MELVILLE, John 4th of Raith, Sir ²

   Cause of his death was execution for treason.²

   User ID: M935.

  General Notes:

"Sir John Melville, fourth of Raith, was retoured heir to his father in the lands of Raith, Pitconmark, and Torbain on 29 October 1502, his grandfather William Melville being then presumably dead. In the discharge dated 20 April 1506 by Euphemia Lundie, relict of William Melville .... John Melville is designed Knight, which may have been one of the numerous dignities bestowed at the time of the marriage of King James iv. with the Princess Margaret of England on 11 August 1503."

from Scots Peerage (vol 6) ²

John married Margaret WEMYSS, daughter of Sir John WEMYSS of Strathardle, then of Wemyss and Christian ABERNETHY, about 1503(charter granted).^{1 2} (Margaret WEMYSS was born about 1488.)

  Marriage Notes:

"Margaret, who married John Melville of Raith. They received a charter from Sir John Wemyss in 1503 of the lands of Wester Raith."

from Family of Wemyss




"Sir John Melville married, first, about July 1503, a daughter of Sir John Wemyss of that Ilk"

from Scots Peerage (vol 6)




"Margaret (Wemyss), married to John Melville of Raith; they had a charter from her brother, in 1503, of the lands of Wester Raith."

from Scots Peerage (vol 8) ^{1 2 3}

John next married Helen NAPIER about 1525.² (Helen NAPIER was born about 1505 and died about 1588 ².)

  Marriage Notes:

"Sir John Melville married .... secondly, about 1525, Helen Napier, stated by genealogists to have been the daughter of Sir Alexander Napier of Merchiston, but in a family memorandum, dated 1575, said to have been his niece, and her mother a daughter of the Laird of Craigmillar. This statement however does not agree with the chronology of the Napier family, and it is probable that the memorandum is incorrect. Helen Napier survived her husband, and in 1569 obtained from David Hamilton, son of the Regent, a charter to herself and her son John of the lands of the Abthanery of Kinghorn Easter, now Abden, of which she was still in possession in May 1584, but she probably died about 1588.

According to a memorandum preserved in the family Sir John Melville had by his first wife sons and daughters, but the sons died v.p. By his second wife he is said, on the same authority, to have had nine sons, of whom several are said to have died young, and two daughters"

from Scots Peerage (vol 6) ²