Andrew
Renwick
b.
d. 1675 probably near Minehive, Glencairn parish, Dunsmire, Scotland
buried: Scotland
| Children unknown | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| possibly John Renwick (John Renwick's father) | b. | d. | m. ? |
| Alexander Renwick, (James Renwick's father) | b. | d. | m. Elizabeth ? |
I don't know who the father of my own relative John Renwick may have been but the family story is that John was related to James Renwick, the Last Covenanter Leader of Scotland.
James Renwick's father
was said to have been a weaver. This could be family craft. Since James
Renwick, the Martyr, was only twenty-six years old at the time of his
death I doubt that he had any children if he was married at all. James
Renwick's father was Andrew and Elizabeth Renwick. Their other children
apparently died so he was raised as an only child. With James' busy
life of education and preaching he probably didn't marry so I doubt he
could be a direct ancestor but perhaps his grandfather maybe. I'm still
looking for any information on this family. Please contact me with any
leads you may have.
Elizabeth Cairn was
apparently a very pious woman. As Rev. Robert Simpson wrote in
1863, she "was a woman full of good faith and of good works, and one
who had great pleasure in religious ordinances, to enjoy which she
frequently travelled considerable distances afrom her home, and was a
constant attendant on the sacramental occasions, under the ministry of
the godly John Semple of Carsfairn. This pious pair were warmly
attache to the principles of the Reformation, and the door of their
dwelling was readily opened to the wanderers who, for conscience sake,
were banished from their homes to traverse the mountains and
wildernesses around them. The devout and affectionate couple were
blessed with several children, whom the great Disposer of events was
pleased to remove in infancy: and Andrew Renwick, whose mind was always
disposed to bend in the lowliest resignation to the Divine will, used
to comfort his wife, whose motherly heart, on the occasion of the death
of her sweet babes, was crushed with grief, by saying, that he was well
pleased to have children to be heirs of glory whether they died young
or old."
[Simpson,
Rev. Robert. The Life of the rev.
James Renwick.]
John Howie wrote in his "Biographia Scoticana" in 1775 that,
"MR. JAMES RENWICK was born in the parish of Glencairn in Nithsdale, Feb. 15, 1662. His parents though not rich, yet were exemplary for piety. His father Andrew Renwick (a weaver to trade) and his mother Elizabeth Corsan, had several children before Mr. James, who died young; for which when his mother was pouring forth her motherly grief, her husband used to comfort her with declaring, that he was well satisfied to have children, whether they lived or died, young or old, providing they might be heirs of glory. But with this she could not attain to be satisfied, but had it for her exercise to seek a child from the Lord, that might not only be an heir of glory, but might live to serve him in his generation: whereupon when Mr. James was born, she took it as an answer of prayer, and reputed herself under manifold engagements to dedicate him to the Lord, who satisfied her with very early evidences of his accepting that return of his own gift, and confirmed the same with very remarkable appearances of his gracious dealings with the child. For, by the time he was two years of age, he was observed to be aiming at prayer even in the cradle and about it, wherewith his mother conceived such expectations and hopes, that the Lord would be with him, and do good by him, &c. so that all the reproaches he sustained, difficulties and dangers that afterwards he underwent, to his dying day, never moved her in the least, from the confidence that the Lord would carry him through, and off the stage in some honourable way for his own glory. His father also, before his death, (which was Feb. 1, 1679.) obtained the same persuasion, that his time in the world would be but short, but that the Lord would make some eminent use of him.
[Howie, James. Biographia Scoticana: or, a Brief Historical Account of the Lives, Characters, and Memorable Transactions of the most eminent Scots Worthies 1775]
1675 - Andrew Renwick dies when James was thirteen.
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