Wedderburn book > History

JOHN, IN MORAVIA. 27
He had married about 1582 (D.P.B. 225) Margaret Lindsay, 1 and by her, who died Parti.
12 Aug. 1599 (S.A.T. 4), and whose will was confirmed at S. Andrew's 15 April 1600 (ib.), cbap ' L
had issue two sons and three daughters : —
1. John Wedderburn, afterwards " protomedicus " in Moravia. See below.
2. James Wedderburn, afterwards Bishop of Dunblane. See post p. 28.
and
1 . Agnes Wedderburn, named in the confirmation of her mother's will
(S.A.R. 4), and 10 March 1601 (D.B.R. 337 a). She married Gilbert Ramsay, reader,
and is twice mentioned as his wife, viz., 5 Nov. 1604, when her (elder?) brother revokes
his minority acts and esjsecially his signing of the marriage contract of his sister Agnes
and Gilbert Ramsay, and again 6 Dec. 1605, when she and Ramsay are named in a
decree (D.B.R. 349, 355). A daughter of this marriage, Grisild Kamsay, is named
in a letter from Alexander Halyburton to Dr. John Wedderburn in Moravia in 1644,
and in another from the Doctor to Alexander Wedderburn of Kingennie in 1647
(See post pp. 32-33).
2. Margaret Wedderburn, also named in the confirmation of her mother's
will (tit snp.). She married, before 16 Nov. 1615, Robert Halyburton (D.P.B. 388), 2
who died before 1640, when she is designed his relict (D.B.R. 431). She was left a
legacy of 1,800 merks by her brother the Bishop, who also bequeathed a similar sum
to her daughter Christian (R.D. 132-33). She died in 1643, perhaps about July,
as on 25 August reference is made to her as deceased and to her son Alexander, who
was then under age, as there is an edict of curatory to him (D.B.R. 446). He had,
however, gone abroad to Stockholm, to acquire a commercial training, in 1640, but
came home upon the death of his mother. Of this event he gives an account in his
letter (S.W. 291) to his uncle, John Wedderburn, who seems to have mistrusted
his interference with his house property in Dundee 3 (See post pp. 32-33).
3. Helen Wedderburn, named only in the confirmation of her mother's will,
and probably, therefore, died young and unmarried.
The two sons of John Wedderburn and Margaret Lindsay, (a) John, protomedicus in
Moravia, and (b) James, Bishop of Dunblane, remain to be dealt with : —
(a) John Wedderburn, protomedicus in Moravia and his descendants there.
John Wedderburn 4 [1583 — 1651], 5 eldest sou of John Wedderburn and Margaret
Lindsay, in whose will he is named (S.A.T. 4.) His birth-date is almost fixed by the fact
that his parents having married in 1582, his younger brother James, Bishop of Dun-
blane, was certainly born in 1585. He seems to have revoked his minority acts,
5 Nov. 1604 (D.B.R., 349, note). He went abroad early, and was of repute as a
mathematician in the university of Padua, as early as 1609 (?), when William Lithgow,
then on his " painful peregrinations " came across him. " In Padua," he writes, " I
staid three months, learning the Italian tongue, and found there a country gentleman
of mine, Doctor John Wedderburne, a learned mathematician, but now (1628) dwelling
in Moravia, who taught me well in the language, and in all other respects exceedingly
friendly tome" (Lithgoiv's Travels, 1692, p. 44). He occasionally returned to Dundee,
and on what seems to have been his last visit, about 1637, presented the "sang scooll "
to the town (post p. 33). A letter from him to Alexander Wedderburn of Kingennie,
1 She would seem to have been of the Lindsays of Aetmady, as in the edict of curatory to her son James,
David Lindsay of Achuady is named among the mother's kin (D.B.R. 353), and " auld Achtnadye " is
mentioned in a letter writteu by Alexander Halyburton, son of her daughter Margaret, to his uncle
John Wedderburn in 1644. See post p. 32.
2 Ou this occasion and one other (D.P.B. 397) he is called Alexander, but on all others his name is given as
Robert. See D.B.R 391, 431, 446.
:l John's sister Margaret was his factrix to uplift his housemaills during his absence in 1612 (D.B.R. 375a).
So again, 1615, Jan. 20, she is named as his factrix for that purpose (D.B.R. xxv, s.d., orig. MS.),
and to this end she, no doubt, had his titles, of which, at her death, her son got possession.
4 J. W. in his MS. says that John Wedderburn was " bred to physic at S. Andrew's, travelled on the con-
tinent, and was elected professor of mathematics in the University of Padua." I find, however, no
mention of him in the register of the first-named University, nor any authority for the latter part of
this statement, and J.W., who places him as a brother to Alexander Wedderburn, the old clerk, goes
in other respects altogether astray in regard to him.
* Synopsis of References. S.W. 291, 303 ; Bl. 42 ; D.B.R. 349a, 375a, 426, 443, 446 ; R.H. 20 ; S.A.T. 4.