Alexander Shirran (or Sherran or Shirron - spelling was an inexact science at the time) was born at the farm or croft of Muirstone in the parish of Tyrie before 1st January 1855 when civil registration was introduced in Scotland, and the General Register Office for Scotland's online copies of parish records do not record his birth. We know that he was the son of John Shirran, crofter, and Margaret Gray, and was born in 1829, probably between 6th April and 31st August, because he was listed as twenty-six when his son William was born on 1st September 1855, fifty-one in the census of 3rd April 1881, sixty-one in the census of 5th April 1891 and sixty-nine when he died on 11th January 1899. [GROS Statutory Births 1855 247/00 0081; Census 1881 223/00 005/00 005; Census 1891 223/00 005/00 009; GROS Statutory Deaths 1899 223/00 0003]