 May 1858     2 19   2	402	19	2
(Note at foot of p. 259) Forward £905 17 2
4. Sum contained in Interest Receipt by the Agent for the Royal Bank of Scot- land in Bathgate in favour of the said James Waddell dated 2 Dec- ember 1857 £100   -   - Interest thereon from 2 Decem- ber 1857 to 1 May 1858       1   2   8	101	2	8
5. Interest Receipt by the Agent for the Union Bank of Scotland, Coatbridge in favor of the deceased dated 5th January 1858 500   -   - Interest thereon from 5 January 1858 to 1 May 1858 the date of deceaseds death     3 15   7	503	15	7
6. Bill drawn by the deceased upon Mungo Chapman Auctioneer Bathgate dated 13 August 1857, payable one day after date £100   -   - Interest thereon from 13 August 1857 to 1 May 1858       2 17   3	102	17	3
Sum of the foregoing Inventory One thousand Six hundred and thirteen pounds twelve shillings and eight pence sterling } £1613 12    8 > (signed) James Weddell Alex Simpson J.P.

Executor

James Waddell appointed his son, James Waddell Junior, to be his executor:

And I do hereby Nominate and Appoint the said James Waddell to be my sole Executor and Universal Legator, excluding all others therefrom

‘James Waddell Junior Farmer at Woodend in the Parish of Torpichen and County of Linlithgow’ compeared ‘In presence of Alexander Simpson Esquire Banker in Bathgate, One of Her Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the County of Linlithgow, Commissioner appointed by the Commissary of the Shire of Linlithgow’ at Bathgate on 1^st December 1858 and deponed to the usual matters.

James Waddell Junior was decerned and confirmed as Executor Nominate on 7^th December 1858.

Heritable Property

It is not specifically stated in the Disposition and Settlement that James Waddell was the owner of Woodend Farm, as opposed to its tenant, but this much seems to be implied.

He was also the proprietor of a certain two-storey house in Bathgate:

All and Whole that House of two Stories (sic), in the Town of Bathgate, with the back House thereto belonging, at present possessed by the said Mungo Chapman, and bounded as follows Vizt The high Southway or Street of Bathgate on the South, the houses formerly belonging to Betty Nicol, now to Alexander Simpson Baker in Bathgate on the West, the open Area commonly called the back yard of Bathgate on the North, and on the east by the houses Sometime possessed by John Frew, Ann Frew, and Robert Lang, and now by Thomas White Baker in Bathgate

Beneficiaries

The essential structure of the Disposition and Settlement was that the testator made over ‘my whole means and estate heritable and moveable... presently belonging or which shall belong to me at the time of my death’ to his eldest son, James Waddell Junior, but under reservation of the testator’s own liferent interest and of his ‘full power and liberty’ to use and dispose of the same at pleasure and also to ‘alter and revoke these presents in whole or in part as I shall think fit’ at any time; subject also to the further important qualification that the provisions in favour of James Waddell Junior were;

granted and shall be accepted of by the said James Waddell and his foresaids, with and under the burden of my debts and deeds, payment of my funeral expenses and of the following provisions or legacies to my said Son and Daughters

These legacies were as follows.

At the time of subscribing the Disposition and Settlement, James Waddell had four daughters living. Of these, Elizabeth was the ‘Spouse of Mungo Chapman Merchant in Bathgate’; Marion was the ‘Spouse of James Young farmer in Capithall’; Alison and Janet were both apparently unmarried and ‘residing with me’. To each, he bequeathed the sum of £300 but with the qualification that since Elizabeth and Marion had already received £70 each at the time of their respective marriages, this sum was to be deducted from their legacies.

These payments were directed to be made six months after the testator’s decease, with interest from the due date until payment. It was also provided that in the event of a daughter or daughters dying without leaving lawful issue, her share or their shares fell to be divided equally among the surviving children; in the event of a daughter or daughters dying, leaving lawful issue, then the children would be entitled to the sum or sums which would otherwise have fallen to their mother.

Special provision was made for the testator’s ‘Second and Youngest Son residing with me’, John Waddell, declared in the Dispostion and Settlement to be ‘unhappily not capable of managing his own affairs’; the nature of John’s incapacity was not, however, specified. He was to receive £400 together with the liferent interest in the house on the ‘high Southway or Street of Bathgate’.

The declared intention was that the interest on the £400 and the yearly rent on the house were to be applied for John’s ‘decent and Comfortable maintenance’ and for this purpose the testator established a trust:

I hereby Appoint John Waddell and William Waddell Farmers Hillend in the Parish of Libberton, James Waddell in Mountcur, James More junior in Hillhouse, William Brock, farmer (p. 267) Barbachlaw, and Thomas Brock, Son of the said William Brock, along with the said James Waddell to be Trustees and managers for him

Since, excepting the Messrs Brock, these gentlemen bore the surname Waddell, it would appear that here we have a litany of uncles and cousins. Should the interest and rent prove to be insufficient for the purpose, the trustees were additionally authorised and empowered ‘to apply such part or the whole of the principal Sum of Four hundred pounds itself, as shall be requisite and necessary’.

The testator further declared his ‘Anxious wish and desire’ that John Waddell should be boarded in James’s house and that the principal sum should remain in his hands but that should such circumstances arise that these arrangements could not be conveniently or prudently continued, then John should be boarded ‘in some other respectable and suitable place’.

It was further provided that upon John’s death, whatever should remain of the principal sum of £400, together with the free proceeds of the sale of the house, should be divided equally among the surviving children, failing whom, by reason of death, once again, the lawful issue would be entitled to their deceased parent’s share.

Forebears

James’s father was designated in the Shotts Parish Register as ‘James Waddel Tenant in Mont Cord’ in connection with the birth and baptism of his son William in 1781; James in 1783; Peter in 1786 and David in 1792; the only minor variation was the 1789 entry for son John, in which James was simply ‘in Mont Cord’.

On each of these occasions, the Christian name of the mother, consistently stated to be the elder James’s lawful married spouse, was left blank but her maiden name was given as Gramare. On just one occasion, the 1786 entry relating to Peter, the Christian name ‘Alison’ appears to have been written over the blank space. Why it was ever left blank in the first place is unclear.

James’s father was recalled on his 1858 death certificate as James Weddell, a farmer, deceased. His mother’s Christian name is indistinct but appears to be Allison (made more probable by the fact that she had a granddaughter of that name). Her maiden name was given as Crombie on this occasion and she was likewise deceased.

Brothers

James was the second of five known sons. His elder brother, William, was born on 8^th April 1781; his younger brothers were Peter, 24^th April 1786, John, 10^th July 1789, and David, 25^th November 1792, all at Mont Cord, Shotts Parish, Lanarkshire.