Sir John Ramsay, 2nd Baronet

Sir John Ramsay was born 26 Feb 1645. While he may have studied law, he was employed in various capacities, generally as agent for the Earl of Lintoun, collecting his rents and arrears. In 1668, he was auditing the Earl’s salt and coal accounts, paying the workers and regulating the salt-grieves. He also paid annual rents to the Earl’s creditors. John Ramsay kept a diary from January 1690 to June 1691 which shows how busy he was travelling around and fulfilling social and family obligations: here’s a typical day, “I wrot a letter to the Earle and Ane other to Mr John Creichton, went to Wintoun and bought hay for the Earles use, returned to Tranent to meet with the tenants, went to Whytehill at night.” The diary also records the deaths of his brother William and daughter Ann. Unfortunately, he had inherited his father’s debts, mainly incurred through purchasing the Baronetcy. When bankruptcy loomed his surviving son Andrew was given management of his estates, through two deeds, issued in 1708 and 1712. John died in 1715, and was laid to rest in the family vault in Whitehill Mains.

The 2nd Baronet’s first wife, Anna Carstairs, was born in around 1652, and died in 1689. Sir John’s second wife, Rosina Purves, was the daughter of Sir William Purves of Purves Hall, 1st Baronet. Her first husband had been James Deans, of Woodhouselee and the child of her first marriage was Elizabeth Deans. Rosina, in particular, is mentioned in the extensive correspondence that survives.

Note: The Earl of Lintoun cited in Sir John’s correspondence:

SOMERVILLE, JAMES (1632–1690), family historian, baptised on 24 January 1632 at Newhall,  son of James Somerville of Drum (by right, tenth Lord Somerville) and Lilias, second daughter of Sir James Bannatyne of Newhall, a lord of session

Having narrowly avoided involvement in the royalist campaign of 1651, he spent the rest of his life in Scotland, writing a family history. He did not take up the Somerville title, which explains why he was referred to as Earl of Lintoun.

https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Somerville,_James