 MacInroy
is an Atholl name and tradition states that the MacInroys descend from a chief of Clan
Donnachaidh of Atholl through descent from the Re(i)ds alias Robertsons of Straloch who
had their lands in the adjoining parishes of Kirkmichael and Moulin. The name combination
of John Red occured frequently with the lairds of Straloch but the name MacInroy first
begins to appear close to the middle of the 16th century. The MacInroys belong to a
numerically small name which originated in only one particular area. Bearing this in mind
the MacInroys are likely to descend from the same origin, the founder of the family
probably living his adult life between 1535-1580. Although they did move about - a minor
offshoot of the MacInroys is found in the village of Comrie in Strathearn by the year 1694
and one MacInroy household is known in Kilmadock Doune at that time but the general
picture is that the MacInroys continued to farm land in their ancestral district for
generations, in the Pass of Killiecrankie and the hamlet of Dowally. The MacInroys have
never had their own clan and hence the MacInroys have never acted as such. However, out of
self-interest they aligned with the Dukes of Atholl and other Atholl lairds, mainly the
Fergussons and the Stewarts. The main family was that of Wadsetter of Balnabruich and
later of Lude near Pitlochry. The present head of the family, Nicol McInroy of Lude
descends from James McInroy and Anne Brooksbank, who lived at the end of the last century.
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