My Family Tree

THERE WAS A MERCHANT, LAUGHLIN MCDOUGALL, IN CAPE BRETON NS, MARRIED TO JANE CAMERON, in the 1881 census. On the 1871 and the 1881 census, he said he was born on Prince Edward Island, and his children said their father was born on the Island in the 1891 census. At the time I was researching, I wondered if he might be a son of Alexander McDougall and Nancy McLean, who had 13 children. Although it would have been usual for them to name a son after Nancy's father Laughlin McLean, this Laughlin was not a son of theirs, it turned out.

However, the name Laughlin or Lauchlan was very common in Scottish families at this time, and with McDougall families living in other lots on the Island there could have been more than one. A family tree on Ancestry suggests that this Laughlin was born in Scotland, parents John and Catherine, and that his family first stopped on the Island and then in Nova Scotia.

Name Lauchlan Mcdougall
Spouse's Name Jane B. Cameron
Event Date 23 Sep 1847
Event Place West Bay, Inverness, Nova Scotia
Citing this Record "Canada Marriages, 1661-1949," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F2KQ-PYN : 5 December 2014), Lauchlan Mcdougall and Jane B. Cameron, 23 Sep 1847; citing West Bay, Inverness, Nova Scotia, reference p 135 cn 391; FHL microfilm 1,298,809.

There was a second marriage of a Laughlan McDougall in West Bay, in 1864, to a Jane B. McDonald - second wife? Or different man?

In the 1871 census of Nova Scotia, Lauchlin was a farmer and store-keeper. His oldest daughter was Mary E., age 18; Alexander, 16, Catherine 15, William 14, Charles 13, Euphemia 11, Archibald 8, Hugh 7, Laughlin 4, and Jane 3. They were members of the Presbyterian Church.

Jane was a widow in the 1891 census. She was a general dealer, living with the younger children, Euphemia, Maggie, Archie, Lochy and Jane. William and his wife Gertie had a separate entry, and he also gave his occupation as a general dealer. Jane was living with her married daughter Kate in 1901.

Daniel F. Johnson : Volume 67 Number 751
Date June 18 1887
County Saint John
Place Saint John
Newspaper The Daily Telegraph
d. Pictou, N.S., 12th inst., Lauchlin McDOUGALD, age 68.
(same item in the Presbyterian Witness)

None of the documents found to date give the names of Laughlin's parents.