My Family Tree

Most family trees say that Charlotte Tamar Purdy married John Richard McDougall in 1841. There was only one record in PEI Marriage Registers, for the marriage of a Charlotte Purdy to John McLeod in 1841, Robert Patterson Minister and Nathan and Mary Milligan as witnesses. Simple mistake? or wrong woman? Charlotte and John were not in the New Brunswick or PEI Marriage Registers that are online on familysearch.ca. There was no mention of their marriage in Daniel Johnston's newspaper database.

If Charlotte was the daughter of James and Mary Purdy, she was not living with them in 1851 in New Brunswick.

With their eldest daughter Elizabeth born in the 1830s, either Charlotte was John's second wife, or they married much earlier than 1841 - which would explain the lack of a record.

Daughter Elizabeth, born 1831, named her first daughter Charlotte Tamar, which makes it more likely that Charlotte was her mother. The names Charlotte, Tamar, and Purdy appear in most of the descendant families of John Richard McDougall, which adds some weight to this being his first wife and the mother of all of their children.

There was a married couple in the household of John McDougall in Lot 16 in 1861; the oldest female was between 21-45.

John had remarried by 1865.