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Macdougall, Dougall,
Berlin, Ontario, was born in the City of Glasgow, the commercial capital
of Scotland, in the year 1828. Although by birth a Lowlander, he is a true
Celt, as both parents were Highlanders from Argyleshire. Mr. Macdougall's
father was a member of the ancient and powerful clan whose name he bore.
His father was a native of Glenorchay, in Eastern Argyleshire, once the
home of the warlike Macgregors. For generations back the Macdougall's
ancestral relations followed the profession of arms. Several of them
occupied high rank as officers in the British army, and served with marked
distinction under Wellington in the Peninsula and in other parts of the
world. Mr. Macdougall's father came to this country, and arrived in the
Province of Quebec at a time when it was in a most primitive condition,
and privations and hardships were the lot of every adventurous settler. He
remained for a time on the banks of the Chateauguay river, where Mr.
Macdougall, then a boy of seven years, acquired a fair knowledge of the
French dialect as spoken in the district. His father removed from there to
Toronto, where he went into business. There the subject of this sketch
received such an education as could be had at the best schools of the
time. He applied himself to his studies with the zeal and perseverance for
which he is distinguished, and, being fond of books and a great reader, he
made the best of his time. His father died when he was about sixteen years
of age. By this event he was thrown upon his own resources. This
circumstance in his case was not without its advantages. It strengthened
his natural spirit if self-reliance, and inspired him with much of that
strong determination and decision of character which were so often evinced
in a marked degree in his subsequent career, and which singles him out as
a self-made man in the fullest sense of the word. Having manifested, when
quite young, a preference for the printing business, he secured for
himself a situation in what was then the leading publishing house of
Toronto, that of Rowsell & Thompson. There he made himself the practical
master of the "art preservative" in all its branches, an acquisition that
in those days was indispensable to any one who looked forward to embarking
on his own account in any newspaper enterprise. After he acquired a
knowledge of printing, he looked about him for a favourable opening in
that line of business; but, as the time was unpropitious and his means
very limited, he commenced to write for the newspaper press, a taste for
which he envinced while in the service of his late employers. At this
period of the newspaper press of Canada, no one could contribute to it
without being irresistibly drawn into the politics of the day. Although he
acquired a knowledge of the art of printing in connection with a
Conservative journal, his mind was early imbued with liberal sentiments,
and the high-handed way in which public affairs were carried on by the
Family Compact of that time, made him a confirmed reformer. Mr. Macdougall
continued to take a lively interest in the political questions of the day,
and he, along with Peter Perry, the father of the present registrar of the
County of Ontario, was mainly instrumental in getting up several
influential deputations of independent yeomen, who visited Montreal, then
the capital of the province, and by their addresses and presence
strengthened the hands of the representative of the sovereign, Lord Elgin,
who was severely denounced by the conservatives for having given his
sanction to the "Rebellion Losses Bill." Mr. Macdougall's first attempt at
journalism was the starting of a family paper. It was ably conducted and
met with considerable success; but the time for such an enterprise had not
yet arrived. Mr. Macdougall disposed of this journal, and turned his
attention to political journalism, almost exclusively. He for a time
contributed occasional articles to the Toronto press. He then became
connected with the Hamilton Journal and Express, where his articles
attracted marked attention. He subsequently removed to Belleville, County
of Hastings, where he became the editor and joint owner of the Hastings
Chronicle. There his services in the cause of reform and good
government were highly appreciated by the Reform party. About the year
1855 he undertook the editorial management of the Kent Advertiser,
which was published in the flourishing town of Chatham. While there he
rendered most valuable service to his party, both by his pen and personal
exertions, in numerous political campaigns. He was subsequently offered a
favourable opening in Berlin, the county town of Waterloo. The county is
one of the most populous and flourishing in he Dominion, settled chiefly
by Scotch and old country and Pennsylvania Germans. Upon Mr. Macdougall
leaving Chatham he was tendered a public ovation, and presented by the
leading gentlemen of the county with a very flattering address. At Berlin
he assumed the editorial management and proprietorship of the Berlin
Telegraph and German Canadian, the former an English and the
latter a German newspaper; both of which he carried on successfully until
he retired from the press. Previous to such retirement he was presented
with a splendid gold watch and chain, accompanied by a flattering address
signed by the leading reformers of the County of Waterloo, in
acknowledgement of the valuable service he had rendered to his party and
to the county. In all these spheres of arduous and harrassing labour (for
the life of a faithful journalist is seldom anything else), Mr. Macdougall
was ever an active and earnest worker in the political ranks with which he
had early identified himself. He was no less ready by speech, than with
his pen, and during his long connection with the press, extending over a
period of nearly thirty years, took an honourable and useful part in the
party struggles in the western province of the Dominion. Many old
reformers in that County of Hastings, but especially in the counties of
Kent, Essex and Waterloo, will long remember his incisive and pungent
advocacy of the principles of his party, and his stirring appeals on
behalf of their common cause. Having the reputation of being a shrewd and
discerning politician, he has enjoyed continuously a large share of the
esteem and confidence of the leaders of the liberal party. In 1859, Mr.
Macdougall materially assisted Mr. Gillespie, then editor of the
Hamilton Spectator, in establishing the Canadian Press Association. In
1861 he was elected president of that Association, and afterwards made on
of its honorary life members. In 1864 he severed his long and active
connection with the press. He in that year received from the late Hon.
Sandfield Macdonald, who was then prime minister, his appointment to the
registrarship of the County of Waterloo, an office which he still holds,
as an appropriate reward of his past public services, which were generally
acknowledged, by journals of both sides of politics, as being well
deserved. In 1875 the MacKenzie government appointed a commission to
represent the Dominion at the Philadelphia Exposition of which the late
Hon. L. Letellier de St Just was ex-officio president. Associated
with him were the late Hon. Senator Wilmot, and Mr. D. Macdougall. Mr.
Wilmot subsequently retired from the commission and the Hon. Mr. Letellier
being appointed lieutenant-governor of Quebec, the Hon. C. A. Pelletier,
Minister of Agriculture was selected to fill his place. The Hon. Mr. Penny
and Mr. Macdougall were the two active and working members of the
commission, on whose shoulders the work and responsibility of the
undertaking rested. On receiving formal intimation that the commission had
colcluded its labours, the Hon. C.A. Pelletier, Minister of Agriculture
for the Dominion, sent an official letter to each of the commissioners,
conveying the warmest thanks of the government for the earnest and
indefatigable manner in which he discharged his official duties.
Accompanying each letter was a morocco case, containing a large and
handsome Dominion gold medal, and a short address finely engrossed on
parchment. Mr Macdougall was also made the recipient of a handsome bronze
medal from the United States Centennial Commission, accompanied by a
complimentary letter, engrossed on parchment. And, as an evidence of the
success which attended the labours of Mr. Macdougall and his colleagues,
Lord Dufferin, the then Governor-General, when replying to a
congratulatory address, presented to him in Ottawa, on his return from the
Exhibition, made a most pleasing reference to them; and also sent a letter
addressed to the Hon. Mr. Penny, in which he congratulated the
commissioners on the success which had attended their efforts, and
requested that his personal thanks be rendered to Mr. Macdougall for his
attention to his lordship during his stay in Philadelphia. In his
political retirement Mr. Macdougall has taken undiminished interest in all
concerns in the district in which he resides. He has heartily identified
himself with its educational interests, has several times filled the
position of chairman of the High School Board of Trustees, and in every
way has used his influence to help on every good and philanthropic object
or movement, there or wherever else he could be of service. From his
well-known ability, energy and integrity of character, he possesses and
will always retain in a large degree popular respect and confidence. Mr.
Macdougall is still in the prime of life and in the ordinary course of
things has many years of continued public and private usefulness before
him. |
