1. Robert Wodrow was a Scottish minister and historian, known as a chronicler and defender of the Covenanters.
10 Facts About Robert Wodrow
1. 2.
Robert Wodrow was born at Glasgow, where his father, James Wodrow, was a professor of divinity.
3.
Robert Wodrow had sixteen children, his son Patrick being the "auld Wodrow" of Burns's poem Twa Herds.
4.
Robert Wodrow was the youngest son of James Wodrow, Professor of Divinity, at the University of Glasgow.
5.
Robert Wodrow served as chaplain in the house of his kinsman, Sir John Maxwell of Pollok, and for several years he was librarian to the University of Glasgow.
6.
Robert Wodrow assisted Principal Hadow in drawing up the Act of Assembly for the filling up of vacant parishes, the passing of which in the following year gave rise to the Associate Presbytery.
7.
Robert Wodrow declined calls to Glasgow in 1712, to Stirling in 1717, and again in 1726.
8.
Robert Wodrow was one of the first historians to use "publick records, original papers, and manuscripts of that time" and included many first hand accounts of this period in the history of the Church of Scotland, producing a martyrology that the church would turn to again at times of suffering.
9.
Robert Wodrow left two other works in manuscript: Memoirs of Reformers and Ministers of the Church of Scotland, and Analecta: or Materials for a History of Remarkable Providences, mostly relating to Scotch Ministers and Christians.
10.
The Robert Wodrow Society, founded in Edinburgh to perpetuate his memory, was in existence from 1841 to 1847, several works being published under its auspices.