Effie was born in 1801, the daughter of Neil MacLeod and Effie Fraser of old Borve, then Brusda, an area of Ruisgarry. She married tailor Donald MacAskill, and they too lived in Ruisgarry with their daughter Ann. By 1851 they had been removed to Baile, where they lived as cottars, Donald earning a living through fishing until his death in 1859. Effie died of supposed consumption in 1870.