James Munro was baptised 20th of December 1796 as recorded in the parish of Farr registers, son of Alexr Munro and Barbara Mckay (Mackay) in Armadale (pictured below). This James Munro is considered the first surviving son of Alexander Munro and his wife Barbara Mackay as their first son, James Munro (b.1791), in Cennabeinne, parish of Durness, seems to have died young. James Munro born 1796 is recorded as a boat builder by trade. However, the only record of this is where he is recorded as the father on the 1882 death certificate of his son John Munro (1819 - 1882). I'll come back to this later. His father Alexander Munro was also recorded as a boat builder on the death certificate of Donald Munro (b.1802), as well as on various other records as a wright, carpenter, house carpenter etc.
James Munro married on the 5th August 1816 to Elizabeth MacIntyre as recorded in the parish of Farr registers. His place of residence is given as Armadale. Elizabeth MacIntyre is mentioned as the daughter of John MacIntyre, late school master in Erribol. (Erribol is a hamlet within the parish of Durness).
James Munro is recorded alongside Alex Munro in 1819 on a new crofts agreement for the village of Armadale, lasting until 1826.
James Munro and Elizabeth's two children, recorded in the parish of Farr registers as being born in the village of Armadale were:
1. Catharine Munro (21 October 1817)
2. John Munro (11 August 1819) (Probably named John after his mother's father, John MacIntyre)
A petition from James Munro's mother, Barbara Mackay, to the Duchess-Countess of Sutherland, dated 18th August 1835, as found in the Sutherland Estate Papers in the National Library of Scotland (REF:DEP.313.2420) states that two of her sons had drowned in 1819 and two had died more recently; one in Liverpool and one in Thurso. As James Munro (b.1796) only had two children in a time when people usually had larger families, with the last one being born in 1819 and no further trace of James after that, it seems likely that James was one of the two who drowned in 1819.
The next record of the family is his son John Munro's marriage to Martha Martin on the 5th April 1850 in the parish of Barony, Glasgow, Scotland. The 1861 and 1871 census records both record John Munro in the parish of Govan, Glasgow and both give his place of birth as Armadale, Sutherlandshire. John's age also matches up precisely on both of the census records with his year of birth as 1819. Their children were all born in Glasgow:
1. Margaret Munro (1851)
2. Elizabeth Munro (1854)
3. James Alexander Munro (1856 - 1857 - died young)
4. Sarah Munro (1858 - died young)
5. James Alexander Munro (1860 - 1932 died in Melbourne, Australia)
6. William Alexander Munro (1862 - 1939 died in Glasgow, Scotland)
7. John Honeyman Munro (1865 - 1882 - died in a boat accident in the parish of Bowmore, Argyll with his father)
8. Martha Munro (1867)
9. Sarah Munro (1869)
John Munro (1819 - 1882) is found on the 1881 census then living in the parish of Kilchoman, county of Argyll. He along with his third son, John Honeyman Munro, are recorded as having died after setting off in a small boat on a loch, in the parish of Bowmore, county of Argyll on the 21st June 1882 (shown below). The parishes of Kilchoman and Bowmore are both actually on the Isle of Islay, Argyll. The 1881 census also shows one of John's daughtes, Elizabeth, living with him and his youngest son in this part of Scotland. Interestingly their home is recorded on the 1881 census record as "Bruchladdich Armadale Cottage", evidently after Armadale in Sutherlandshire. John Munro the father, was recorded as a "Ship's Cargo Measurer" by trade on the census. Meanwhile the remainder of his family including his wife, Martha Martin, and his two eldest sons were still residing in the city of Glasgow, as per the 1881 census.
1882 statutory death certificate from the parish of Bowmore, Argyll for John Munro (b.1819). It shows that his father was James Munro a "boat buider".
The eldest son of John Munro (b.1819), James Alexander Munro (b.1860), married Elizabeth B Service in 1884 in Glasgow. They had moved to Victoria, Australia by 1903 where they had two sons and three daughters. James Alexander Munro was also recorded as a "Goods Measurer" in various records. He died in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in 1932. Today there are many living descendants of James Alexander Munro living in Australia.
The other surviving son of John Munro (b.1819), William Alexander Munro, married Jessie Ann Mackenzie in 1905 in Glasgow, Scotland. William is recorded on the 1911 census as a "Ship's Cargo Measurer". William died in 1939 in Glasgow, Scotland. He left at least four daughters.