Douglas Family

Great-Grandmother: Sarah Jane Douglas

I can thank my great-grandmother, Sarah Jane Douglas, for one of my given names.

My great-grandmother, Sarah Jane Douglas

According to her marriage registration, Sarah Jane was born in Holland Landing, Ontario, Canada ca. 1863. Her age at the time of the wedding was 19, and the wedding between Sarah Jane and Samuel McArthur took place 29 Mar 1882 in Oro Township, Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada.

Douglas Great-Great Grandparents

Sarah Jane’s parents were Alexander and Harriet (Powell) Douglas. Harriet, whose June 3, 1920 death registration indicates she was born in Newmarket, Ontario, has been - until recently - the only great-great-grandparent whose photo I have. I’ve since been lucky enough to obtain a photo of the family that includes Sarah’s father, Alexander Douglas:

Following are thumbnail images of the Douglas family. Harriet, who lost a hand to cancer, is covering it in the photo on the left (which was most likely taken much later than the photo on the right):

Postmasters, Oro Station, Oro Township, Simcoe County, Ontario

It appears that a number of Sarah Jane’s brothers were postmasters for the village of Oro Station, Oro Township, Simcoe County, Ontario. The following information is from the Canadian Genealogy Centre:

Postmaster	Appointed	Vacancy	Reason
Archibald Douglas	1884-01-01	1895-11-12	Death
Alex Douglas	1896-01-01	1896-03-17	Resignation
William J. Douglas	1896-05-01	1899-04-13	Resignation

1881 Census

This excerpt from the 1881 Canadian Census shows Sarah Jane, her parents and her siblings (I’ve removed ‘DOUGLAS’ from the name to reduce word-wrapping):

Name	Mar.	Sex	Ethnic	Age	Birthplace	Occupation	Religion	Estd DOB
Alexander	M	Male	Scottish	51	Scotland	Lab	C. Presbyterian	1830
Harriet	M	Female	Scottish	47	O <Ontario>	C. Presbyterian		1834
Archd.		Male	Scottish	24	O <Ontario>	Lab	C. Presbyterian	1857
Barbara		Female	Scottish	20	O <Ontario>	C. Presbyterian		1861
Sarah Jane		Female	Scottish	17	O <Ontario>	C. Presbyterian		1864
Wm. John		Male	Scottish	15	O <Ontario>	School	C. Presbyterian	1866
Mary		Female	Scottish	13	O <Ontario>	School	C. Presbyterian	1868
Alexander		Male	Scottish	5	O <Ontario>	C. Presbyterian		1876

Census Place	Oro, Simcoe North, Ontario
Family History Library Film	1375887
NA Film Number	C-13251
District	139
Sub-district	M
Division	1
Page Number	11
Household Number	49

The McArthur Family

The McArthur family migrated to the village of Pasqua, just outside of Moose Jaw, in what is now the province of Saskatchewan (then the Northwest Territories) ca. 1899, then moved to Vancouver, British Columbia. Sarah Jane died in Vancouver 8 Dec 1933 and is interred at Mountain View Cemetery in that city.

Sarah Jane Douglas’s Siblings

Archibald Douglas

Archibald, who was born in Holland Landing, Ontario, died at the age of 39 years on 12 November 1895 of pleurisy. At that time, he was the postmaster of Oro Station. I have an image of his death registration, which I will place here. FIXME

William John Douglas

I believe I may have found William John Douglas on the 1901 and 1906 censuses in Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan (excerpt to follow), and there is some possibility, based on this city directory excerpt below, that he moved to the same area as his sister and brother-in-law:

Douglas, William J, CPR section foreman. Living in 1912 in Moose Jaw

The province of Saskatchewan recently made available an index of births (marriages and death indexes have not yet been put online). One of William John Douglas’ sons is listed there:

Registration Number:	651
Last Name:	DOUGLAS
First Name:	FRANK CLIFFORD
Sex:	M
Birth Date (yyyy/mm/dd)	956
Place of Birth:	YELLOW GRASS
Mother Name:	MARION JOHNSTON DOUGLAS
Father Name:	WILLIAM JOHN DOUGLAS

What is remarkable is that William John probably would have crossed paths with my grandfather, Frederick Blake Porteous, who moved to Yellow Grass circa 1902. A family connection between the Porteous and Douglas families would not be established until some 45 years later when my parents met in Vancouver, British Columbia.

It is also possible that William and his family (wife Marion JOHNSTONE) later moved to British Columbia, echoing the migration path of his sister, McArthur brother-in-law and nieces and nephews.

He resigned as postmaster of Oro Station in the same year that I believe my McArthur great-grandparents moved to Pasqua (near Moose Jaw), Saskatchewan.

William John married his wife Marion at Central Presbyterian Church in Oro on 20 Nov 1889. Both the bride and groom were Presbyterian. The minister was Rev. Alexander F. MacKenzie and the witnesses were Jane Johnstone and Aggie Adam of Oro.

Alexander Douglas

Currently, I am looking for information about Alexander Douglas, one of Sarah’s siblings. My research thus far suggests the following:

Alexander married Lucinda Elizabeth Allison but the location is not known. (Note: It is almost certainly Saskatchewan, but that province's archives have yet to put a marriage index online). The source indicates that Lucinda Elizabeth was born 7 APR 1879 in South Woodsley, Essex County, Ontario. A search of the 1901 census at www.automatedgenealogy.com shows that Lucinda was living in Pasqua at the time of the census. This is the same village where Samuel McArthur and his wife Sarah Jane (a sister of Alexander’s) migrated after they left Oro Township, Simcoe County, Ontario.

Like his brother William John Douglas, recently uncovered census data supports the probability that Alexander also lived in the village of Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan, and an entry from an index of Saskatchewan births shows the following:

Registration Number:	928
Last Name:	DOUGLAS
First Name:	ROBERT ALEXANDER
Sex:	M
Birth Date (yyyy/mm/dd):	1724
Place of Birth:	YELLOW GRASS
Mother Name:	LUCINDIA ELIZABETH ALLISON
Father Name:	ALEXANDER DOUGLAS

Alexander died 29 OCT 1975 in Vancouver BC; Lucinda died 24 May 1972 in Burnaby, BC. The death registration indicates she was 93 years of age.

Vital Event Death Registration

Name:	Alexander Douglas
Event Date:	1957 11 27 (Yr/Mo/Day)
Age:	81
Gender:	male
Event Place:	Vancouver

Update: 16-Jun-2005

I ordered a copy of Alexander’s death certificate. Here are some of the details:

Place of Death	Mt. St. Joseph’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC
	Lived in both Vancouver and BC for forty years (from 1917)
Residence	4557 (?) Earles Road
Last Trade/Profession	Warehouse foreman - Johnston National Storage
Last Worked in Occupation	1947
Total Years in Occupation	2x (hard to read)
Wife	Lucinda Elisabeth ALLISON
Father	Alexander DOUGLAS (born in Scotland)
Mother	Harriett [2 t’s] POWELL
Informant	Hard to read, Mrs. Grace Cave or Cane? (daughter)
Informant Address	362 River Road, Lulu Island, Vancouver, BC
Undertaker	Marron Brothers
Burial	30-Nov-1957, Mt. View IOOF
Causes of Death	cerebrovascular haemorrhage
	Generalized arteriosclerosis
	Congestive failure

Signature of Alexander Douglas’ daughter (can you decipher it?):

Barbara Douglas

Another of Sarah’s siblings, Barbara Douglas, married George O. Leigh. Barbara and her husband are buried at St. Mark’s Cemetery in Oro Township, Simcoe County, Ontario. Their tombstone gives a death date of 3-Aug-1947 for Barbara and 6 Sep 1956 for George. I have contacted the author of a Web site that documents Barbara and George’s children but have not yet heard from him.

Mary Douglas

(Is there a connection with Gordon Lightfoot?)

Mary Douglas married Charles Lightfoot, but I do not know the date and location. However, I have found a single Lightfoot (Alfred) in the 1871 census. The 1881 census shows the entire family.

Census Place	Barrie, Simcoe North, Ontario
Family History Library Film	1375887
NA Film Number	C-13251
District	139
Sub-district	F
Division	1
Page Number	74
Household Number	362

Name	Marital Status	Gender	Ethnic Origin	Age	Birthplace	Occupation	Religion
Alfred LIGHTFOOT	M	Male	English	50	England	Farmer	P Methodist
Mary LIGHTFOOT	M	Female	English	47	England		P Methodist
Joseph LIGHTFOOT		Male	English	20	England	Son	P Methodist
William LIGHTFOOT		Male	English	18	England	Farmer Son	P Methodist
Hannah LIGHTFOOT		Female	English	17	England		P Methodist
Charles LIGHTFOOT		Male	English	15	England	Son	P Methodist
Robert LIGHTFOOT		Male	English	13	England	School	P Methodist
Jane A.E. LIGHTFOOT		Female	English	10	Ontario	School	P Methodist
Alice E. LIGHTFOOT		Female	English	9	Ontario	School	P Methodist
Mary LIGHTFOOT		Female	English	7	Ontario		P Methodist

And here is summary information from the 1901 census. By this time all of the older children have either passed away or set out on their own.

The following excerpt is from:

District:	Simcoe North (#114)
Subdistrict:	Barrie, a-1, Page 15

Name	Sex	Rel’nshp	Mar.	Date of	Birth	Age
Lightfoot Alfred	M	Head	M	40096	1828	72
Lightfoot Mary	F	Wife	M	39967	1834	66
Lightfoot Robert	M	Son	S	40172	1867	33
Lightfoot Jane	F	Daughter	S	40053	1870	30
Lightfoot Alice	F	Daughter	S	39930	1872	28
Lightfoot Mary	F	Daughter	S	39919	1874	26

By this time, Charles Lightfoot and Mary Douglas had married; based on their daughter’s date of birth, it is quite likely that they married in 1891. Here is the 1901 census entry for their family. Is it possible that they later had one or more sons who might have become Gordon Lightfoot’s father?

The following excerpt is from:

District:	Simcoe East (#113)
Subdistrict:	Oro, j-7, Page 9

Name	Sex	Rel’nshp	Mar.	Date of	Birth	Age
Lightfoot Charles	M	Head	M	39887	1866	35
Lightfoot Mary	F	Wife	M	39903	1868	33
Lightfoot Cora E.	F	Daughter	S	39876	1892	9

Martha Douglas

Martha Douglas married Patrick O'Hearn, son of Daniel O'Hearn and Mary Power, in Barrie, Ontario on December 24, 1876. I have a marriage record for their daughter, Martha Powell O'Hearn, who married Patrick Henry Hodgson in 1906.

Last updated April 19, 2011 1:30:00 PM