William Munro, 1st of Allan

Biographical Summary

"I. William Monro, born in 1535, and first of this family, was the second son of Andrew Beg Monro, III. of Milntown, by his wife, Euphemia, daughter of James Dunbar of Tarbat and Ballone Castle, Easter Ross, son of Sir James Dunbar of Westfield, county of Moray. William received as his patrimony the lands of Meikle Allan, parish of Fearn, which, known as the Maordom of Allan, belonged at the Reformation wholly or in part to the Bishop of Ross, who includes them in the rental of the Bishopric returned between 1561 and 1566, to the Collector of Thirds. In 1569 James VI. granted to Andrew Beg Munro, William's father, the escheat of all the goods upon the quarter lands of Meikle Allan, with the crops of that year, forfeited by John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, for treason and lese-majesty.

William married, about 1558, Catherine, daughter of Brigadier Shaw, Governor of the Lewis, with issue —

• Andrew, his heir and successor.
• Donald, of whom nothing is known.

He had also several daughters, whose names have not come down to us, but one of whom married Bailie Clyne of Cromarty ; another Finlay Manson, appointed a Reader at Nigg at Beltane in 1568, and afterwards, on the 19th of June, 1569, presented by James VI. to the Chaplainry of Tolly, parish of Rosskeen. In 1574, he was promoted to Tain, having also Tarbat (which then included the modern parish of Fearn), Nigg, and Edderton, his whole stipend being £26 13s 4d Scots, equal to £2 4s 4d sterling, in addition to the church lands. In 1578 he removed to Nigg, at the same time continuing to hold Tarbat as part of his ministerial charge. He is found as parson of Nigg in 1607, and remained there until his death in 1612.

William Monro died about 1580, when he was succeeded by his elder son."

SOURCE: History of the Munros of Fowlis: with genealogies of the principal families of the name to which are added those of Lexington and New England; Alexander Mackenzie; 1898; page 292