THE first Scot has been confirmed as a cousin of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe after tests proved he has the same DNA as her relatives.
The man, originally from the north-east, has been tested for the Y-chromosome which links him to the late actress.
Clan Munro Association USA discovered that Munroe’s mother, Gladys Pearl Monroe, had ancestral links to Scotland and was descended from a Ross-shire soldier.
It believes that an ancestor of Monroe, another spelling of the Scottish surname Munro, was a Highland soldier banished to America in the 1650s during the English Civil War.
The group has launched an appeal for all Scottish men with the surname Munro to get in touch for DNA testing in a bid to trace more relatives.
The American icon, who would have turned 90 last week, was born as Norma Jeane Mortenson but took her screen surname from her mother.
The star of Some Like It Hot died of an overdose at 36 in August 1962.
The research used DNA provided by Marilyn’s grandfather, Otis Elmer Monroe, to establish a link to a man from the Tain area, John Munro, who travelled to America in the mid-17th century.
With the help of Clan Munro Association in Scotland, they are hoping more Scots will come forward for saliva testing in the coming months.
Clan Munro USA’s Margaret Bardin, from Texas, who is involved in the project, said she had no contact with the Scot since his DNA was confirmed.
She said: “We have found one Scot who shares DNA with Marilyn Monroe’s relatives. He has a close DNA match. He lived in the north-east of Scotland and has Scottish heritage but moved to Birmingham.
“That gentleman participated as a favour and we paid for his testing. He has not continued to correspond with me. We have to respect his privacy. He may not want to be mobbed with being Marilyn’s cousin.
“Money has been donated by the Clan Munro USA for this project and there are guidelines that must be followed as well as a vetting process.
“We are seeking men who carry the Munro surname who live in Scotland and we have 10 DNA kits.
“This project is to prove that it was not a stage name and that Marilyn truly does have Munro heritage.”
Clan Munro USA hopes to trace Monroe’s Scottish roots through YDNA testing. The Y-chromosome is only carried by men and is passed virtually unchanged from father to son.
The project includes the descendants of Munros from Easter Ross in the Highlands, also the fifth US president James Monroe and Scots soldiers who were imprisoned and then banished to Britain’s American colonies after the Battle of Worcester in 1651.
Worcester was the last battle of the English civil wars and involved thousands of Scots combatants.
Texas-based Mark Monroe, of Clan Munro USA, said the YDNA test already done had shown that the Hollywood actress was a descendant of one of those soldiers, a Highlander from the Munro clan’s Easter Ross stronghold.
Monroe said: “The YDNA sample marker values matched with other YDNA samples in the Munro YDNA project that then tied her ancestry to a John Munro who settled in Bristol, Rhode Island, after being captured at the Battle of Worcester in 1651 and banished to America.
“We do not know the ancestry of John Munro, but there are likely male Scots living today who have the same characteristic YDNA marker values and, thus, could prove to be cousins of Marilyn Monroe.”
Anyone wishing to inquire about testing should email Margaret Bardin at mbardin731@comcast.net.
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