Wesley Douglass Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1095-1096 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	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.