The Continuation of the Earl of Wemyss Line of the Wemyss Family

Sir John Wemyss of Wemyss, 1557 - 1622

Margaret Douglas of Lochleven, 1st wife

Mary Stewart of Doune, 2nd wife

David the Laird of Wemyss was succeeded by another John, born most likely in the latter part of the year 1557, who married Margaret, daughter of the Earl of Douglas, William Douglas of Lochleven, afterwards sixth Earl of Morton. The terms of the marriage contract were arranged at St. Andrews on 17th April, and on the following day the Archbishop of St. Andrews granted to John Wemyss and his future spouse the lands of Methil, which, with others in the vicinity, and the office of bailie of the river Leven, his father had resigned for the purpose, and these lands and that office were united and erected into the barony of Methil. Methil was still at this time in the possession of Mariota Towers as her liferent portion; so in warrandice thereof David wemyss granted to his son and future daughter-in-law the lands of Tillybreak, Little Lun, and Cameron-mill. From the lands of Tillybreak, in the parish of Markinch, Sir John Wemyss derived the designation “Sir John Wemyss of Tillybreak,” by which he was known during his father’s lifetime, though he is also styled “younger of Wemyss.”

About two years prior to the date of his marriage, John Wemyss was the recipient from King James the Sixth of a gift of the non-entry duties of all his father’s lands from the date of the death of his grandfather, Sir John Wemyss, which was in January of the same year, 1572, until the entry of the heir, his father. Another gift which the king bestowed upon the young laird of Wemyss, some time later, in 1581, was the estate of Mr. William Lumsden, parson of Cleish, who was put to the horn for non-compearance to take his trial for fabricating and forging a contract, and for other crimes.

When his father died in 1597, Sir John Wemyss had already been in possession of the family estates as fiar, for some years. This Sir John took a prominent part in the affairs of his time and was knighted around 1594.

His first wife having died without leaving issue, John Wemyss married, as his second wife, Mary, daughter of Sir James Stewart of Doune, afterwards first Lord Doune. The terms of the contract were arranged at Wemyss in August 1581, it being provided that the marriage should take place before December of that year. Sir James Stewart gave with his daughter a tocher of 8000merks, for payment of which there were four secrities in 2000 merks --viz., Patrick, Lord Lindsay of the Byres, James Stewart, Lord Innermeath, James Lindsay of Dowhill, and Archibald Stewart, burgess of Edinburgh.

Then in 1595 he represented the barons of Fife in Parliament. It was this John who presided over the West Wemyss estates in 1603 when James VI of Scotland, son of Mary Queen of Scots, who was beheaded by Elizabeth I of England, was named to succeed Elizabeth on the Throne of England as James I, thus uniting the two countries. His loyalty to King James led to his being much trusted by the “Scottish Solomon” and Queen Anne. James was known as being impecuniuos, and in 1589 Sir John was summoned, in his capacity as Commissioner to Parliament, to Perth to a Convention to “devise ways and means for replenishing the royal exchequer.” Sir John, Earl of Wemyss, was also one of the nobels chosen to convoy the royal household to London. He with other "poor and ingenious knights followed James by his express invitation to London" where the Scotch and English Lords quarreled over the favors of the King for many years.

Although not prominent in political matters, he evinced much vigour in the management of his domestic affairs. In an account of the Wemyss family, printed in the Appendix to an edition of Nisbet’s Heraldry, published in 1804, it is stated that this laird of Wemyss was surnamed “Birkenflower” His percise date of death is not known. He was still alive in August 1620, as his son and heir is then styled “younger of that ilk,” but he was dead before the month of June 1622, when his son was in complete possession of the estates.

Sir John Wemyss of that ilk, First Earl of Wemyss, 1586 - 1649

Hon. Jean Gray of Gray, his Countess

John, the second son of Sir John and Mary, was born about the year 1586. In 1604 he was provided by his father in the lands of Methil, the charter of which was given under reversion, and bore that the grant was made from the laird’s affection to his second lawful son, and because he had hitherto got no portion of his father’s moveable goods, lands, or annuities. But the death of his elder brother in August of 1608, without issue, made John Wemyss heir-apparent to the family estates with his father, who ratified, in 1614, all the steps taken in regard to his succession.

In or about the year 1609, John Weems married Dame Jean Gray, the eldest daughter of Patrick, Lord Gray. They lived in wedlock for thirty years. She died at Easter Wemyss on August 17, 1639.

The young laird of Wemyss was knighted before June 25, 1618, as he is then designated Sir John Wemyss, liar of that ilk, knight in a Disposition by David Spalding of Aschintullie, of patronage of church of Kirkmichael. The honour was probably conferred on the occasion of King James’s visit to Scotland in 1617, when he made a progress through Fife and elsewhere. Sir John Wemyss is still called “younger” in August 1620, but before June 1622 his father died, and he succeeded to the entire control of the estates.

Sir John has been listed as the 18th in direct descent from Hugo. It was this Sir John Wemyss of Wemyss who was granted a baronetcy of Nova Scotia by King Charles I in 1625, with 16,000 acres of territory to become called New Wemyss. When the Nova Scotia scheme was started, Sir John Wemyss, with many other of his fellow-countrymen, was persuaded to embark in it. He was one of the first to do so, as on May 25, 1625 Sir William Alexander of Menstrie, the moving spirit of the concern, granted a procuratory for resigning sixteen thousand acres of the acquired territory in favour of Sir John Wemyss. The scheme included the conferring of the dignity of a baronetcy on each participant with a certain precedency; but as this conflicted with existing rights in Scotland, it met with considerable opposition. Owing to this, probebly, the laird of Wemyss showed some hesitation about completing the transacrion. He was slow to pay up the required 3,000 merks. The King wrote urging him to do so, assuring him that the baronetcy was simply ‘a next stepp to a further title’. John was duly created Lord Wemyss of Wemyss and of Elcho, the dignaty and rank of a Lord of Parliament “in remembrance of the good service done to his Majestie”, in 1628. During the same year he was summoned to the coronation of Charles I at Holyrod, when it was hoped he would attend ‘in that statlie and decent forme with your scarlett rob, as beseemeth the dignitie of such an actionn.’ Ibid., Vol. I, p. 209.

When the Convention of Estates met in July 1630, Lord Wemyss was appointed a member of three commissions; one of which was concerned with the national fisheries, and the other two about the carrying out of patents granted to the Earl of Linlithgow for making powder, and Lord Erskine for tanning leather. The fisheries inquiry was another scheme of Sir William Alexander’s for the formation of a vast company to work the coast fisheries of Scotland, and the investigations resulted in the incorporation of a National Association by royal charter in 1632, of which Lord Wemyss, was required by the Privy Council to furnish a formal report of the prices of victual within the bounds where he bore offfice.

Lord Wemyss was one of the six Lords of Parliament who bore the “pale” or canopy of crimson velvet above Charles’ head from Holyrod to the church on June 18, 1533, coronation day of King Charles the First in his Scottish kingdom. On the following day he was present and took part in the riding of parliament, and was personally involved in the conflict which took place near the entry of the West Port between the eldest sons of the earls and the lords of parliament for precedency in the procession. The question was debated before the king and thenobility on the spot, and decided in favour of the earls’sons, as described in Balfour’s Annals, vol. ii. p 203; iv. pp. 358, 370, 372, 389. A few days later, on June 25, a patent was signed at Holyrood by the king creating John, Lord Wemyss, Earl of Wemyss and Lord Elcho and Methil and it was presented to him in person by King Charles on July 4, 1633, in the palace of Dunfermline. The title was limited to heirs-male bearing the name and arms of Wemyss.

The parliament of 1633 was of short duration, but it was far-reaching in its results. The long-constested question of the teinds had reached the stage of “the general submission,” and their commutation for a fifth part of the rent. A general valuation was to be made, and a large commission, consisting of nine officers of state, nine of the clergy, nine of the nobility, nine of the lesser barons, and nine of the burgesses, was appointed for this work, which included, among many other things, the settlement of disputes, the plantation of churches, and the fixing of the stipends of the ministry. John, Earl of Wemyss, was one of the nine nobles selected for this commission.

Much is also known of the first Earl of Wemyss from the writings of A.S. Cunningham. When he was created Lord Wemyss, he promised to try and approve himself worthy of the honor to the “utmost of his possibilities,” and his lordship was as good as his word. Although appointed by the King a member of the Court of High Commission, which had been established by the bishops, he did not act upon the Court, and so strong a Presbyterian was he that when Charles tried to force Episcopacy on the people of Scotland he cast in his lot with the nobles who tried at any cost to counteract the measures of Charles. He and his son subscribed the Covent with the rest of the nobility in 1638 in Greyfriars Churchyard. They were both strong workers in the struggle which culminated in the second Reformation.

In 1638 Lord Wemyss was appointed King’s Commissioner to the General Assembly. The Earl of Southesk was to be appointed by the King, until it was learned that he was not trusted by the county. Wemyss fell to be next, and “the modestie and simplicite of the man made him displeasing to none.” In the days when the breach between the King and the country widened, the Earl and Lord Wemyss stood fast by their Presbyterian faith without wavering, and in 1644 Lord Wemyss avowed his adherence to the Solemn League and Covenant.

In reference to witches, there is a document among the Wemyss papers showing that the earl, when laird of Wemyss in 1626, exercised his baronial powers over those accused of witchcraft. One person named Laverock, who was executed, presumably upon this charge, inculpated James Gray, a burgess of Wemyss, on the charge that he was a warlock, whereupon the laird apprehended Gray and imprisoned him in the tolbooth of the burgh. The man, however, does not appear to have been a dangerous character when at large, for the earl released him to go about his business on giving security to compear when required.

John, Earl of Wemyss, also held the office of Admiral-depute of the Firth of Forth between Dysart and the Water of Leven, an office which he inherited from his father, who, as formerly mentioned, recieved a grant of it in 1610 from Ludoick, Duke of Lennox, High Admiral of Scotland.

Among the last incidents recorded of this earl’s life was the arranging of the marriages of his grand-daughter, Lady Jean Wemyss, and of his own third daughter, also Lady Jean. In the end of March 1649, William, first Marquis of Douglas, penned a pleasant not to the earl, intimating the satisfaction he felt in the fact of his eldest son having set his affection upon the earl’s grandchild, and rejoicing in the consent of all parties concerned. The marriage took place at Wemyss on the 26th of the following month. In the case of his own daughter, it ws the arrangement of her second marriage, to Colonel Harry Maule, and this was effected at Wemyss and Ballasheen in the begining of August, the marriage being celebrated at Wemyss Castle on the 9th of that month. In November of the same year, however events of a very different nature took place at Wemyss. The earl’s daughter-in-law, Lady Elcho, died there on the 10th, and on the day of her burial, Thursday, the 22nd, the first Earl of Wemyss departed this life about 10 o’clock. he was buried, says his son, in his own burial-place, in his aisle at Wemyss Kirk the 4th day of December 1649.

The family papers throw but little light upon the private and domestic life of the earl, but from what has been stated concerning his public and official appearances, it is evident he was a man of a quiet and unobstrusive disposition, who yet did not shrink from diligent and fearless discharge of duty when that was called for. Like many of the other Fife lairds, he was a consistent and zealous presbyterian, and this at a time when estates and even life were liable to be exacted as the penalty. The honours he acquired he bore with ease and dignity. These still flourish as the chief titles of the family, while his reconsolidation of the territory of Wemyss-shire still exists as a monument of his prudence and sagacity.

David, Second Earl of Wemyss, 1610 - 1672

The Hon. Anna Balfour of Burley, 1st wife

Lady Helenor Fleming of Wigtown, 2nd wife

Lady Margaret Leslie of Rothes, 3rd wife

David, 2nd Earl of Wemyss, was born on September 6, 1610. He was only seventeen and the young laird of Wemyss when he married the Honourable Anne Balfour, daughter of Robert, Lord Burleigh. Earl David himself states in his diary on pages 78, 360, that the marriage took place at Flkland, the residence of Lord Burley, on the evening of 4th February 1627, the ceromony being performed by Mr. William Schetho, minister there. (On a latter page in his diary he says the wedding was in 1628. But this was written at a later period of life, and he elsewhere states that his first son was born on 22d November 1627.) No written contract o f marriage was made previous to the marriage. But a post-nuptial contract was entered into between the young husband and wife on the 25th July of the following year, 1628. To that contract the parents of the young couple were parties. Lord Burley was to pay as his daughter’s tocher 28,000 merks, and Lord Wemyss obliged himself to infeft his son, then the Master of Wemyss, and his spouse in certain lands, to give them the westmost new salt pan in Wemyss, with panwood thereto from the nearest coalheughs.

On the death of his father, John, first Earl of Wemyss, his only son, David, Lord Elcho, succeeded as second Earl, and enjoyed the title and estates for thirty years, during one of the most stirring periods of Scottish history. This nobleman possessed great energy of character, which he dislayed both in public and private affairs. In his earlier days he participated in the struggles connected with the national conveants in the reign of King Charles the First. He lived under the Commonwealth of Cromwell, and he witnessed the Restoration of King Charles the Second. During these successive governments he took an active part in the civil, military, and ecclesiastical business of the country. He was regular in his attendances in Parliament and Council, and in the General Assembly; while in his military capacity he had to cope with the great Montrose in one of his brilliant battles. The energies of Earl David were not, however, confined to the affairs of the nation, -- stirring and exacting as these often were. He took a great personal interest in the management of his extensive landed estates, and in the development of the mineral wealth with which they abounded. He was thrice married, and had a large family of sixteen children. Ten of these were sons, and they all predeceased their father. His third wife was the most distinguished of his matrimonial alliances, being the sister of the Duke of Rothes. They were equally matched in this respect that the earl had two wives before her, and she had two husbands before him. She was the common ancestress of the three noble houses of Leven, Buccleuch, and Wemyss. To her may be directly attributed the creation of the liferent title of Earl of Tarras for one of her son-in-law, and also the dukesom of Buccleuch for another son-in-law; while she was very active in arranging the Restoration of King Charles the Second. Tradition points to the very part of the dining-room in Dalkeith House where the resolution was finally arranged by General George Monck, who was then custodier of the little Countess of Buccleuch, the elder daughter of the managing mother, who for good deeds done to King Charles the Second, recieved from him an annual pension of 500 pounds sterling.

David, Earl of Wemyss left a manuscript journal or diary, in which he recorded many of the events of his life, from the year 1643. He was also a member of the Parliament which sat in Edinburgh in the autumn of 1641 under the presidency of King Charles the First. The only work in regard to which he is specially mentioned is as auditing the accounts of the commissary-general of the army, and of several regiments in arrears of pay which it was deemed desirable to disband. He as a member of the General Assembly of 1643, and with his father protested against the translation of George Gillespie from Wemyss to Edinburgh. As Lord Elcho, he experienced a good deal of treachary as a commander in the Highlands in 1644 and 1645 which led to defeates. In 1648 he was appointed by the Committee of Estates to his former command of colonel of one of the regiments of infantry to be raised by the county of Fife. He sided with “the honest party” rather than with the “politic-Presbyterian party,” and he did not take part in the expedition which sustained a terrible check by Cromwell at Preston. Indeed, Lord Elcho was one of the deputation sent by the “honest party” to Berwick, in response to an offer from Cromwell to accept the assistance of himself and his army against their opponents. In a letter, Cromwell wrote:

“I must be bold to testify for that noble lord (the Marquis of Argyll), the Lord Elcho, and the other gentlemen with him, tha I have found nothing in them other than what becomes Christians and men of honour.”

He took his seat in the Parliament of Edinburgh on March 7, 1650, taking the customary oath of Parliament. On the following day he was sworn in as a privy councillor, having been formerly selected for that office. Parliament adjourned on the same day until the 15th May, after despactching some of their number to negotiate with King Charles the Second at Breda.

In the interval David, Earl of Wemyss, married his second wife, Lady Helenor Fleming, eldest daughter of John, Earl of Wigtown. In the beginning of the month of April Earl David was at Cumbernauld, one of the residences of the Earls of Wigtown, and there the marriage contract was signed by the contracting parties, dated 4th April 1650. The ceremony took place at Cumbernauld during the month, being probably performed by Mr. Patrick Gillespie, a brother of Mr. Gorge Gillespie, and one of the ministers of Glasgow, as he is one of the attesting witnesses to the marriage contract at Cumbernauld, and he appears to have been a special friend of the lady. The earl brought his wife to Wemyss Castle on the 2nd of May. Their married life, however, was not a long one, nor, if Lamont is to be believed, was it at all profitable to the Wemyss family. The Fifeshire chronicler says, under date 20th April 1652: --

The Lady Weyms in Fife, surnamed Fleymen, being the Earles second lady, depairted out of this life at the Weymes, without children, and was interred the 6 of May att the church of the Weyms. She caused her husband give a frie discharge to her brother, the Lord Fleymen, of her whold tocher, being about 20 thousand marks Scots, before any of it was payed to him, so that he is not to receive a farthen token of it. She caused her husband also, and her brother, to giue Mr. Patricke Gillespie ( sometime minister of Kirkekaldie ) a band of foure thousand marke, to be payed by them to the said Mr. Patricke. She caused also a doore to be struken through the wall of her chamber for to goe to the wine cellar; for she had (as is said by many) a great desire after stronge drinke. The frindes of the Earle of Weyms say, that att her death, he was a hunder thousand mark worse than when he maried her (and all the tyme of ther mariage was onlie two years).

From Lamont’s Dirary, page 40, “Lady Helenor Fleming, Countess of Wemyss, made her testsment at Wemyss on 26th January 1652. She appoints her ‘deare husband’ her only executror, and desires that her body should “be buried with the rest of that noble familie of Wemyss” She was then sick of body, but lived until 20th April. Lamont is correct in the date he assigns for the earl’s return from Cumbernauld to Wemyss, for on the 4th of May, at Wemyss, and probably during the home-coming rejoicings, as the witnesses were all of the family, he executed a bond of provision in favour of the only remaining unmarried daughter of his former marriage, Lady Mary, giving her 25,000 merks as a marriage partion. This duty, one is almost forced to infer, must have been suggested to the earl by the provision for a possible daughter of the second marriage in the contract. But it was never fulfilled, as Lady Mary died on 12th October 1654, unmarried.

When Parliament reassembled on 15th May 1650, the earl was in his place, and during the session, besides taking part in the Committees of Bills and Overtures, was appointed on several important commissions. He had the greatest hounor in being one of the Parliament’s commissioners to proceed to Falkland, to welcome in their name King Charles’ the Second to Scotland, and intimate to him their ratification of the treaty of Breda. They had also the more delicate task to perform of intimating to the king the desire of Parliament to see better evidence of his resolution to follow their advice by dismissing from his court and sevice those who had shown themselves enemies to the Covenant and work of reformation several of whom were named, and also the Parliament’s intention of seizing their persons, unless they left the kingdom within eight days. Further, Parliamentmade a recommendtion to the king that the Earl of Wemyss should be appointed one of the commissioners of exchequer to deal with his Majesty’s rents, with a view to their improvements.

King Charles landed in Scotland at Speymouth on June 23, and on the 1st of July reached Dundee. Thence he proceeded to St. Andrews, and on the evening of the 6th arrived at Falkland. he remained there for some days, and on the 12th responded to an invitation from the earl to dine at Wemyss Castle.

The reception of Charles the Second by the Scots was the signal for a declaration of war by the English government. Cromwell was despatched with an army of invasion, and entered Scotland on 22d July. He found his way clear as far as the vicinity of Edinburgh, for the Scottish leaders had resolved to try the old plan of starving out the English army instead of fighting.

Written accounts also tell us that David inherited all the patriotism and the business capacity of his father and is most likely the earl who raised the height of the castle to four storeys in a plain style of architecture. Then in 1670 he proposed to Mr Robert Milne, master mason in Scotland to King Charles the Second, to replace the old castle by a new one which measure eitghty-three feet in length, be four stories high, and would have thirteen doors and thirteen chimney-pieces. But on further concideration the earl allowed the old building to remain and added two wings on the west side, one of a hundred and seventeen feet in length by twenty eight feet in breadth and the other on the north of thirty seven feet in length by twenty six feet in breadth both rising to the height of four storeys in order to range with the battlement of the old hall. The height of the castle was raised to four stories in a plain style of architecture, but the height of the older building is marked out by the corbelled battlements all around both the main building and towers. He had the ceilings decorated by skilled artists. The building and masonry of these additions cost upwards of 300 pounds sterling, and nearly 400 pounds more were expended in purchasing lead for the roof, which had to be brought from Newcastle.

One addition by Earl David was built to the west of the old castle, with a staircase entrance from the south between the old and new portions. The style was plain and the appearance of this por-tion has been greatly enhanced by additional construction in later generations.

Sir David lived in London at the time of the coronation of Charles I in 1629 and also saw the political tragedy of his execution in 1649. He took an active interest and roll in the civil, military, and ecelesiastical affairs of the country during the stirring days between 1649 to 1679. He continued his father’s efforts in his adherence to the Covenanting cause. At the General Assembly in Glasgow in 1638 he opposed the bishops and all their works, and in the following year accompanied Montrose and Leslie in the north of Scotland when they took the field against Huntly. He also accompanied the Scottish army into England in 1640, and was away from Wemyss for a whole year. He took part in many Covenanting struggles. He had the honour of being mentioned in many of Cromwell’s dispatches. He was a member of the Parliament which sat at Edinburgh in the autumn of 1641, and a member of the General Assembly of 1643.

The year of 1659 brought scenes of rejoicing and of morning to the Castle of Wemyss. Jean Wemyss, Lord Elcho’s oldest daughter was married in April to the Earl of Angus. In August his sister, Lady Jean Wemyss married her second husband, the Hon. Harry Maule. On November 10th Lady Elcho died, and on the day of his wife’s funeral Lord Elcho was mourning the death of his father.

King Charles II, visited Wemyss Castle on July 20, 1650. Afterwards the king went to Edinburgh and Leith, then proceeded on to Dunfermline. In the ancient city he was met by the Earl of Wemyss and Mr. George Winram, the minister of Liberton, as representatives of Kirk Commission and the Committee of Estates. They intimated to the King that, as he had refused to sign the declaration renouncing popery and prelacy, they could neither own him nor his cause. After certain alterations had been made, the King signed the document the following day. The document became what is known in history as the “Dunfermline Declaration.”

The Earl of Wemyss was present when Charles was crowned at Scone on January 1, 1651. Then in February while the King was making pilgrimage through Fife, he visited Wemyss Castle for one night. When Burntisland fell into the hands of Cromwell’s army, Wemyss Castle was visited and despoiled of its arms and artillery. Earl David ultimately made hearty recognition of the Government of Cromwell, and during the ascendancy of the Commonwealth he enjoyed a season of quiet and repose.

On December 23, 1652 Sir David married again for the third time, Lady Margaret Leslie, the second daughter of the Earl of Rothes at Wemyss Castle. Earl David attended the first Parliament of Charles II at Edunburgh on January 1, 1661. In May of 1662 Parliament assigned to Earl David and the Earl of Kellie the task of bringing in the bishops. Archbishop Sharp was one of the bishops consecrated, and in 1664 Earl David was summoned by Sharp to take part in the visitation of the University of St. Andrews. The visit was the commencement of a frindship between the Archbishop and the Earl which resulted in the erection of Methil into a free burgh of barony, the buildong of a harbour at Methil, the creation of fairs, and the introduction of many changes on the Wemyss lands. He carried out many improvements on his lands, and launched many extensive schemes of mineral development.

It has been written that “in many respects the Earl was a wonderful man.” While he devoted much attention to the army and the Parlement, he still kept a watchful eye on the salt works of Wemyss and his coal output from Methil “Happy Mine”--the Kirkland and the West Wemyss works were a credit to the times in which he lived. He gave close personal supervision to his works.

The Earl died at Wemyss Castle in July 1679, after an illness of but a few days duration. He was buried in the family aisle at the parish church in East Wemyss. His testament was given up by his daughter, Lady Margaret, as sole executrix, and shows that while his personal estate and the debts due to him amounted to 23,949 pounds, his indebtednes was 94,090 pounds, 11s. 3d Scots. Lady Margaret Leslie, as Dowager-Countess of Wemyss, survived till February 1688, and was interred at her own desire beside her third husband.

Lady Margaret, Countess of Wemyss, 1659 - 1705

Sir James Wemyss of Burtisland, her husband

Although David, the 2nd Earl of Wemyss, was married three times and fathered 16 children, the death of his only son and heir in 1671 left the Earl with only two daughters living. His elder daughter, Countess of Southerland, was already married, but his youngest child, Lady Margaret who had been born at Wemyss Castle on March 28, 1659 and at only 13 years of age at the time was considered old enough for marriage. In January, 1672 Lady Margaret was married to her kinsman, Sir James Wemyss of Caskieberry, later of Burtisland. (Sir James' G-G Grandfather and Margaret's G-G-G Grandfather were full brothers). By the terms of the marriage contract Lady Margaret became the Countess of Wemyss, and her heirs would inherit the lands and titles of her father, rather than her elder sister. Sir James furnished the Earl with sufficient funds to meet his heavy debts. Sir James Wemyss of Caskieberry had in 1666 acquired the property of Burntislan Castle (now known as Rossend Castle) and was in his own right very well off. The stately castle stands high above the town of Burntisland in Fife. The castle was built by Peter Durie, of an old F i f e family, whose father was Abbott of Dunfermline, then the richest abbey in the land. It had been passed into Melville hands, and the laird was Sir Robert Melville of Murdocairnie. Mary Queen of Scots herself stayed in the castle in 1563. From Tales and Traditions of Scottish Castles by Nigel Tranter, p170: She was on her way to St. Andrews and spent the night at Burntisland after the Forth crossing. And here, in a room still pointed out as Mary’s bedchamber, the French courtier and poet, Chastelard secreted himself under the royal bed to await the Queen’s retiral-for, like many another of her court he was hopelessly in love with the fascinating Mary. Whether he sneezed or coughed or left a foot sticking out is not reported, but the wretched poet was discovered and dragged forth, causing the Queen to call in alarm for help.

In 1667, only one year after Sir James had purchased the castle, a fleet of 30 Dutch ships arrived in the Forth, and opened fire on the castle and town. It seems that little damage was done to the castle as cannon fire was returned and the Dutch fleet driven off. Sir James was created Lord Burntisland shortly after the marriage. Lady Margaret thus succeeded as Countess of Wemyss in her own right on the death of her father, Sir David, in 1679. James, Lord Burntisland, died in December 1682.

Margaret, Countess of Wemyss and James, Lord Burntishland had at least five children and possibly more. One son and three daughters are known. From Rambles in Scoonie and Wemyss, p 274

Lord Burntisland was only 23 years of age at his death, and before his remains had been long buried his widow had given birth to their fifth child.

It had been believed by many Weems researchers in America that the link to the American Weems had come from a son of Margart, Countess of Wemyss.

William is believed to be the third son of the Countess, though no baptismal evidence has come to light. However, a letter written in April 1700 from the 1st Earl of Cromarti, who married Countess Wemyss after the death of Lord Burtisland, to George, 1st Earl of Melville states: "I hope that I may have the honor to see you heer on Wednesday or Thursday. My Lady (Countess) Wemyss expects her three sonnes heer that day, I mean Thursday."

This letter had been accepted as definite evidence that Margaret, Countess of Wemyss, had three sons, as a letter from Lord Lyon, Register House attests: "you do produce evidence now in the Cromarty letters that Lady Wemyss had three sons of whom only two are so far named.

William, the third and youngest son of Margaret, Countess of Wemyss and Lord Burtisland, probably because of the British law of primogeniture received no title or lands but became a colonel in the service of James Stuart, son of James II of Great Britain who was ousted as King of England and Scotland when William and Mary were invited to ascend the throne in the Glorious Revolution. James Stuart was trying to regain the throne of Scotland from England, and the Scots who supported him were known as Jacobites. They rose in rebellion against England. Colonel William Wemyss, father of our emigrant ancestor, was killed in the Battle of Preston on November 12, 1715.

David, Third Earl of Wemyss also inherited all the enterprises of his grandfather. During the fifteen years to follow, there was great activity at the coal pits and the salt works of Wemyss and Methil. He also tried glassmaking in the Glass Cove.

In 1706 Lord Wemyss was appointed one of the Commissioners for the Treaty of Union between England and Scotland, and through the debates in Parliament supported the Union. He was one of the sixteen peers chosen to represent the nobility of Scotland in the Parliament of Westminster. Earl David moved to London and resided in Soho Square, to discharge his Parliamentary business. Neither the Earl nor his family found London pleasing. He nor his family had much relish for the “rattle and the pleasures of London” and he tells us that he visited no more than just to “keep up mannerly with the world.”

He had two sons and was described as having, ‘a humourous and genial temperament.’ Ibid., Vol I, p. 340. David the oldest became Lord Elcho but died without issue. James the second son became Earl of Wemyss upon David's death and is the ancestor of the present Wemyss line who still own and live at Wemyss Castle. John the second son of The Countess of Wemyss, was baptized October 14, 1680, but no further information is available on John.

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