John E. McDougall Biography

	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. 
	Ogle & Co., Chicago, 1898. Pages 465-466

	Scan, OCR and editing by Joy Fisher, jfisher@sdgenweb.com, 1999.

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JOHN E. McDOUGALL, one of Marshall county's most successful business men, was 
born on lot 4, Campbellton village, Prince county, Prince Edward Island, 
February 24, 1860.  His father, John McDougall, was born in the village of 
Malpeque, on the same island, May 13, 1820.  He was engaged in the lumber and 
fish business, and also did some farming.  He was married in New Brunswick, his 
bride being Miss Grace Mersereau.  She was born in 1823, and died in 1873, 
leaving a family of nine children, of whom our subject is the eighth.  Mr. 
McDougall subsequently married Jennie McLean, in 1876, and to this union was 
born one son, who died in infancy.

John E. McDougall assisted his father in his business and attended school until 
he left home in 1879, and went to Bangor, Maine.  He there worked in the woods 
during the winter of 1879-80, and returned home in the following spring, 
remaining there during the summer.  On the 23d of the following November he left 
for Minnesota, and at once went into the woods, in the employ of Love & Munson, 
between St. Paul and Duluth.  During the following summer he worked at 
carpentering, and in the winter of 1881-82 he worked in the woods for Robinson & 
Mead, above Anoka, on the Mississippi river.  The following summer he became 
foreman of a crew of carpenters for McCleary & Quigley, in Minneapolis.  After 
spending the following winter in the woods, he was sent to Foresythe, Montana, 
to take charge of a gang of men and build a hotel at that place, which occupied 
his time for about two months.  He, in company with five others, then built a 
rowboat and started east, going down the Yellowstone river to Glendive, on the 
Missouri.  It was upon this trip ~at Mr. McDo~gall assisted in killing the first 
buffalo he had ever seen, and with which they had quite an encounter.  At 
Glendive they took a steamer to Bismarck.  Upon reaching Minnesota he spent the 
winter of 1882-83 in the woods, and in the fall of 1883 he made a trip east, and 
while there he married Miss Isabelle R. Munro, in Norton, Massachusetts, 
November 4, 1883. She was a daughter of Frank Munro, and was born at Hacketts 
Cove, Halifax, Nova Scotia.  December 10 they moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, 
and began keeping house, and Mr. McDougall began work for his former employers.  
August 13, 1884, a son, Edward J., was born to them, and on the 26th of the 
following December Mrs. McDougall died.  Mr. McDougall continued to work for the 
same firm until May 28, 1886, and then moved to Andover, South Dakota, and was 
chief constructor of the depots on the Harlem branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee & 
St. Paul railroad, finishing them September 20, 1886.  Since that time he has 
been identified with the business interests of Britton, South Dakota.  He has a 
large, well-improved stock farm of four hundred acres, near the town, which he 
oversees, and is also extensively interested in the farm implement business.  In 
February, 1888, he, in partnership with R. W. Rowland, bought the meat market, 
and in 1890 Mr. McDougall bought out his partner. Since that time he has given 
much attention to his farm.  In 1892 he made his first shipment of cattle, and 
the following season he made his first shipment of hogs.  In 1897 he secured a 
large tract of land in Walworth county, on the old town site of Le Beau. Here he 
also has a fine herd and conducts an extensive business.  He employs a large 
force of men and has the largest individual pay roll in Marshall county.

June 13, 1893, Mr. McDougall was married, in Britton, to Nettie A. Marsh, who 
was born on a farm near Kalamazoo, Michigan, the daughter of G. J. Marsh. To 
this union have been born two children, Tyrrell G. and Portia L., both born in 
Britton. Mr. McDougall is a stanch Republican in politics, and he and his wife 
are both members of the Presbyterian church.  He was one of the organizers of 
the church and Sunday-school, has been clerk of the board of trustees, and has 
served ten years as superintendent of the Sunday-school, resigning January I, 
1897.  He is one of the charter members of the Odd Fellows lodge, having joined 
that order in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1883, and was the first noble grand of 
the local lodge of Britton.  He is also a Mason and of that lodge he has been 
treasurer two years, chaplain four years, and worshipful master since 1897. At 
the state convention at Aberdeen, when D. T. Hindman, the present lieutenant-
governor of South Dakota, was nominated, it was Mr. McDougall that put the name 
before the convention.  He was also a delegate to the state convention at Huron 
to nominate delegates to the St. Louis convention in 1896, and has been chairman 
of the Republican county central committee.  Both in business and politics, Mr. 
McDougall is acknowledged as a leader and one of the men who has done much in 
bringing about the present state of prosperity and growth to which Marshall 
county has attained.  He is a man of much more than ordinary business ability, 
and is deservedly held in the highest respect and esteem by all who have the 
pleasure of his acquaintance.