My Family Tree

Although Peter Mcdougall and his wife Marion had more than one son Duncan, no other relationships have been proven. Some parts of this tree are speculation - which is noted - so copy at your own risk!

I have used the spelling McDougall in this family tree, although the name appears with many variations, including McDougald and McDugle. "In the 19th century North Esk, the McDougall surname was usually written and pronounced as though it were Mcdougald." (from Old North Esk)

It is generally assumed that Alexander McDougall was a son of Peter and Marion McDougall of Lot 18. What is a little more certain was that he was born on the Island, after 1770 and before 1781. The date of his marriage to Nancy or Ann McLean, daughter of Laughlin McLean, is unknown, but it was after 1809, which was when the McLean family emigrated from Scotland, and most likely before 1812.

Their marriage was not in the records of the Richmond Parish of the Presbyterian Church, which covered 1821-1834, or in the Church of England in St. Eleanor's, which covered from 1821 onwards. Their eldest known child was Hugh, born in 1811.

Nancy/Ann's obituary indicated that she was the mother of 13 children and 81 grandchildren. Their first recorded children were Nancy, Peter, Elizabeth, and Duncan who were born in Lot 12 between 1822 and 1826 and all baptized on the same day at the Church of England in St. Eleanor's. James (1830) and Catherine (1832) were baptized a few years later. In 1863, Duncan's mother and brothers and sisters signed an agreement about land. In addition to Duncan, those named were married daughters Nancy Dyment and Elizabeth Dyment, unmarried daughter Catherine, Peter, Charles, James, Alexander Jr., and Hector. Alexander Jr. was described as being under 21, and living with his mother.

Alexander did not leave a will, but there are administration papers for the estate. They name Alexander's widow, Ann, and 12 children: in order of age: Hugh, living in Miramichi; John, living in Saint John, New Brunswick, Alexander, Hector, Charles, Nancy, Peter, Duncan, the petitioner; Elizabeth, James, Catherine, as well as Archibald, who predeceased his father leaving a wife and four - or five - children.

He could be the Alexander McDougall who purchased 200 acres of land in Lot 12 on March 1819.

Alexander McDougall was living in Lot 12 with a household of 9 people in the 1841 census. One member of the family had been born in Scotland (Nancy), and the rest on the Island. All were Presbyterians. The ages of the females fit the recorded births for Nancy, Elizabeth, and Catherine, and the oldest woman would have been Nancy, which leaves one additional female. The 3 males under 16 could be Peter, Duncan and James. There was only one male between 16 and 45.

Alex McDougall was a male over 60 in the farm next to that of Charles McDougall in the 1861 census of Lot 12. There was a married couple, and a woman over 60 who was probably Nancy. There had been one marriage the previous year (daughter Nancy married Humphrey Dyment in 1860). There were 2 unmarried women and one son. These could be unmarried daughter Catherine, her young daughter Eliza, and Elizabeth's son Alexander, called Alexander jr.

Because there was an older man named Alexander McDougald in Lot 12 in the 1861 census of PEI, I believe that the will of Alexander McDougald, Lot 14, who died in 1856 was not this Alexander. There was another Alexander McDougald, with wife Nancy and son Peter, in the Lot 14 area, a Roman Catholic household.