Internet Surname Database

I found an interesting and useful website today, as usual, it happens when looking for something else, and in a way it ties up with last Sunday's 'Digging up Your Roots' programme - see the blog Immigrants and Emigrants.

The site is the Internet Surname Database which is a lot handier than going to my bookshelves.

I was just looking at some of the surnames I know, to see if either there's something I can add, or a glaring error, when I searched for Munro.

Part of the entry refers to "....James Monroe was the fifth president of the United States of America in 1823. He was a descendant of Andrew Monroe, who was captured at the battle of Preston in 1648....", which is interesting to me because my granny claimed that James Monroe was a distant cousin of some sort.

She knew a lot about the family history however as we weren't interested when we were young, so much of what she knew was never written down - of course, I'm kicking myself now.

The battle of Preston in 1648, was during the English Civil War, and was won by the roundheads against the royalists.

I'd love to see President James Monroe's family tree, particularly about the descent of Andrew Monroe, who Wikipedia's article implies, was "...2nd great-grandfather immigrated to America from Scotland in the mid-17th century. In 1650, Major Andrew Monroe (16-1688), son of David Munro of Katewell... ", though it doesn't mention that he "was captured at the battle of Preston".

There's contradictory text in Scottish Emigration to Colonial America, 1607-1785
by David Dobson, where it says that David Munro of Katewell was captured after the Battle of Preston in 1648.

There's a bit more of the family tree on the Presidential Avenue entry for James Monroe, and Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae says that David Munro of Katewell was the husband of Agnes, daughter of Alexander Munro and Janet Cumming, and that Alexander, born about 1605, was the son of Hector M. of Milntown of Katewell, dyer, Inverness.

That's rather a lot to check, so if you know of any other record of President James Monroe's family tree, please let me know.

A knot in my handkerchief to get David Dobson's book.

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