John Wedderburn Dunbar Moodie
John Wedderburn Dunbar Moodie was a Scottish-born army officer, farmer, civil servant and writer in early Canada.
The son of Major James Moodie, he was born in Melsetter in the Orkney Islands. In 1813, he became a second lieutenant in the 21st Royal North British Fusiliers. He was seriously wounded during an attack on Bergen op Zoom in the Netherlands. He received a military pension for two years and was placed on half-pay in 1816. In 1819, he went to South Africa, where his two older brothers Benjamin Moodie and Donald Moodie had settled two years earlier. Moodie was magistrate at Umkomaas, Natal. In 1829, he returned to England. He published an article in the United Service Journal in 1831 and then a book Ten years in South Africa in 1835.
In 1831, he married Susanna Strickland; they came to Canada the following year. They purchased a farm near Coburg in Upper Canada. After encountering difficulties establishing a homestead, they settled in Belleville. Moodie served in the militia during the Upper Canada Rebellion. From November 1839 to January 1863, he served as sheriff for Victoria District. From 1847 to 1848, he contributed to and was editor for the Victoria Magazine. He also published Scenes and adventures, as a soldier and settler, during half a century in 1866 and contributed to his wife's book Roughing it in the bush, or life in Canada.
He died in Belleville at the age of 72.
