Margaret Dixon MacDougall

Source: http://content.lib.sfu.ca/cdm/ref/collection/ceww/id/338

Main entry MacDougall (or McDougall), Margaret Dixon Birth place Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland Birth date 25 December 1828 Death place Seattle, Washington, USA Death date 22 October 1899 BRS document number 000000144 Identifier 0218 Birth name Margaret Moran Dixon Alternate names Nora, Norah, Nora Pembroke Married name McDougall, MacDougall, or MacDougal Marital status married Religious affiliation Baptist Paid work journalist; teacher Biography Born and raised in a prosperous family in Northern Ireland, Margaret Moran Dixon (1828-1899) came to Canada with her mother, step-father, and two step-sisters some time during her twenties. In 1852, she married lumberman Alexander Dougald McDougall (1827-1887), with whom she had six children, and during the 1860s and 1870s lived alternately in Pembroke and Clarence, Ontario, where she taught in her own school. After publishing extensively in local newspapers, she returned to her native land as a correspondent for the MONTREAL WITNESS and NEW YORK WITNESS during the Parnell agitation of 1882. The injustice of the oppression of the Irish peasants struck her imagination forcibly and, while not advocating Home Rule, she firmly supported substantial land reform as the only way to restore peace and justice to the country. The views expressed in her columns, published in book form as THE LETTERS OF "NORAH" ON HER TOUR THROUGH IRELAND (1882), are reiterated in her novel DAYS OF A LIFE (1883). These books were preceded by a volume of verse. After the death of her husband in 1887, Margaret became an active member of the Baptist Home Missionary Society, working in Michigan. Her last six years were spent living in Montesano, Washington where she dedicated much of her time to church activity. Margaret died unexpectedly during a visit to Seattle in 1899; her obituary honoured her work lecturing through the southern states in favour of educating freed slaves. Other notes In a number of sources, Margaret is mistakenly identified as "Paul Peppergrass" author of THE LADY OF THE BEACON OF THE ARAHEERA (Corey: Quebec, 1857); however, this was the pseudonym of a Catholic priest, John Boyce (1810-64). Margaret cared for a foster child, identified as "Mrs. W.C. Gibson" in the SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER obituary. Residences Belfast, Northern Ireland (1828-); L'Original, Ontario (1852); Clarence, Ontario (1853); Pembroke, Ontario (1854); Clarence (1861, 1865); Pembroke (1871, 1881); Ireland (1882); Oscoda, Michigan (1887); Montesano, Washington (1893-1899) Geographic regions Ontario; USA Primary genres fiction; non-fiction; poetry Books VERSES AND RHYMES BY THE WAY (1880); THE LETTERS OF "NORAH" ON HER TOUR THROUGH IRELAND (1882); THE DAYS OF A LIFE (1883) Periodicals MONTREAL WITNESS; NEW YORK WITNESS Father's name William Henry Dixon Life dates of father c1798, Whitehaven, Cumberland, England - c1830, Ireland Mother's name Eleanor West Life dates of mother 1799, UK - 1884, USA Mother's note Second husband Thomas Carey (with whom she had two daughters) Spouse 1 Alexander Dougald McDougall Life dates of spouse 1 20 March 1827, Fortingale, Perthshire, Scotland - July 1887, Oscoda, Michigan Spouse 1 note lumberman Marriage 1 date 23 January 1852 Marriage 1 place L'Orignal, Ontario Children number 6 Children's names and dates Isabella Evaleen (26 December 1853 - 27 November 1924), m. to John George Guppy; John Alexander Leonard (28 February 1854 - 8 January 1919), m. to Amanda Catherine Free; William Henry (5 February 1857 - 1906), m. to Elizabeth Lusk Beggs; Anne C M (c1859 - before 1899); James Peter (c1862 - before 1899); Reverend George H. (16 September 1865 - after 1899) Biographical references MACMILLAN DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY; Obituary, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER (October 1899); 1861 Census of Canada; 1871 Census of Canada; 1881 Census of Canada Bibliographic references Watters, CHECKLIST OF CANADIAN LITERATURE...1620-1960 (1970), pp. 124, 334, 972 Research references complete Image credits Line drawing by Una Vernelli (Vancouver, British Columbia). Unverified titles MY LIFE IN GLENSHIE (1878); MY YOUNG MASTER; CASTING A LOT; REVENGE IN THEORY AND PRACTICE; IN SEARCH OF THE SUPERNATURAL