It had, however,
been settled on his stepmother, Janet Cuthbert, in life-rent, and
after her on her eldest son, Charles of Mellan and subsequently of
Letterewe, to whom, after her death, Alexander formally disponed
it. They afterwards entered into an excambion by which Alexander
reacquired Loggie-Wester in exchange for Letterewe, which then
became the patrimony of the successors of Charles.
A tradition is current in the Gairloch family that when Alexander
sought the hand of his future lady, Barbara, daughter of Sir
John Mackenzie of Tarbat, and sister-german to the first Earl
of Cromarty and to Isobel Countess of Seaforth, he endeavoured
to make himself appear much wealthier than he really was, by
returning a higher rental than he actually received at the time
of making up the Scots valued rent in 1670, in which year he
married. This tradition is corroborated by a comparison of the
valuation of the shire of Inverness for 1644, published by Charles
Fraser-Mackintosh in "Antiquarian Notes," and the rental of 1670,
on which the ecclesiastical assessments are still based. In the
former year the rental of the parish of Gairloch was L3134 13s
4d, of which L1081 6s 8d was from the lands of the Barony, equal
to 34 1/2 per cent.
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