76821: Rebecca MacCusbic

Rebecca, born in 1850, also known as Betsy, was the daughter of John MacCusbic and Ann MacLeod of old Borve. In 1854 whilst  Rebecca was still a young girl, the family were cleared from their land in order to make way for Borve Farm. They went to live near to Rebecca’s maternal grandmother at 2 Urgha, Harris. Rebecca’s mother died just two years later.

Following her father’s drowning in 1865, she and her sisters Catherine and Christina lodged with their great aunt Catherine MacLeod at Baile. By 1881 Rebecca was living at Quay with her sister Catherine, earning a living as a domestic servant. They were joined by sister Mary.

In 1886 she married fisherman Norman MacCuish. Together they were to have five children, living in a house close to his parents in Backhill.

In 1900 Norman obtained croft 19 Borve, one of the newly assigned crofts that replaced Borve Farm, to which the family moved.