August Ancestors

For the sake of brief entries, I am not footnoting the facts in this ongoing memorial. Sources have been noted either in other blog posts or in my family history books.

17 August 1808 John Fraser age 32, a farmer at Rivière Rouge, married Margery McIntyre age 22 of the same place, at St. Gabriel Street Presbyterian Church in Montreal. John was a widower whose first wife, Ann Fraser, died sometime after 16 November 1806; he had been left with three small children. Rivière Rouge was a settlement on the outskirts of St. Andrews East (St-André Est) in the seigniory of Argenteuil, about 40 miles northwest of Montreal. St. Andrews did not have a resident Presbyterian clergyman until 1818. Dates of birth (in Scotland) and death for this couple have not been ascertained. John had another eight children with Margery from 1811 to about 1827. Alas, I have no photos of this couple or any of their children. They are my triple-great-grandparents.

HFD by Nicholas de Grandmaison, 1963

23 August 1896 Hector Fraser Dougall was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, second child and only son of William Charles Dougall and Jessie Isabella McFadyen. He grew up in Winnipeg with two sisters. During the First World War Hector enlisted with the Winnipeg Rifles but then became a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps, later spending nine months as a German POW before the Armistice. See also www.facesofholzminden.com. In 1931 after a move to Fort William, Ontario, he founded what would become a family media conglomerate. The Second World War saw him as manager of Canada's No. 2 Elementary Flight Training School for new Commonwealth pilots. Hector was my father.