Wesley Douglass

1851 - 1904  (53 years)

• Name	Wesley Douglass
  Born	30 Jan 1851	, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Gender	Male
  FindAGrave	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/116573149
  Residence	1861	Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  	Presbytarian
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-425667
  Died	24 Oct 1904
  Buried	Menno Cemetery, Menno, Hutchinson, South Dakota, United States
  Person ID	I425667	Generations
  Last Modified	7 Nov 2024

  
  

  Father	Robert Douglass,   b. 12 Sep 1804, , Montgomery Co., New York ,   d. 29 Mar 1888, Port Elgin, Saugeen Twp., Bruce Co., Ontario, Canada  (Age 83 years)
  Mother	Jane McGill,   b. 9 Jul 1808, , County Down, Ireland ,   d. 2 Jul 1895, Port Elgin, Saugeen Twp., Bruce Co., Ontario, Canada  (Age 86 years)
  Family ID	F34411	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  WESLEY DOUGLASS, engaged in the drug business in Menno, is a native of the province of Ontario, Canada, where he was born on the 30th of January, 1851, being a son of Robert and Jane (McGill) Douglass, of whose nine children only four are now living, namely: Alexander, who is engaged in the real-estate business in Winnipeg, Canada; Elizabeth, who is the widow of John Sproat and resides in Ontario, Canada; John, who is a physician in the city of Chicago; and Wesley, who is the subject of this review. Robert Douglass was born in the state of New York, where he was reared on a farm, and as a young man he removed to the province of Ontario, Canada, where the later years of his life were passed in agricultural pursuits, his death there occurring in 1888, at the age of eighty-four years. He was a man of strong individuality and well-fortified opinions, and loyal to his native land. He was a zealous advocate of the principles of the Whig party and an advocate of reform measures in the land of his adoption, while his religious faith was that of the Wesleyan Methodist church. He was of stanch old Scottish ancestry, his grandfather having come to the United States from Scotland during the war of the Revolution, arriving about the time of the historic "Boston tea party." The mother of the subject died in 1895, aged eighty-seven years. Wesley Douglass received his educational training in the common schools of his native province, remaining at the parental home during the major portion of the time until he had attained the age of twenty years, prior to which he had been employed for a time in a drug store and in the office of his brother Robert, who was then engaged in the practice of medicine in Canada. In 1871, at the age noted, our subject came over "into the states," making his way to Kansas where he remained about two years, having been engaged in teaching school and in working in the office of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. He then returned to Canada, where he tarried one year, operating for the Grand Trunk Railroad, and in the spring of 1874 he became numbered among the pioneers of what is now the state of South Dakota, coming to Hutchinson county and entering homestead and timber claims a few miles northwest of the present town of Scotland. He resided on his farm about four years, in the meanwhile doing some freighting to the Black Hills and teaching school during the winter terms for two years. In the fall of 1878 Mr. Douglass was elected sheriff of Hutchinson county, being chosen as his own successor in 1880, and thus serving four consecutive years. After the expiration of his second term he removed to the village of Scotland, where he was employed during the ensuing year as operator in the telegraph office of the Chicago, Milwaukee &; St. Paul Railroad. In January, 1884, he came to Menno, where he has since resided. Shortly after locating here he established himself in the drug business, being one of the pioneer merchants of the town, and this enterprise he has since successfully conducted, having a representative patronage. He is a Democrat in his political allegiance, and fraternally is a member of Scotland Lodge, No. 53, Free and Accepted Masons. On the 3d of February, 1878, Mr. Douglass was united in marriage to Mrs. Caroline (Church) Johnson, who was born in Ontario, Canada. She had one child by her first marriage, Minnie, who is the wife of E. J. Swanton, of Menno, and of the second union have been born two children, Agnes J. and Gerald R., both at the parental home. History of South Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904), pp 1095-1096.

  
  

• Sources

  [S915] Census - ON, Waterloo, Woolwich - 1861, Sect. 7 Page 61.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 30 Jan 1851 - , Ontario, Canada Residence - Presbytarian - 1861 - Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Buried - - Menno Cemetery, Menno, Hutchinson, South Dakota, United States  = Link to Google Earth