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The family name Meldrum
is believed to be descended from this source. Nechtan was the first
recorded Pictish King about 724 A.D., although, according to Roman history, many
Pictish kings before him had fought gallantly at Hadrian's Wall against the
Roman invasion many centuries before. From
the north, after the year 900, the Picts were invaded by the Orcadian Vikings
who penetrated as far south as Caithness, and there left with a territory on the
eastern coast of Scotland from Aberdeen, south to Edinburgh. The family name Meldrum
emerged as a Scottish Clan or family in this territory. More specifically they developed in the original territories
of Aberdeen where they were recorded as a family of great antiquity seated at
Melgdrum with manor and estates in that shire.
They were descended from Phillip Fe Darg who later was knighted sir
Phillip of Meldrum who married the daughter of the Earl of Buchan.
His Successor sir William Meldrum in 1272 was allied with King John
Balliol, but sir Phillip, his grandson aligned
himself with David Bruce, King of Scotland, he was Sheriff of Banff.
Sir William Meldrum, Chief of the clan in 1353 was succeeded by his
grandson William who was one of the hostages for King James I of Scotland.
However, leaving only daughters the estates desc3ended to Alexander
Seaton of Meldrum, and junior lines of the Meldrums continued.
The estates finally passed to Urquharts.
Notable amongst the Clan at this time was Sir William Meldrum chief of
the Clan. Scotland, during the 16th,
17th and 18th centuries was ravaged by religious conflict.
The newly found passionate fervor of Presbyterianism and the church of
Scotland rejected all who could not pass "The Test" of taking an oath
of belief in the church. Those
failing the "test" were sometimes burnt at the stake or, more kindly
banished to Australia, the Carolinas or the West Indies. Many Clansmen were free
"encouraged" to migrate to Ireland.
Families migrated from Scotland to Ireland with promises of cheap Irish
land. They became known as the
"Scotch/Irish". There is
no evidence that the family name migrated to Ireland, but this does not preclude
the possibility of their scattered migration to that country. The migration of
banishment to the New world also continued, some went voluntarily from Ireland,
but most went directly from Scotland, their home territories. Some even moved to the European continent.
They sailed to the New World across the stormy Atlantic aboard the small
sailing ships known as the ''White Sales", ships such as the Hector, the
Rambler and the Dove. These overcrowded ships, sometimes spending two months at
sea, were racked with disease, sometimes landing with only 60% of their original
passenger lists. In North America,
some of the first migrants which could be considered kinsmen of the surname
Meldrum, or having a variation of the family surname spelling were George
Meldrem settled in Virginia in 1716, Michael Meldrum settled in Virginia in
1724; James Meldram settled in Virginia in 1774; William Meldrum settled in
Philadelphia in 1865. From the original ports
of entry, the immigrants moved westward, some to the middle west, some across
the prairies to the east coast. During
the American War of Independence some remained loyal to the cause, whilst others
became United Empire Loyalists and moved north to Canada. Many prominent people
were a part of this notable name: Wendell Meldrum, Canadian lawyer, Andrew
Meldrum, chief of Scottish Police. Research has determined the above Coat of Arms to be the most ancient recorded for the family surname Meldrum.
© Orion Creative Works
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heck
out my family history. 
ccording
to the Venerable Bede, the "Father of English History" who was born in
673, the Pictish race, one of the founding races of the British Isles, arrived
in Scotland from Brittany about the 15th century B.C.