The birth and baptism of James Waddell, elder son of James Waddell and Marion Chalmers, were recorded in the Torpichen (Linlithgowshire) Parish Register in 1826 as follows:

James Waddell and Marion Chalmers in Woodend had a son born the Twenty first April and Baptized the First of May Named James

James Waddell Senior, in his 1853 Disposition and Settlement, appointed his elder son, James, as his sole executor; James Junior, who signed his surname as ‘Weddell’, was also his father’s primary beneficiary.

James Weddell, to use the form of his surname which he himself favoured, acted as one of four witnesses to the marriage of his sister, Jessie Weddell, and John Ferguson in 1858.

At the time of the 1881 census, James Waddell, 53, farmer of 120 arable acres, employing one man and one girl, was living at Woodcockdale Farm, Linlithgow, in premises having five rooms with one or more windows. Living with him were his brother, John, 51, general servant; sister Alison, 57, housekeeper; George Charleston, 22, farm servant, and Isabella Charleston, 19, general servant. All five were entered as unmarried and born in Linlithgow.

James Waddell, farmer (single), died on 14^th April 1884 at 0^h 20^m am, at Woodcockdale, Linlithgow. He was fifty-seven years of age. The causes of death were certified as acute alcoholism, from which he had been suffering for ten days, and vesical haemorrhage, three days. The informant at Linlithgow on the following day was the deceased’s nephew, James Young of Linlithgow; he was apparently the son of the deceased’s sister, Marion Waddell, and her husband, also James Young.