Notes |
- "c. This note relates to Euphemia Dunbar, wife of Andrew Beg Munro, 3rdof Milton (MUNRO TREE L/3) , who was the mother of George Munro, 4th ofMilton/Dochcarty (MUNRO TREE L/4) and the great-great-great grandmotherof John Munro
Euphemia Dunbar is identified in THE MUNRO TREE (1734) as daughter to theLaird of Tarbat. The first Dunbar Laird of Tarbat was James Dunbar, ayounger son of David Dunbar of Durris, the latter being a younger son ofSir Alexander Dunbar of Westfield, the first of the Dunbar sheriffs ofMoray, and his wife Isabel Sutherland of Duffus. Chronology, as well asclues contained in the KINRARA MANUSCRIPT and THE MACKINTOSHES AND CLANCHATTAN, by A. M. Mackintosh, make it clear that Euphemia was the sister,not the daughter of the Laird of Tarbat, making her a daughter of DavidDunbar of Durris."
From
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.
EUPHEMIA DUNBAR, A PATERNAL GREAT-GREAT-GREAT GRANDMOTHER OF JOHN MUNROAND WIFE OF ANDREW BEG MUNRO, 3RD OF MILTON (MUNRO TREE L/3)
The 1734 manuscript identifies the wife of Andrew Beg Munro as "EuffemDunbar daughter to the Laird of Tarbet." [32]
Contemporary accounts and records make it possible to place EuphemiaDunbar in the somewhat elusive Dunbars. The first Dunbar Laird of EasterTarbat was James Dunbar, a younger son of David Dunbar of Durris, nowDores, in the County of Inverness. He acquired a nine-year tack of theking's lands in Tarbat on 6 May 1516 [33], and, on 21 August 1526 and 11May 1542, he acquired feu-ferme charters to Easter Tarbat. [34] Throughother grants, he extended his control to other parts of Tarbat parishbefore dying in August 1560. [35] James Dunbar first appeared in thepublic record in 1511 as lessee of the mains of Fearn. [36] Assumingthat he was at least 21 at that time, he would have been born no laterthan 1490, which would mean that he was at least 70 at the time of death.
Andrew Beg Munro, who was known for behavior that was loutish even by thestandards of his day, died in October 1519, allegedly as the result of afall down his own stairs as he attempted to make certain that his femaleservants engaged in the harvest had appeared in a state of nudity as hehad decreed. [37] He was survived by Euphemia and three recordedlegitimate sons. [38]
As noted above, George Munro was born about 1508, based upon the factthat his son Andrew Munro was already married in 1530. This means thatGeorge's mother Euphemia Dunbar would have been born around 1490 if weassume that she was at least 16 at the time of her marriage in 1506 orso. Thus, she was of the same generation as James Dunbar, first laird ofTarbat, and could not have been his daughter. Similarly, if, assuggested, George Munro was not born until about 1508, he would have beenaround 68 at the time of his death in 1576. James Dunbar seems to havehad a somewhat longer life than George Munro although preceding him indeath by just sixteen years. This strongly indicates that, as James wasonly one generation older than George, James was George's maternal uncle,not his grandfather.
George Munro wrote a history of the Mackintosh family with which he wasfamiliar because his mother, the widowed Euphemia Dunbar, married JohnMalcolmson, the illegitimate nephew of Lachlan, Laird of Mackintosh.This history, which is no longer extant, is cited by the compiler of theKINRARA MANUSCRIPT as one of his principal sources. [39] Lachlan gaveMalcolmson "possession of the lands of Connage for some years" so "thathe might obtain for him in marriage Euphemia Dunbar, widow of AndrewMonro of Miltown; and in this way he thought to tame John of his wontedmaraudings." [40]
As the manuscript says, "it happened otherwise," as Euphemia's husbandparticipated in the murder of Lachlan by stabbing in 1524, leading toMalcomson's beheading in 1534. [41] Euphemia seems to have been unluckyin the husbands chosen by, or for, her. Her third husband proved justas treacherous. [42]
By Malcomson, Euphemia had a son named Lachlan, referred to in theKINRARA MANUSCRIPT as George Munro's brother-uterine. [43] William, theson of Lachlan Mackintosh who had been killed by Malcolmson and hisassociates, eventually became Laird of Mackintosh. In 1548, William tookLachlan, into his favor and granted him for some years the lands ofConnage. Lachlan bound himself by oath to give faithful obedience to thelaird, and George Munro of Dochcarty, James Dunbar of Tarbat, and RobertDunbar of Durris, the son and heir of James Dunbar's brother AlexanderDunbar of Durris, "pledged the greater part of their fortune for hisfidelity." [44]
These guarantors of Lachlan's fidelity are identified in the Latinversion of the manuscript as "ejus cognati et consanguinei," which istranslated as "his cousins and kinsmen." [45] Both "cognati" and"consanguinei" usually denote kin who are related by blood, but "cognati"frequently means "related on the mother's side," especially in Scotland.[46]
A. M. Mackintosh in his THE MACKINTOSHES AND CLAN CHATTAN, [47] at130-131, both quotes and paraphrases provisions of two contracts, dated26 February 1548, which show the steps taken by young Lachlan's kin tosave him from his father's sin in having murdered William's father. Theauthor says that James Dunbar of Tarbat and Robert Dunbar of Durris wereprobably brothers of George Munro's mother. [48] He was apparentlyunaware that Robert Dunbar of Durris had succeeded his father AlexanderDunbar of Durris, the older brother of James Dunbar of Tarbat, in 1526.[49]
In pledging their respective lands to guarantee Lachlan's fidelity to hischief, James Dunbar of Tarbat and his nephew Robert Dunbar, as successorLaird of Durris,
provided convincing evidence of Euphemia Dunbar's place among the Dunbarfamily as a daughter of David Dunbar of Durris, 5th son of Sir AlexanderDunbar of Westfield, the first of the Dunbar sheriffs of Moray, by hiswife Isabel, daughter of Alexander Sutherland of Duffus. [50]
As it happens, Lachlan's oath of loyalty to the Mackintosh chief provedto be of no avail as "he determined by every sinister means to make awaywith his innocent chief." [51] This resulted in Lachlan's execution in1551 "as confessedly the betrayer of their chief." [52] Lachlan'smisconduct does not seem to have caused the forfeiture of the lands ofhis kin who had guaranteed his loyalty.
The attached line of descent will assist the reader in fitting thefemales whose origins were the subjects of this article into John Munro'sancestry. John Munro's multiple lines of descent from King Robert II ofScotland, and at least one line of descent from King Robert III ofScotland, will be the subject of a future article.
Compiled by
Douglas Hickling
Dhhic@comcast.com
516 Blair Avenue
Piedmont CA 94611
June 2003
32. Munro, p. 3. R. W. Munro, ed., THE MUNRO TREE--A GENEALOGY ANDCHRONOLOGY OF THE MUNROS OF FOULIS AND OTHER FAMILIES OF THE CLAN--AMANUSCRIPT COMPILED IN 1734 EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES (Edinburgh1978
33. RSS 1:2762.
John Dowden, THE BISHOPS OF SCOTLAND, ed. J. Maitland Thomson (Glasgow:James Maclehose and sons 1912), pp. 222-224; D. E. R. Watt, FASTIECCLESIAE SCOTICANAE MEDII AEVI AD ANNUM 1638, 2nd draft (Edinburgh:Scottish Record Society 1969), p. 289; REGISTRUM SECRETI SIGILLI REGUMSCOTORUM [hereafter RSS], eds. M. Livingstone and others (Edinburgh1908-), 1: 1469, 1 May 1507
34. RMS 3: 372; RMS 3: 2661.
REGISTRUM MAGNI SIGILLI REGUM SCOTORUM [hereafter RMS], eds. J. H. Burtonand others (Edinburgh 1882-1914)
35. Adam, p. 77.
Adam, p. 109; Dowden, p. 222-22. He was for a time abbot of Melrose,and one of the cloister tombs bears an inscription referring to thespouse of Robert Fraser, apparently one of Abbot John Fraser's kin. SeeJames A. Wade, HISTORY OF ST. MARY'S ABBEY, MELROSE, THE MONASTERY OF OLDMELROSE, AND THE TOWN AND PARISH OF MELROSE (Edinburgh: Thomas C. Jack1861
36. Adam, p. 117.
37. William Fraser, THE EARLS OF CROMARTIE (Edinburgh 1876) vol. 1, p.431.
38. Munro p. 3.
39. This manuscript is named for Lachlan Mackintosh of Kinrara, whocompiled and wrote it a few years before his death in 1686. See JeanMunro and R. W. Munro, eds., ACTS OF THE LORDS OF THE ISLES 1336-1493(Edinburgh: Scottish History Society 1986) p. 4. This genealogy of theMackintosh family appears in print, with an English translation from theLatin by Walter Macleod, in Walter Macfarlane, GENEALOGICAL COLLECTIONS(Edinburgh: Scottish History Society 1900) v. 1, p. 148.
40. Kinrara, p. 216.
41. Kinrara, pp. 216-218.
42. Kinrara, p. 222.
43. Kinrara, p. 241.
44. Kinrara, p. 227.
45. Kinrara, p. 227.
46. P. G. W. Glare, ed., OXFORD LATIN DICTIONARY (Oxford: ClarendonPress 1982), pp. 344-345, 410; Maurine and Glen Harris, comps., CONCISEGENEALOGICAL DICTI0NARY (Salt Lake City:
Ancestry Inc. 1989), p. 50. A crown charter granted by King James V toGeorge Munro of Dochcarty on 27 July 1542 refers to James Dunbar ofTarbat as George's "consanguineus." RMS 2: 2732.
47. A. M. Mackintosh, THE MACKINTOSHES AND CLAN CHATTAN (Edinburgh 1903).
48. A, M. Mackintosh, pp. 130-131.
49. Adam, p. 112; RMS 3:390, 14 November 1526.
50. Sir Robert Douglas, THE BARONAGE OF SCOTLAND (Edinburgh 1798), p.119.
51. Kinrara, p. 227.
52. Kinrara, p. 232.
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