John, born 1835, was the second son that name born to Donald MacCusbic and his first wife, Mary MacLeod. The family lived in Ruisgarry until the 1840s when, with the re-organisation of Ruisgarry’s many small plots into larger ones, the family emigrated to West Bay Marshes, Cape Breton.

In 1867, John married Margaret MacCusbic at Grand River, the daughter of emigrants from Berneray. Together they had two children, living at Framboise.

John’s second marriage, in 1871, was to Mary MacLeod of Cape Breton.