| Alexander (1728 - 1782), the eldest son of John MacLeod 4th of Pabbay and St. Kilda, by his first wife, was the last member of the Clann mac mhic Alasdair Ruaidh to hold these areas in tack. In his day he was regarded as an expert navigator and gave valuable evidence on the Sound of Harris in the Grianam Case 165-66 over the controverted march between Harris and North Uist. Like the island of Berneray, Pabbay also possessed island in the Sound for peat, grazing, kelp, heather and shell fishing. These were collectively known as Na h-Eileanan Papach (i.e. the Pabbay Isles) and included Gilisay, Lingay, Groay, Scaravay, Craco and Dun Aruinn. To reach them the people of Pabbay had to negotiate the stormy shifting sand banks of Druim na Beisde to the north of the island of Berneray. Along with his father-in-law, Donald Campbell of Scalpay, Alexander was a pioneer of the fishing industry in Harris and this later bore fruit in the fishing venture of Captain Alexander MacLeod 1st of Harris (Berneray family), which was centered on Rodel and over a hundred years later, that of Lord Leverhulme, based on Obbe, later renamed Leverburgh. By 1769, documents in Dunvegan Castle make it clear that the lesser tacksmen in Pabbay were hopelessly in arrears and hence Alexander MacLeod of Kirktown and St. Kilda came into possession of practically the whole land area of the island. By 1769, Norman, the Red Man, planned to raise the rents. This was resisted by the tacksmen. Alexander MacLeod of Luskintyre and Donald Campbell of Scalpay gave up their tacks and even Donald MacLeod, the Old Trojan of Berneray, threatened to do the same "were it not for my time of life". Alexander MacLeod of Pabbay and St. Kilda also gave up his tack and emigrated to North Carolina in 1773. He was a man of substance and could afford to buy land there in 1774 near his father-in-law, Donald Campbell of Scalpay, one time forester of North Harris. They shared a grist mill. It is proof of the personal popularity of Alexander MacLeod that several of his subtenants emigrated with him to America.
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