The Munros of Cromarty
Flax flower
My only HIghlands family didn’t even live in the mountains! Darn!
The Munros came from Ross and Cromarty, the county that encompasses the north of Scotland above Loch Ness. George Gordon Smith Munro 1840 was a blacksmith who moved to Leith in 1865 with his wife Janet Chapman 1843 and son George Chapman Munro 1864 (my great great grandfather).
George grew up in Cromarty, a town at the top of the peninsula known as The Black Isle. His father John Munro c 1805 was a flax-dresser. He was born in Tain and married a girl from Resolis, Helen McKeddie 1803. They had only two children, John b 1829 and George.
George was named after a local doctor, George Gordon Smith, who had treated patients in the cholera outbreak of 1830.
Cromarty (blue) Resolis (purple) Arabella (red)
Fishing has traditionally been the main industry but in the 1800s the textile industry reached up here, with the production of flax/hemp. Raw flax was grown in Holland, prepared in Cromarty, and shipped back to Northern Europe for weaving.
John Munro was a flax dresser or “heckler” which meant he stripped the outer coating of the plant, revealing the strong fibre that would be used to make linen.
Hemp
George Gordon Smith Munro married a girl from Fife, whose family had moved north for some reason (yet to be discovered). He and Janet Chapman married in the Free Church at Logie Easter and settled in Arabella. After their first son was born they headed south for George to find work at the Port of Leith. They probably went by boat as the railway didn’t reach the far north until after 1865 and cars until 1885.
Fun Fact: My dad was the first person in my line to own a car - and not until 1961!
Cromarty in 2001, population 719
Munro tartan