Catherine was born in 1834, the daughter of Donald MacKillop and Catherine Morrison of old Borve. However, in the early 1850s, the tenants were cleared from Borve, and Catherine's family was removed to the northern part of Berneray, to Quay, then on to Baile. Her daughter Catherine was born in 1865. By 1881 she was registered as a dressmaker in Ludag, and this property later passed to her daughter.