Re: Questions

["John S. Quarterman" <jsq@matrix.net>]

>Can someone define these titles or occupations?

Do you know google.com?

>Tacksman

``TACKSMAN - middleman who leased a large piece of land from the owner
  and sublet it in small lots''
 
  http://cpcug.org/user/jlacombe/terms.html

  ``Next in dignity to the Laird is the Tacksman; a large taker or
  lease-holder of land, of which he keeps part, as a domain, in his own
  hand, and lets part to under tenants. The Tacksman is necessarily a
  man capable of securing to the Laird the whole rent, and is commonly
  a collateral relation. These tacks, or subordinate possessions, were
  long considered as hereditary, and the occupant was distinguished by
  the name of the place at which he resided. He held a middle station,
  by which the highest and the lowest orders were connected. He paid rent
  and reverence to the Laird, and received them from the tenants. This
  tenure still subsists, with its original operation, but not with the
  primitive stability.''

  --A JOURNEY TO THE WESTERN ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND by Samuel Johnson
                                           OSTIG IN SKY
  http://www.electricscotland.com/history/journey/jour24.htm

--------

>Wadsetter

``WADSETTER - under Scottish law a creditor to whom a wadset is made;
  a wadset is a right, by which lands, or other heritable subjects,
  are impignorated by the proprietor to his creditor in security of his debt''

  http://cpcug.org/user/jlacombe/terms.html

``WADSET - Scotch law. A right, by which lands, or other heritable subjects,
  are impignorated by the proprietor to his creditor in security of his
  debt; and, like other heritable rights, is perfected by seisin.

  ``Wadsets, by the present practice, are commonly made out in the form of
  mutual contracts, in which one party sells the land, and the other grants,
  the right of reversion.

  ``Wadsets are proper or improper. Proper, where the use of the land shall
  go for the use of the money.  Improper, where the reverser agrees to make
  up the deficiency; and where it amounts to more, the surplus profit of
  the land is applied to the extinction of the principal.

  ``WADSETTER - Scotch law. A creditor to whom a wadset is made.''

  http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/w033.htm

--------

>How is it that some of the people in the Baron's and Earl's list are also
>Wadsetters and Tacksmen?

It appears that Paul Sinclair, well known on this list, knows the answer:
  
``Morrison asserts that John voluntarily left Scotland because he was
  not satisfied being a wadsetter (as he was not the first born), quit
  Lybster Reay, married Mary in Edinburgh, and came to America. As this
  is a psychological assumption, the indenturement of John in 1651 seems
  more likely and more documented.''

  http://kingcrest.com/sinclair/sinkler_history.html-ssi


>Laurel

John S. Quarterman <jsq@matrix.net>
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