John Wightman of Burton-on-Trent

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Not the son of William Wightman, MP.

4. John Wightman of Burbage, Lancaster, England, born about 1539 [SIC] and married Modwen Caldwall on November 6, 1553 in Burton-on-Trent, England

Biography

http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~wightman/genealogy/John1520.htm

John1 Wightman1 was born Bet. 1520 - 1534 in England, and died Bef. June 1580 in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England1,2,3. He married Modwen Caldwall1 November 6, 1553 in Burton-on-Trent, England1, daughter of William Caldwall. She was born ca. 1536 in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and died Aft. 1580.

The Early History of the Wightman Family in England describes the reasonable scenario that John was the son of William Wightman of Wyken (Hinckley, near Burbage).

During the 1550's, John was apparently the headmaster of the grammar school at Burton-on-Trent. After 1557, he was headmaster at the grammar school in Repton, Derbyshire, a few miles from Burton. He may have moved to Burbage around 1560, or perhaps he remained at Repton while Modwen lived at Burbage. In any case, throughout the 1560's and 1570's, Modwen would bear children at Burbage. In the 1580's, it appears that the family may have relocated back to Burton-on-Trent, where Modwen's cloth business was centered.

Modwen was the daughter of prominent Burton-on-Trent clothing trader, William Caldwall, and niece of Dr. Richard Caldwall, a physician who practiced in Lichfield and London. Richard Caldwall was a very prominent physician; he helped establish a lecture series on surgery at the College of Physicians, in conjunction with Lord John Lumley. Her father, William, helped build the first fulling mill in Burton in 1555. This type of water mill was used in the processing of wool into cloth.

Modwen was trading in Burton-on-Trent as a clothier in 1582, when her Uncle Richard established a charity for Burton cloth-dealers when his brother (Modwen's father) William died. She received a share of 120 pounds sterling for the next five years from "Caldwall's Charity."

Children of John Wightman and Modwen Caldwall are:

1. Elizabeth Wightman, born ca. November 26, 1562 in Burbage, Leicestershire, England3; died Bef. 1572 in Burbage, Leicestershire, England.
2. Valentine Wightman, born ca. October 1564 in Burbage, Leicestershire, England.
3. Edward Wightman, born ca. December 20, 1566 in Burbage, Leicestershire, England1,3; died April 11, 1612 in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. He married Frances Darbye September 11, 1593 in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England1; born 1569 in Hinckley, Leicestershire, England; died Aft. 1612 in London, England (?).
4. Elizabeth Wightman, born ca. November 1572 in Burbage, Leicestershire, England.
5. Richard Wightman, born ca. January 1572/73 in Burbage, Leicestershire, England.
6. William Wightman, born ca. November 1576 in Burbage, Leicestershire, England.

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