Though we have no personal information our Munro family until a 1813 marriage far to the south in England, I suspect they came from the Northern coast of Scotland. The traditional homeland of the Munros stretched between Dingwall and Evanton on the Cromarty Firth.
One of their modern offspring explains that: “The life of a Highland child was one of adventure. They gathered eggs on sides of cliffs; explored caves along the sea and glens; robbed bees of their honey; watched herring boats and peat boats come in and listened to sailors' stories; caught otter; shot ptarmigans, and trapped martens. They prepared for a life of fighting and living with the family.
“And family life was full and wide. Evening gatherings were for songs and stories. Girls knitted and boys busked fishing hooks and peeled willow-wands for baskets. Even in work they performed as a group and in harmony. Harvesters sang in time of strokes to the sickle; boatmen sang at their oars; women sang as they worked at cloth, one singing verse and others the chorus; islesman sang as they gathered seaweed. The songs made tasks less dull and part of the community. They had songs for everything...songs for going on a journey, and even a song for a toothache. There was a connection between work, play, hopes, fears, and beliefs. And even in death there was a connection with the group. Highland funeral processions could trek for miles and days through glens and mountains.”
THE HIGHLAND CLEARANCES
Everything changed by the late 1700s. The chiefs found it preferable to speak English, took Southern wives, sent their children to be educated in prestigious universities and coveted town houses in Edinburgh. This required more money than the 2 pence an acre they received raising cattle in the traditional manner. Some of the Southern counties were already being transformed into pasture for sheep, which could yield 2 shillings. Sir Hugh Munro was one of the many Highland chiefs that started importing sheep in 1790. They raised the rents by as much as 300%, then seized their dependants homes and cattle when they couldn’t pay. The Highlands were being systematically depopulated.
There was a spark of resistance in 1792, when a party of drinking Highlanders resolved to drive every sheep out of Ross. Their numbers multiplied, and many encouraged them to persist. The ‘rebels’ managed to collect 6,000 sheep before three companies of the 42nd regiment intervened.
Most clansmen were too conditioned by a lifetime of obedience and quietly went into exile. A Lowland visitor wrote of the many Highland families he encountered leaving their homes. Most One told him, “ Our fathers were called out to fight our master’s battles and this is our reward.”