Daniel Campbell McDougall (1829 - 1921)

Born 22 Mar 1829 in Comrie, Perthshire, Scotland

Husband of Jessie (Patterson) McDougall — married 2 Jun 1851 in Glasgow, Scotland

Descendants

Died 25 Nov 1921 at age 92 in Rockford, Winnebago, Illinois, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Anna Berkes [send private message]

Creation Information

This biography was auto-generated by a GEDCOM import.^[1]

UPD

UPD 17 JAN 2015 18:17:11 GMT -0600

Occupation

Occupation: gardener, teacher, farmer

Record ID Number

Record ID Number: MH:I500121

User ID

User ID: 54BAF87CC568A9DC1163198E91D58C7D

Biography

"Daniel Campbell MacDougall, son of Ian (John) and Catherine Campbell MacDougall, was born March 22, 1829 in Comrie, Perthshire, Scotland. The family moved to Doune in the Lady of the Lake country when Daniel was a small boy. It was a large family and they were very poor.

There were no public schools and students went to private schools when possible, taking a sixpence to the Donsie (teacher) every Monday. Daniel was taught by a very old, very deaf man who had also been his father's teacher. He was taught mathematics, Latin and Westminster Catechism.

There was a large cotton factory about a mile from their home and Daniel went there to work when he was ten years old. He earned 18 pence a week in silver and this helped a great deal in the support of the family. Boys who worked in this factory worked two-thirds of the day and attended school one-third, in different shifts.

Later, Daniel hired out to herd cows in Gartmore. When he was 12 he went to Whins of Milton to learn the landscaping trade which took about 5 years. The boys lived in a bothy (a rude hut) which was the quarters furnished for boys in the trade school. Each boy cooked his own oatmeal daily and was given 3 pounds of it a week, with milk. On Sunday they were given an extra treat of a slice of bread and butter. They also received a shilling (about 25 cents) per week.

Daniel walked several miles, twice a week, into a small village to study with a tutor. It was at this night school in Milton that he met Jessie Patterson whom he later married. He wrote in later years of working in Yester Gardens and Sauchie Gardens (vineyards). It was here he continued his education by listening to lessons taught to the son of the owner by a private tutor. They often studied out of doors for Daniel's benefit. Through this means and a wide interest in reading, he became quite well-educated and worked as a school teacher when he came to America.

In an entry in a diary kept during 1900, Daniel wrote on June 2: 'The 49th anniversary of our marriage which we entered into at the city of Glasgow - sailed on the sailing ship 'Harmonia' on the 3rd day of June.'

The sea voyage took 6 weeks to reach the port of New York on a sailing vessel; they stayed on Long Island 3 weeks and then sailed through Canal Street in New York to the Hudson River, up the Hudson to Buffalo and then by rail west to Chicago.

On August 11, 1851, they arrived in Rockford where there were many families that had come from Scotland. They went to Harrison the next day, where Daniel had been engaged to teach at the Young School on Harrison Road, for $25.00 a month. They began housekeeping in 3 rooms upstairs in a stone house on the first farm west of the schoolhouse. Daniel also taught in the Porter School in the same vicinity. He taught for 5 winters.

Jessie's mother, Mrs. Jane Mowett Patterson, had come to America with them. She was ill during all of the first winter after arriving in Illinois and died after several months. She was buried in Phillips cemetery east of Harrison.

Daniel was a given name and he was known as Daniel by all of his family in Scotland. It is not known why his family in America all knew him as Donald. His naturalization papers, taken out in 1859, show his name as Daniel, but his burial monument says Donald; several of his grandsons are named Donald but none Daniel. Perhaps it was his Scottish brogue that first gave people the idea he was saying Donald rather than Daniel, and he liked the sound of it and adopted the name though many of his friends called him Dan.

In March 1853, Daniel walked 20 miles to Durand to borrow $250.00 to purchase an 80 acre farm on Harrison Road, Burritt Township. He paid 28% interest for a short time and then it was reduced to 18%. He offered the owners $230.00 for the farm and his bid was accepted; he used the remaining $20.00 to buy equipment and supplies to start farming and the family moved to the farm which remained in the family for almost 100 years. Daniel had brought with him from Scotland cuttings from several varieties of grapevines from the vineyards where he had worked and these were planted and flourished at the Harrison road farm for many years.

Daniel and Jessie were parents of 6 children - Jean, Katherine, Alonzo (who died in infancy), James, John and Arthur. They also took into their family a motherless girl - Anna Smythe - and raised her with their own.

They were Modern Spiritualists and Daniel was an accomplished Phrenologist. He acquired something of a name in this field, being called upon to 'read' the bumps on the heads of many people, including some who were well-known. In spite of these 'questionable' scientific interests, Daniel was highly respected as an intellectual leader in the community. He was a popular speaker and always gave the address at the annual Robert Burns banquet.

Daniel never lost his Scottish 'burr' and his was a friendly, kindly outgoing nature; he loved to visit with friends and acquaintances. He had a keen mind and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, reading a great deal. He wrote in his diary of rising at 4:00 a.m. to have an hour to read before starting his day's work, and he told of carrying a book in his pocket when he plowed - barefoot - so that when he rested his team at the end of a furrow he could read for a few minutes.

Daniel also played and enjoyed the violin; the instrument he brought with him from Scotland is now played by one of his great, great granddaughters, the granddaughter of Irma McDougall McCleneghan.

He served his community as Supervisor, Commissioner, Collector, Justice of the Peace and Township Treasurer. In addition, he was one of the organizers of the Farmers Club which later became known as the Grange and he was one of the organizers of the Burritt Mutual Insurance Company. Daniel was a Republican but was rather inclined to the liberal Greenback party.

During most of their married life, Jessie was in poor health, suffering from severe spells of depression and nerves. She was an invalid at the time of her death on May 15, 1900.

Daniel continued to live on the farm alone until 1903. In 1904 he married a neighboring farm widow, Mrs. Ursula Whitney and they lived on West State Street in Rockford until he fell and broke his hip and needed care. He then lived for a time with each of his children.

He still loved to read and continued to do so even though he had began having to use a magnifying glass and he became blind in his last days. He was confined to bed in his nineties and died November 25, 1921 at the age of 92."^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ McDougall-621 was created by Anna Berkes through the import of 8f55d9_903215qsct914qf4a5t55l.ged on Jan 29, 2015.'
2. ↑ Cain, Fern McDougall and Peterson, Shirley Cain. The McDougalls: A Family Anthology. 1978-1979. Pages 17-19.

Bibliography

• Cain, Fern McDougall and Peterson, Shirley Cain. The McDougalls: A Family Anthology. 1978-1979.