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(At the urgent request of many
friends, Mr. MacDougall was persuaded to give some of the facts of his
life to one who has known him for nearly twenty years and who has written
the following sketch.)
DONALD MACDOUGALL, Editor of TRE
CALEDONIAN MAGAZINE and
Editor-in-Chief of this book, Scots and Scots' Descendants in Amer-
ica, and other works, is a descendant of the MacDougalls of Lorne, one of
the four oldest families in Scotland. His ancestors for many generations
have been tenant farmers of Horisary, North LTist, Inverness-shire. He is
the fourth son of nine children of Donald and Mary (MacDonald) MacDougall,
and received his early education in the district and governnient schools.
At the age of fifteen he taught as a substitute for two terms, and a year
later went to Glasgow and received his first business training with his
eldest brother. Alexander. At an early age he had manifested a desire to
study for the ministry, and after preparation he entered Harley house, the
East End Institute. London, and Cliff College, Derbyshire. At the end of
three years he was graduated and shortly afterward came to Canada,
visiting relatives, and in the fall of 1881 entered Princeton Theological
Seminary, and in due time was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New
Brunswick, N. J. The following year he attended Yale Divinity School,
where lie received in 1883 the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. During this
period Mr. MacDougall. paid for his education from his own earnings from
preaching. He was ordained by the Presbytery of Champlain, New York, and
began work in the churches of Black Brook and Ausable Forks, where under
his ministry a revival took place. Later he took advanced studies in Union
Theological Seminary, New York, and in 1885 was sent by the Presbyterian
Board to organize churches in New England. In this work he met with marked
success, organizing churches in Portland, Maine, Fall River and Taunton,
Mass. His pastorate in Taunton covered a period of nearly ten years, where
he built a handsome stone church. While Moderator of the Presbytery of
Boston, he was in the same year President of the Taunton (Congregational)
Association, and as presiding officer received candidates for the ministry
in both denominations—a very unusual occurrence. In December, 1886, he
married Harriet Daniels Blake, daughter of Rev. Dr. Mortimer Blake, a
prominent New England pastor and President of the Board of Trustees of
Wheaton Seminary. After leaving Taunton, he was pastor for a short time of
the First Presbyterian Church in New Bedford. During his work in this city
a man named Daniel Robertson was in prison for the murder of his wife.
There was difficulty in bringing the crime home to him, and he persisted
in denying his guilt, so that the case went on in court for eighteen
months. Mr. MacDougall continued to visit him in his cell and to deal with
him about his soul, and at last be became truly penitent, confessed to the
murder, and was clearly converted to God, giving a bright testimony to the
saving power of Christ before his execution. The Sunday before his death,
Mr. MacDougall baptized him and administered the Lord’s Supper.
The continued activity in
the organization work in New England began to affect Mr. MacDougall ‘s
health, and he was reluctantly compelled by the advice of friends to give
up work for a season. With his wife and little
daughter Esther, he visited his home in Scotland, and a
few months later he started on a prolonged journey around the world,
visiting the Far East and Australasia. While in New Zealand, he was busily
engaged in evangelistic work, conducting services for months in the
leading churches. He became much interested in the native New Zealanders,
the Maoris, and later wrote a book, The Conversion of the Maoris of New
Zealand, published by the Presbyterian Board, Philadelphia, which has
been well-received by all interested in foreign missions.
On his return to the United
States by way of San Francisco, visiting Samoa and Honolulu, he again
resumed his evangelistic work, preaching in many of the leading churches
of Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Brooklyn, where he aroused much
interest. When engaged in this work, his wife was suddenly called home,
which was a great blow.
While conducting services in Camden,
N. J., he came in contact with a noted follower of Robert Ingersoll. This
man was a bitter hater of the Gospel, but
was prevailed on to come to the services with
his Christian wife, and much prayer was made for him. When spoken to, he
began to argue and resist the truth, but somehow he could not keep away
from the meetings. God laid hold of him, and he yielded himself to Jesus,
giving a wonderful public testimony, and has for years been an earnest
Sabbath School worker.
Mr. MacDougall, being a Gaelic
scholar, occasionally conducted Gaelic services.• In order to reach the
Scottish people in general, in April, 1901, he began the publication of
THE CALEDONIAN, a
monthly magazine devoted to the
interests of Scots in America. The magazine has been a saccess from the
beginning, many eminent writers contributing to its pages. One of its
features has been the presentation of biographical sketches of the leading
Scots resident in North America, and from this feature has grown the
present monumental work, the first of its kind, and in this arduous task
it is pleasing to state that he has received the valuable assistance of
many of the leading men of Scottish blood on the American Continent.
Mr. MacDougall has shown an
enthusiastic interest in all that pertains to the welfare of the Scottish
Societies in America. While he has been repeatedly urged to accept office
in the numerous societies to which he is attached, he has preferred to
confine himself to his chosen field of work, in which he has met with
success. THE CALEDONIAN
occupies a unique place, and has
combined the qualities of a high class literary periodical of high moral
tone with that of disseminating news of a national character among the
Scots and their descendants. Its constantly increasing popularity is the
best proof of its intrinsic worth. It may be said to be a reflex of the
intellectual activities of the Scots at home and abroad, and is a monument
of the industry of the accomplished and worthy Editor.
As we already stated, Mr.
MacDougall, whose ministry is spread throughout the country, is a native
of the western isles of Scotland, and in his own mental and physical
attributes is a fine type of that hardy, persevering race.
Mr. MacDougall is a member of the
Presbytery of New York, the St. Andrew’s Society of the State of New York,
the Scots’ Charitable Society of Boston, a life member and director of the
Caledonian Hospital, and a member of the 0. S. C., etc. As a preacher and
lecturer he is in demand. He has written The Conversion of the Maoris
of New Zealand, A Short History of Scotland, and compiles an
Annual Directory of the Scottish Societies of the United States, Great
Britain, and the Dominions; has contributed to periodicals; has been
Editor and Business Manager of THE CALEDONIAN for the past seventeen
years; and is Editor-in-Chief of Scots and Scots’ Descendants in
America, which he considers his greatest literary work.
Mr. MacDougall was a member of the
Hudson Tercentenary Joint Committee and of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration
Commission (1909), and also a member of the Dedications Committee.
Mr. MacDougall married in June,
1903, Ruth Gage, daughter of Abner D. and Anna (Claffin) Strong, of
Ashtabula, Ohio, a graduate of Wellesley College, who is a great help to
him in his literary work. Their daughter, Esther Blake MacDougall, is a
young woman of promise, a real MacDougall. |
