Semple, Samuel (1666-01-01 - 1742-02-07)

Born sometime in 1666. Son of Gabriel Semper, the minister of Jedburgh, Roxburghshire and Margaret, Daugter of Sir Patrick Murray of Blackcastle. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh and graduated MA on the 3 July 1694. He was ordained on 31 August 1697 and became minister at Liberton, Lothian. He married Elizabeth Murray, daugther of Sir Murray of Blackbarony on 2 November 1701. He had one child, Mary. He planned a "History of the Christian Religion from its first plantation in Scotland", encouraged by four General Assemblies and funded by a £300 grant. Although letters attest to the history being completed, with material gathered from the Bodleian and Cotton Libraries, the work was never published and thus far attempts to recover the MS have been unsuccessful.