George + Marion\Mariot (of Meikle Tarrell) Macculloch. Marion\Mariot (daughter of John (of Meikle Tarrel) Macculloch and Isabel \Elizabeth (of Little Tarrel) Ross) died on 4 May 1600. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The Calendar of Fearn: text and additions, 1471-1667, edited by R. J.Adam. Edinburgh printed for the Scottish Historical Society by Pillans &Wilson Ltd., Edinburgh. 1991. (# 52, page 98-101)
The Munro Tree (1743) edited by R W Munro (Printed for subscribers inEdinburgh, 1978) (Note L/6 & page 4) (L/6 says "Marion/Mariot ", page 4says "Janet")

Andrew married Catherine (of Cromatie) Urquhart before 1552. Catherine (daughter of Alexander (Dunlugas, Sheriff of Cromarty) Urquhart and Beatrix (of Auchintoul) Innes) died on 2 Apr 1610. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The Calendar of Fearn: text and additions, 1471-1667, edited by R. J.Adam. Edinburgh printed for the Scottish Historical Society by Pillans &Wilson Ltd., Edinburgh. 1991. (# 241, page 172). "she is not named inthe will of Walter Urquhart, sheriff of Cromarty (CC8/*20, 5 august1589), and may have been his sister"

John + Isabel \Elizabeth (of Little Tarrel) Ross. Isabel (daughter of Alexander (of Little Tarrel) Ross) and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

George married Janet Fraser before 1530. Janet (daughter of Alexander Fraser and Anna Oliphant) was born about 1515; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

b. This note pertains to Janet Fraser, wife of George Munro, 4th ofMilton/Dochcarty (MUNRO TREE L/4), and the paternal great-greatgrandmother of John Munro.

Janet Fraser is identified in THE MUNRO TREE (1734) as a daughter ofFraser of Phopachy, but chronology and clues in the WARDLAW MANUSCRIPTestablish that Janet was the daughter of Alexander Fraser, an ancestor ofthe Frasers of Phopachy, one of the seven sons of James Fraser and AnnaWallace who came north from Fruid in Peebleshire with their mother andsister in 1492 at the invitation of their relative, John Fraser, Bishopof Ros.

Douglas Hickling
Dhhic@comcast.com
516 Blair Avenue
Piedmont CA 94611
(August 2003)

A more detailed discussion on "NOTES ON A FEW FEMALE ANCESTORS OF JOHNMUNRO" will appear in the up coming edition of the MUNRO EAGLE, thepublication of the Clan Munro Association in the U. S (June 2003) . SeeBelow.

2. JANET FRASER, A PATERNAL GREAT-GREAT GRANDMOTHER OF JOHN MUNRO ANDWIFE OF GEORGE MUNRO, 4TH OF MILTON/DOCHCARTY (MUNRO TREE L/4)

The 1734 manuscript identifies the wife of George Munro as "Fraser ofPhopachies daughter." [16] The primary source of information on theFrasers of Phopachy is seven scant pages included in the WARDLAWMANUSCRIPT, [17] written by the Rev. James Fraser, 3rd of Phopachy. Bornin 1634, he was the minister of Wardlaw (Kirkhill, Inverness) from 1669until his death in 1709. The WARDLAW MANUSCRIPT, which covers 7 1/2centuries of Scottish Frasers in 557 pages, is widely criticized for itshistorical inaccuracies, which may reflect the fact tht its author couldnot rely on either personal knowledge or public records in compiling sucha comprehensive family history. As the third generation head of theFrasers of Phopachy, it is reasonable to believe that traditions of hisown family line had trickled down to him, and that pages 115 through 121of the manuscript that pertain to that line, although somewhat confused,are more or less correct. [18]

According to the manuscript, John Fraser, a son of James Fraser, Laird ofFruid in Tweeddale, "seeing his name and famely decaying in those partsby the rigour and oppression of Twadall," chose to go north in 1486 tobecome Bishop of Ross. [19] In 1492, because of the "cruel andfraudulent useage of William Hay Lord Twadal," at the invitation ofBishop John Fraser, Anna Wallace, widow of either John or James Fraserof Fruid, came north with her seven sons--Paul, Almond, Alexander, John,James, Duncan, and Robert--as well as a daughter Janet, the youngest.The bishop helped establish his kin in various religious and laypositions. [20]

According to Rev. Fraser, Alexander Fraser, the third son, "lived withthe Bishop all his lifetime." After Bishop John's death at the age of 78in 1507, Alexander married Anna Oliphant and they had several children,including James and Janet. James married Janet Dunbar, daughter ofGeorge Dunbar of Avoch, and they had a son James. This James Frasersupposedly lived with either his aunt or great-aunt Janet, the wife ofAndrew Munro of Milton, and, in 1590, entered the service of Lord SimonFraser of Lovat. After marrying in 1599, this James bought Phopachy andbecame the first of that line of Frasers. [21]

Public records support, and sometimes help us to correct and supplement,the manuscript. Although there appears to be no public record which tiesBishop John Fraser to the Frasers of Fruid, the bishop is clearly anhistorical person, his papal appointment to the see of Ross having beenmade on 14 March 1498, at which time Fraser was the first Dean ofRestalrig, near Edinburgh located about 40 miles from Fruid. [22] Hisearlier positions suggest a lowland origin far from Ross. [23] Asbishop, Fraser granted the rents from a tenement in Linlithgow to thevicars and chaplains of his cathedral on 10 May 1504, a documentwitnessed by Alexander Fraser. [24] Upon the bishop's death, AlexanderFraser, on 1 May 1507, was named one of the bishop's executors grantedthe temporality of the bishopric for one year. [25] On 16 August 1507,Alexander, then identified as a burgess of Linlithgow, received a grantof a portion of Arboll, property of the bishop that had fallen into theKing's hands. [26] These transactions support the existence of a closefamily relationship between Alexander and the bishop, and suggest thatthe claim that the seven sons of Fruid were the bishop's nephews is areasonable one.

Two contemporary charters, dated 13 December 1540 [27] and 2 February1552 [28], name "Jonete Fraser" as the wife of George, not Andrew, Munroof Milton. Another early charter, also dated 2 February 1552, [29] helpsus to estimate the year of Janet's birth. In the latter charter, QueenMary confirmed the grant of George Munro of Dochcarty of a quarter partof Easter Aird "to his son and heir apparent Andrew Monro and KatherineUrquhart, his spouse." Since Andrew had married by 1552, we can assumethat his parents George and Janet married no later than 1530. Thus,Janet's birth year would probably have been 1515 or earlier, and GeorgeMunro's year of birth would be no later, and not much earlier, than 1508.

Having established that Janet Fraser married George Munro, we must nowdetermine which of the two Janet Frasers identified by Rev. Fraser becameGeorge's wife. Chronology rules out Janet Fraser who came north fromFruid in 1492 with her mother and seven brothers. She would have beenfar too old to have married George Munro, who was born about 1508.Chronology further tells us that Janet Fraser who married George Munromust have been the daughter of Alexander Fraser, one of the sevenbrothers of Fruid and the grandfather of James Fraser, 1st of Phopachy.Janet's estimated birth year of 1515 or somewhat earlier is fullyconsistent with the manuscript's statement that Alexander did not marryuntil after the bishop's death in 1507. Janet's date of death is notknown, but her husband George Munro of Milton/Dochcarty died 18 November1576, [30] meaning that James Fraser, lst of Phopachy, could well havelived with his aunt Janet during his childhood before entering theservice of Lord Simon Fraser of Lovat in 1590.

The parents of Janet's husband, George Munro, 4th of Milton/Dochcarty,were Andrew Beg Munro, 3rd of Milton, and his wife Euphemia Dunbar. [31]

From
Douglas Hickling
Dhhic@comcast.com
516 Blair Avenue
Piedmont CA 94611
June 2003

Notes
16. Munro, p. 3.
R. W. Munro, ed., THE MUNRO TREE--A GENEALOGY AND CHRONOLOGY OF THEMUNROS OF FOULIS AND OTHER FAMILIES OF THE CLAN--A MANUSCRIPT COMPILED IN1734 EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES (Edinburgh 1978

17. W. Mackay, ed., CHRONICLES OF THE FRASERS: THE WARDLAW MANUSCRIPT,916-1674 (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society 1905).

18. Rev. Archibald Macdonald, THE OLD LORDS OF LOVAT AND BEAUFORT(Inverness 1934), p. 20.
19. Mackay, p. 115.

20. Mackay, pp. 116, 120.

21. Mackay, pp. 117, 120

22. John Dowden, THE BISHOPS OF SCOTLAND, ed. J. Maitland Thomson(Glasgow: James Maclehose and sons 1912), pp. 222-224; D. E. R. Watt,FASTI ECCLESIAE SCOTICANAE MEDII AEVI AD ANNUM 1638, 2nd draft(Edinburgh: Scottish Record Society 1969), p. 289; REGISTRUM SECRETISIGILLI REGUM SCOTORUM [hereafter RSS], eds. M. Livingstone and others(Edinburgh 1908-), 1: 1469, 1 May 1507.

23. Adam, p. 109; Dowden, p. 222-22. He was for a time abbot ofMelrose, and one of the cloister tombs bears an inscription referring tothe spouse of Robert Fraser, apparently one of Abbot John Fraser's kin.See James A. Wade, HISTORY OF ST. MARY'S ABBEY, MELROSE, THE MONASTERY OFOLD MELROSE, AND THE TOWN AND PARISH OF MELROSE (Edinburgh: Thomas C.Jack 1861), pp. 235, 335.

24. REGISTRUM MAGNI SIGILLI REGUM SCOTORUM [hereafter RMS], eds. J. H.Burton and others (Edinburgh 1882-1914), 2: 2791.

25. RSS 1: 1469.

26. RMS 2: 3123.

27. RSS 2: 3742.

28. RMS 4: 672.

29. RMS 4: 673.

30. Munro, p. 132.

31. Munro, pp. 2-3.

Alexander married Beatrix (of Auchintoul) Innes in 1532. Beatrix (daughter of Walter (of Touch and Auchintoul) Innes) and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]