Quoycare was a cottar house on the roadside above Brough on the Westside close to Quoygrinnie, and described in 1880 as being ‘12 chains NW from Quoygreena, one storey, built of stone, thatched, and in fair repair.’
William Craigie was the son of Drummond and Isabel Craigie of Whome, Westside, and was born on May 3rd 1798. In 1822 he married 20-year-old Janet Leonard, the daughter of Peter Leonard and Isabella Flaws, and they had two children whilst living at Whome; James, born on May 4th 1823 and Peter on November 17th 1827. They moved to Mansmasshill where daughter Janet was born on October 19th 1829, and it was not long after they moved to nearby Quoycare, where four more children, Thomas, Magnus, Mary, and William, were born between 1831 and 1838.
The 1851 census described William as an agricultural labourer, as was his son Thomas. Magnus attended the nearby school, Mary was employed at home, and 12-year-old William was described as an invalid.
In the latter part of the century Magnus, then earning a living as a fisherman, was the only occupant of Quoycare. He married 21-year-old Mary Logie, daughter of Westness shepherd Robert Logie and his wife Mary Murray. Unfortunately Mary died in February 1891, aged just 29. She was buried in the Westside kirkyard alongside her siblings: Robert who died in April 1876 aged 19 years; James, who passed away in August 1884 aged 16, and her sister Eliza, who was 21 when she died on January 12th 1886.
