Overview . . . 

  We begin with JOHN MUNRO and ANNE FRASER of Inverness, Scotland.  We do not know a lot about them; our notes show that they were married at Gaelic Chapel, Fort George, Scotland.   We have a ‘tree’ hand-written by John Henry Munro, four generations down, which tells us they had eight progeny, but he can name only four of them.  Of these, we concern ourselves with two of their sons,  JOHN MUNRO, who married ISABELLA GORDON McKAY, at Gaelic Chapel,  and HENRY MUNRO, John’s brother, for they are the ones who first came to North America.  

  John the son was born in 1793, Isabella probably in 1792.  To place them in history, think of Napoleon having become Emperor of France 3 years before, the French Revolution having been in 1789.  Of the brothers of John whose names we know, we have no information on David, but George is said to have emigrated to Bermuda. We do know about Henry; he emigrated to the United States and we have been able to follow his footsteps there fairly well.  There will be more about him further on.  

  John and Isabella emigrated to Canada in 1831.  To place that in history, it is well before Confederation—we have John’s oath of allegiance to the Crown taken at ‘Upper Canada’ now Ontario, in July 1831.  The oath did not make John a 'Canadian'—no one was a Canadian until 1867—rather, it was King William IV's assurance that he would be on hand to defend the Crown's interests against agitators who wanted to become independent of Britain.   Children Christiana and Alexander travelled with John and Isabella.  They settled for a short time in Penetang, where John worked at building the armory and where son Robert John came into the world in 1833.  Probably about 1837, they removed and took up farmland in Vespra Township, Simcoe County, Ontario.  Isabella was there made a widow when John, clearing land, was tragically killed by a falling tree in 1845.  More tragedy followed seven years later when young Alexander died, but Isabella and Christiana found good marriages in Robert Leadlay and George Sneath respectively.  We have a lot of information about Christiana’s progeny, assiduously accumulated by Ardis, who descends from the Sneaths.  

  After John's death, ROBERT JOHN MUNRO, the remaining son and the first true Canadian male Munro of our clan, carried on working the farm.  His mother Isabella lived on with him until she died in 1883. Robert married LUCY SMITH of the huge THOMAS SAMUEL SMITH – HANNAH WARD clan. (The Smith family history is being kept by BOB ABBOTT of Kamloops, BC.) Robert John and Lucy produced seven children: In no particular order, they were: Robert James, Hannah, Thomas Lot, Isabella Ann, Thomas W., George Henry and John Alexander.  All have their stories which are set out on pages to follow; but we shift focus to concern ourselves now with one son, JOHN ALEXANDER MUNRO.  To do that, we have to go back to Inverness, where another of John and Anne’s sons, HENRY MUNRO, as mentioned, went off to the United States.  

 We have Henry marrying ANGELINA GRIFFIN (although there is some complicating recorded information about this—see John Henry's family 'tree' page.) They lived in Indiana and later removed to Ferndale Washington where they immediately prospered.  Our photo of Henry is probably the oldest image in our collection.  Henry and Angelina produced five children, of whom Alathea married HUGH JOHN CRAWFORD.  Alathea and Hugh had four children but we will concern ourselves here only with daughter Agnes Lynn, born in Ferndale in 1870.  

  Now, then—we go back to the aforementioned John Alexander, son of Robert John Munro and Lucy Smith, living on the farm in Vespra.  The family farm in Simcoe County could only support so many people and there were other sons—so, seeking opportunity, John. A. headed west in 1886 to look in on his great uncle Henry in Ferndale, Washington State.  Henry’s progeny, through Hugh Crawford, were operating a prosperous lumber business where John A. found work.  In Ferndale, he met and fell in love with his cousin, Agnes Lynn. Very shortly they married.  Thus some of the Munro thread turned back into itself from having strayed into the Crawfords.  John Alexander and Agnes moved to Edmonton and eventually to Busby, Alberta, Canada, about the turn of the century.  They lived a pioneer life, fraught with hardship and sometimes grief, producing a family of nine children whose progeny are now scattered across the Canadian west.  



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