1. Alexander Munro and Barbara Mackay

Alexander Munro and Barbara Mackay were my 4th great-grandparents (great, great, great, great).

There is no marriage record for Alexander Munro and Barbara Mackay. However, the first contemporary record appears to be a parish baptism record for a son named James Munro who was baptised on the 30th of September 1791 in the parish of Durness, county of Sutherland, in the Scottish Highlands. The entry in the parish record states that the parents, Alexander Munro and his "wife" Barbara Mackay were in the village of Ceanabeinne which is in the parish of Durness. Ceanabeinne was part of the Rispond Estate. The entry of 1791 also states that Alexander Munro the father was a carpenter. (Later records mention him as a master carpenter, boat carpenter, boat builder, wright, house carpenter). The Old Statistical Account of Scotland (1791 - 1799) says for the parish of Durness that about 20 people of the parish were employed in building two ships in 1788 and 1789 which would sail from Ruspin (Rispond) for herring and cod fishing (volume 3, page 581), and that at the time no roads had been made through that tract of the country, (volume 3, page 580).

James Munro who was born in the parish of Durness in 1791 appears to have died young as Alexander Munro and Barbara Mackay are found five years later in 1796 in the parish of Farr registers at the baptism of another son who was also named James. They were then living in the village of Armadale. There is no further trace of the first James Munro who was born in 1791 so it seems that he died young. In Armadale, Alexander Munro and Barbara Mackay are recorded in the parish of Farr registers as having six sons and one daughter:

1. James Munro (20 December 1796)

2. George Munro (12 July 1799)

3. Donald Munro (12 August 1802)

4. Gabriel Munro (24 December 1804) 

5. Honyman Munro (29 April 1806) (Went by the name of William Munro and appears to have been named after William Honeyman, Lord Armadale - the local land owner)

6. Chirsty Munro (16 May 1808)

7. Mackay Munro (14 January 1812) (Went by the name of John Munro from at least the age of 17 - my direct ancestor)

So where did Alexander Munro and Barbara Mackay come from ? This is where it gets complicated. One of their grandsons, through their son Donald, was the infamous James Munro, 15th Premier of Victoria, Australia (1832 - 1908).  This James Munro stated that his grandfather, Alexander Munro of Armadale, was "of the family of Foulis, Ross-shire" and that his grandmother, Barbara Mackay was "a relative of the chief of of Mackays". Of course this area of Sutherland is known as "Mackay Country" and comprises the lands that were once the territory of the chief of the Clan Mackay. However, Scottish clans were generally groups of people who adopted the surname of the chief even if they were not related to him, to show solidarity, for protection and for sustenance. The book Clan, King, and Covenant: History of the Highland Clans from the Civil War to the Glencoe Massacre by J.L Roberts (2000), explains that contrary to popular belief, the ordinary clansmen rarely had any blood tie of kinship with the clan chiefs, but they took the chief's surname as their own when surnames came into common use in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and thus by the eighteenth century the myth had arisen that the whole clan was descended from one ancestor. See page: Possible origins of Barbara Mackay of Armadale for more information on my hunt for her parish birth record.

The Munros of Foulis in Ross-shire likewise were the chiefs of the Clan Munro. However, as a proven descendant of Alexander Munro in the direct male line I have taken part in the Clan Munro Y-DNA project and my direct line (father's father's father's line and so on) is not connected to or descended from that of the Munros of Foulis. It is of course possible that Alexander Munro was descended from the Munros of Foulis through a female ancestor which would not show up in the "Y" DNA test. I have also not ruled out that Alexander Munro came from the county of Ross-shire. Below is a page from the book Burke's Colonial Gentry (published in 1891) by the well known genealogist Sir Bernard Burke. The article is about James Munro, the Premier (1832 - 1908) and lists his lineage back to his grandparents, Alexander Munro and Barbara Mackay.

I will detail Alexander Munro and Barbara Mackay's children on other pages. However, it is worth noting that the page above from Burkes' Gentry (1891) does have a few errors in listing the children's names: the book lists both a son named John and a son named Mackay. There is no parish birth record for a son named John, however the son named Mackay who was baptised in 1812 (my 3rd great grandad) went by the name of John Munro, so this could be how this mistake came about. Also, the book lists the sons George and Gabriel the wrong way around; George was the second son and Gabriel was the fourth as per the Farr parish register.

Another earlier book, Australian Representative Men, 2nd Edition, published by Wells and Leavitt, 1887 (pictured below) with very similar details goes further and says that Alexander Munro removed from his native county (Ross-shire) in about 1784 upon receiving an appointment from the Earl of Caithness.

See page: Alexander Munros of the 76th Foot for an explanation of how Alexander Munro of Armadale may have received his appointment from the Earl of Caithness in 1784.

Alexander Munro of Armadale was recorded twice in 1814 as a wright which is an old word for a carpenter, and there was an Alexander Munro who was a wright who appeared before the Inverness Sheriff Court in 1816 and who was outlawed in 1817, and who could possibly be Alexander Munro of Armadale - see page Alexander Munro the outlaw and fugitive ? for more information.

Armadale

In Armadale, Alexander Munro and Barbara Mackay owned an Inn. A map from the early 19th century, held in the National Library of Scotland, confirms the location of the Inn at the beginning of the village near where it junctions with the main coastal road (today the A836). See page: Map of Armadale. There is a document in the National Records of Scotland that details a fight that took place at the Inn in 1821 between a group of local men who had all been drinking whiskey. See page: 1821 fight at Alexander Munro's Inn, in Armadale for more information.

Alexander Munro is recorded in the death records and marriage records of his children as a house carpenter, master carpenter, boat carpenter and boat builder. Two documents from 1814 record him as a "wright" which is an old word for a boat carpenter (one is when he was employed to value houses in Armadale and the other is a petition to build a house in Armadale). Alexander Munro is also recorded in rent records in the village of Armadale. A document called the "Ledger of Farr 1830" which is found in the Sutherland Estate Papers in the National Library of Scotland (Ref:DEP.313/1943), has an entry for the 13th December 1830 that reads:

Incidents:

1.       To George Munro, valuing houses in Armadale. 10.  £   .126.

2.       “ Alex Munro, express to Strathy. 10.   £   .1.

Mr Loch's Visit:

1.       “ Alex Munro, express to Tongue. £21.10.

Mr Loch (James Loch) was the Commissioner of the Sutherland Estate, in effect chief executive of Sutherland Estate developments from 1816 onwards and who planned the mass evictions of 1819-1820. (Source: Set Adrift Upon the World - The Sutherland Clearances, by James Hunter, published in 2015, page xvi). The "express" is believed to have been the delivering of the mail for the Commissioner or the estate "factor" (manager) who ran the estate under the Commisioner. The George Munro recorded as valuing houses in Armadale in 1830 could well be the same George Munro who was born in 1799, son of Alexander Munro, as Alexander Munro himself is recorded as carrying out the same job of valuing houses in Armadale in 1814. It is worth noting that the village of Armadale was originally part of the Strathy Estate, and although part of the church parish of Farr, in 1833 the Strathy Estate became its own church parish of Strathy. For centuries the Strathy Estate had been owned by the Mackay of Strathy family (a junior branch of the Mackay chief's family) until 1790 when William Honeyman bought the estate from his maternal grandfather John Mackay of Strathy. Honeyman then took his Judicial title of Lord Armadale. Then in 1813 Honeyman himself sold the Strathy Estate and it became part of the Sutherland Estate. The village of Strathy was of course where the estate owner had lived historically and the village of Tongue was where the Sutherland Estate also had a headquarters at Tongue House. These are the places where Alexander Munro is recorded as having delivered the "express". There was only one other Alex Munro living in the parish of Farr and also the village of Armadale in the early 1800's but he and his wife had moved to the parish of Reay in the county of Caithness by 1814 as confirmed by the parish registers.

National Library of Scotland Dep.313/2369 includes in a list of tenants for 1829-1830 in Armadale, an Alexander Munro, Donald Munro and John Munro.

National Library of Scotland Dep.313/2012 includes an Alexander Munro and John Munro who were both residents in Armadale on a paylist of labourers who worked on the construction of Armadale Road in 1832.

National Library of Scotland Dep. 313/2500 includes an Alexander Munro and John Munro who were both residents in Armadale and who both received pay for hay sold from the meadows of the Bighouse Estate "in the month of March 1834 (crops 1832)". The Bighouse Estate was part of the larger Sutherland Estate and like Armadale it was in the part of the parish of Farr which later became the parish of Strathy. 

National Library of Scotland Dep.313/2505 also shows that in 1834 Alexander Munro in Armadale received pay for hay that was sold by the estate.

Rent records for the village of Armadale show Alexander Munro still alive in 1834, (National Library of Scotland, ref: DEP.313/2260). However, the following year in 1835 his wife is recorded in the rent records in place of him as "widow" of Alexander Munro, (Ref:DEP.313/2261). The 1835 rent record also has a remark for Alex Munro's widow that states "Duchess-Countess Petition". At the time the Duchess-Countess of Sutherland was Elizabeth-Leveson Gower, daughter of William, 18th Earl of Sutherland. The actual petition dated 18th August 1835 from Barbara Mackay to the Duchess-Countess of Sutherland is found in the Sutherland Estate Papers in the National Library of Scotland (REF:DEP.313.2420) and reads as the following:

Unto her Grace the Duchess of Sutherland the Petition of Barbara McKay Widow of the late Alexr Munro Carpenter in Armadale.

Humbly Sheweth, that your Gracis Petitioner is reduced to circumstances of indigence and distress in her old age and Widowhood, occasioned by the loss of friends and relations who while they lived assisted your Petitioner and rendered her comparatively comfortable, your Gracis, Petitioner has been especially tyred, and deprived of much help by the Death of four sons, two of whom were drowned with a Crew from this place, returning from the Herring fishing in the year 1819 and two of whom died since that time, one at Thurso and the other at Liverpool; and the Death of her husband which happened last winter, crowned this scene of distress in her family - your Petitioner's sons being all grown up lads, active and dutyfull, & the Husband being an industrious man, while strength remained they all by their earnings supported themselves your Petitioner, your Petitioner having only one son left, and he beginning to struggle with difficulties by furnishing a Boat & the necessary fishing implements, can do very little to assist your Petitioner. Your Gracis Petitioner besides being this deprived of her friends relations who helped is now feeling many of the infirmities of old age, especially threatened blindness + deafness & Rheumatism, by which she is disabled from working us formerly, twith all having fallen unto arrears of rent her prospects are very gloomy.

May it therefore please your Grace to consider the circumstances of your Petitioner + be pleased to grant such aid to your Grace may seem proper + your Petioner shall ever may B. Munro. Hereby Certify that the statements in the Petition of ...... in Armadale, are all correct and that she is a person of an excellent Moral Character. David Mackenzie, minister Farr, August 18th 1835.

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Sept 21st 1835 allow the arrears on account of the age of the Petitioner £//:

End.

Points of note:

• One of the two sons who drowned in 1819 was probably the eldest, James Munro (b.1796), as he only had two children with the last being born in the same year of 1819 and no further trace of him after that. The one who died later in Liverpool was probably Honyman Munro (b.1806) as he has been previously traced there having had two sons by 1833. It seems obvious to allocate the second eldest son, George Munro (b.1799), as the other one of the two who drowned in 1819, leaving the fourth son, Gabriel Munro (b.1804), as the one who died later in Thurso. However, there is a George Munro on record in 1830 valuing houses in Armadale which happens to be a job previously done by their father Alexander Munro, and Alexander is listed alongside George on the record of 1830. So it could be the other way round with Gabriel having been the other one who drowned in 1819 and George being the one who died later (as of 18th August 1835) in Thurso. 

• In the petition dated 18th August 1835 by Barbara Mackay, widow of Alexander Munro the carpenter in Armadale, she states that she only had one son left to look after her when there were in fact two still alive: Donald Munro (b.1802) and Mackay (John) Munro (b.1812). This is probably because at the time Donald was living many miles away to the west in the parish of Eddrachillis. It is recorded in both Australian Representative Men, 2nd Edition, published by Wells and Leavitt, 1887 and Burke's Colonial Gentry, 1891 that Donald removed back to Armadale in 1835, however his petition to do so, to the Sutherland Factor, is dated March 1836. Also, Donald's first child to be born in Armadale, parish of Farr/Strathy, was Alexandrina (Lexy) Munro who wasn't born until October 1836, with all his previous children being born in the parishes of Tongue and Eddrachillis. The petition of 18th August 1835 also describes the one remaining son basically as a fisherman and there is a petition dated 14th Sept 1836 to the Sutherland Factor from a list of fisherman which includes both a Mackay Munro and Donald Munro both in Armadale. Barbara's daughter, Chirsty Munro (b.1808), was also still alive but she was not mentioned in the petition either.

• David Mackenzie the minster of the parish of Farr who wrote the petition of 1835 for Barbara Mackay was apparently on the one hand happy to write on the behalf of the people who were about to be evicted, but on the other hand vacillated between endorsement of, and opposition to, the Highland Clearances in Sutherland, and he was seemingly incapable of consistency as to whose side to take in the conflict that was erupting around him. (Source: Set Adrift Upon the World - The Sutherland Clearances, by James Hunter, published in 2015, pages xvii, 210 and 211).

• National Library of Scotland Dep.313/2016 includes a note written on 3rd December 1834 at Bettyhill which like Armadale was a village in the parish of Farr and which shows that a Barbara Mackay was given ten shillings by Mr Horsburgh and paid to her from the Duchess-Countess of Sutherland "her grace". It is not confirmed if this was my ancestor Barbara Mackay of Armadale but it is within the time frame of the death of her husband Alexander Munro of Armadale which was sometime in the winter of 1834-35 and therefore could have been in connection with that.

• Rent records for the village of Armadale confirm Alex Munro's widow (Barbara Mackay) as "dead" in 1845 (Sutherland Papers, National Library of Scotland, ref: Dep.313/2234).