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Individual:
THE DESCENT OF MARGARET DUNBAR,
WHO MARRIED ROBERT MUNRO, BARON OF FOULIS,
FROM ROBERT III (JOHN) STEWART, KING OF
SCOTLAND, AND THE ERSKINES OF DUN
la. John, the son of King Robert II of Scotland and his first wife,Elizabeth, daughter of Si r Adam Mure of Rowallan, married (in 1367)Annabella, daughter of Sir John Drummond of Stoball by Mary, daughter ofSir William Montifex. Upon his accession to the throne in 1390, Johntook the name of King Robert III of Scotland. Their second daughter was
2a. Princess Mary, who married (before 1416), as her third husband andhis second wife, Willi am, 1st Lord Graham of Kincardine, who died in1424. Their son
3a. Sir Robert Graham of Ewisdale, Strathcarron, and Fintry was marriedtwice, and was the fa ther, by an unknown woman, of
Marjory Graham, who married John Erskine, 3rd Laird of Dun (line 4b).Their son, John Erskine , 3rd Laird of Dun, appears at line 5.
DESCENT FROM THE ERSKINES OF DUN
1b. Sir Thomas Erskine was the eldest son of Sir Robert Erskine ofErskine and his wife, Beat rice Lindsay, daughter of Alexander Lindsay ofCrawford. Sir Robert, who owned Dun, deeded it to his son, Sir Thomas,in 1377. Sir Thomas married Janet Keith, daughter of Sir Edward Keithand Christian Menteith and widow of Sir David Barclay of Brechin. Theirsecond eldest son was
2b. John Erskine, 1st Laird of Dun, who received the lands of Dun fromhis father and had a c harter to them from King Robert III on 25 October1392. Unlike his father and grandfather who held that property as an adjunct to their other possessions and did not live there, Dun became the1st LairdÃïs only property and his home. His wifeÃïs name is unknown.Their son was
3b. Alexander Erskine, 2nd Laird of Dun. His wife was named Jonet, buther last name and whe ther she was the mother of AlexanderÃïs son areunknown. AlexanderÃïs son was
4b. John Erskine, 3rd Laird of Dun, who married Marjory Graham (line4a). Their son was
5. John Erskine, 4th Laird of Dun, who married Katherine Monypenny, adaughter of William Mon ypenny of Pitmillie. This John Erskine, alongwith his son and heir and a brother, were all killed at the Battle ofFlodden in 1513. Dame Katherine died in 1531. Their daughter
6. Elizabeth Erskine married Sir George Falconer of Halkerton. Theirdaughter
7. Jean Falconer married Sir Alexander Dunbar of Cumnock and Westfield,the fourth hereditar y Dunbar Sheriff of Moray, and the son of Sir JamesDunbar of Cumnock and Westfield and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir JamesOgilvie of Deskford. They were the parents of
8. Margaret (or Anna) Dunbar, who married Robert Munro, Baron of Foulis.
SOURCES
The descent of Sir Robert Graham of Ewisdale, Starthcarron, and Fintryfrom Robert III Stewart , King of Scotland is well-established. See THESCOTS PEERAGE 6:215-219. See also BRITAINÃïS ROYAL FAMILIES, by AlisonWeir, pages 226-228.
Although the article in THE SCOTS PEERAGE referred to above does not listMarjory as a daughte r of Sir Robert Graham of Ewisdale, the proof of thisrelationship and of the succession of the Erskine Lairds of Dun seems tobe clearly established by other sources. The GENEALOGICAL TREE OF THEANCIENT FAMILY OF ERSKINE OF DUN, compiled after 1830 by AlexanderSinclair, shows Marjory daughter of Robert Graham of Ewisdale as the wifeof John Erskine, 3rd Laird of Dun. The compiler notes that, because hewas denied access to information on the Erskines of Dun, the family treewas based on numerous scattered and incidental notices, chiefly in thepublic records.
The papers in the charter chest at Dun were edited by John Stuart andprinted in THE MISCELLAN Y OF THE SPALDING CLUB, volume 4 (1849). One ofthe documents from the Dun charter chest is entitled NOTES RELATING TOTHE FAMILY OF DUN. Since the last of these chronological notes refers tothe year 1646, it is likely that they were written just after that year.These notes show the succession of the Erskine Lairds of Dun, as John(the son of Sir Thomas Erskine), Alexander, John, and John. For somereason, they refer to John (the son of Alexander) as the second and statethat he married Marjorie Graham, a daughter of Fintrie. The notes showthat this Johns son, also named John, married Katharine Monypenny.
Obituaries of various family members included in the Dun papers appear tohave been written i n 1572. Among the obituaries are those of DameMarjorie Grahame (died 17 May 1504), her husband John Erskine (died 15March 1508), along with those of their son John Erskine, killed withother Erskine men in the Battle of Flodden in 1513, and of his widow DameKatherine Monipennie (died 3 March 1531).
THE LAIRDS OF DUN, by Violet Jacob, published in 1931, appears to be themost recent and compl ete genealogy of this family line, and it is basedlargely upon the Dun papers set forth in the Spalding Society article. Atpage 31, however, she identifies Robert Graham of Ewisdale as the fatherof Marjory, stating that
"among the papers of Graham of Fintry is an acquittance and discharge,
dated at Pomfret in 1452, to Alexander Erskine of Dun for two hundred
merks out of the three hundred promised by Robert Graham of Ewisdale(ancestor of Fintry) on c ontract of John Erskine, son of Alexander, andMarjory, daughter of the said Robert."
Ms. Jacob also shows, at page 45, that Elizabeth, a daughter of JohnErskine, the 3rd Laird an d Katherine Monypenny, married Sir GeorgeFalconer of Halkerton. This point is confirmed in THE SCOTS PEERAGE5:243-244.
The identity of the parents of Margaret Dunbar is set forth in a birthbrief,approved By Act o f the Lords of Secret Council in 1663, during thereign of King Charles II of Great Britain. The birth brief had beenrequested by Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Munro of Obsdale, a careermilitary officer living in France, who wanted to marry a French lady ofrank, and needed to prove to the lady and her family that he was ofgentle birth. The birth brief, in referring to Alexandersgreat-grandfather, says
and Robert was born of the former Robert of Fowlis laird
thereof (who fell honourably fighting valiantly for his country
in the battle of Pinkie) of Anna [sic] Dunbar, daughter of
Alexander Dunbar, Sheriff of Moray, by Jean Falconer,
daughter of the laird of Halcartoun.
This birth brief is set fort in full in TRANSACTIONS OF THE GAELICSOCIETY OF INVERNESS, volum e 12 (1885-1886), at pages 383-387. It alsoappears in Alexander Mackenzies HISTORY OF THE MUNROS OF FOWLIS, at pages171-174. The Munro genealogy compiled by George Martine of Clermontafter 1673, and which is included in volume I of Walter MacfarlanesGENEALOGICAL COLLECTIONS, PUBLICATIONS OF THE SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY,volume 33 (1900), also identifies Margarets parents as Sir AlexanderDumbar Sherrif of Murray and _______ Falconer Daughter to The Laird ofHalkertoun.Ãô
Compiled by Douglas Hickling, Dhhic@aol.com, 516 Blair Avenue, Piedmont,CA 94611. 1 Februar y 2002
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