(1867-1950), clergyman, poet. (in his book, he gives his name as William Wilber MacCuaig; spelling Wilbur also found; W. W. MacCuaig, William W. MacCuaig) Born at Bryson, Que. Parents: Norman MacCuaig and his wife Jane Moorhead. Early schooling was at Bryson. He attended the Presbyterian College, Montreal, graduating in 1897, and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1900. In 1912, he is recorded as having been a clergyman at Levis and in Montreal. (Morgan) He was the author of Songs of a Shanty-Man and Other “Dialect” Poems of French-Canadian Life (Toronto, The Musson Book Co. [1913?]; pp. 91), a collection of poems written in the “Habitant” style of William Henry Drummond. The book is dedicated to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, “My revered friend”. The book has illustrations by William F. Binger in black and white and in colour. A shanty boss from Glengarry called MacDonald appears in one of the poems. McCuaig also wrote a poem “Glengarry Forever,” which was published in the Cornwall Standard of 3 April 1924. He was married to Barbara Alexander (1868-1941). He was not a Glengarrian, but he had family connections in GC and in the Skye portion of southern Caledonia Township adjacent to GC. Moreover, his father is said (Standard) to have been a Glengarrian. Beyond what is give here, enquiry, regrettably, has supplied nothing on W. W. MacCuaig’s later years.

     W. W. MacCuaig’s brother Jim C. MacCuaig (1885-1976) was a lumberman who had been in the Ottawa Rough Riders in his early years. Jim C. MacCuaig was in the Canadian Forestry Corps in the two world wars and attained the rank of major. Jim C. MacRae was deeply interested in the family history.

Morgan (1912) 676 * Elthea Lightbown, Dear Meg: a Taste of Highland Heritage for the McCuaigs (1990), 50-51, 55 * his poem “Glengarry Forever,” Glengarry Life (1990), printed from a handwritten book of poems compiled by Ella May MacMartin