77002: Christina MacCuish

Christina was born in 1884, the eldest child of fisherman John MacCuish and Margaret MacLeod of Backhill. She was born in Ruisgarry, probably at 21/22 Ruisgarry, which was the home of her maternal grandparents. Christina became a domestic servant and in 1907 married merchant Finlay Paterson of Geo Dhubh, with whom she was to have six children. She recorded her memories of the wedding celebrations for her son Ian, to be found here on the Tobar an Dualchais website.

Her daughter Bessie told of how Christina,

‘as a very young woman, was with others on one of these islands in a sheiling for a night or two while working on peats. She was overcome by homesickness when she heard the singing of Gaelic psalms and recognised her (maternal) uncle’s voice. He and some others were also in a sheiling on another uninhabited island close by. They were holding their nightly worship, faithfully, as all that generation did.’

Many of Christina’s memories of life on Berneray were recorded, and they can be accessed through her biography page on the Tobar an Dualchais website.