Robert MCDOUGALL (ID #I19747)
(male)- BIRTH: 1785, New York
- DEATH: aft 1860, Essex Co., New York?
Mother: Euphemia (Effie) _____ (b. aft 1740?, d. aft 1822)
Family 1 :
- +Robert MCDOUGALL (b. ABT 1807, d. ABT 1890?)
- +John MCDOUGALL (b. 05 MAY 1810, d. 1884)
- +Alexander MCDOUGALL (b. ABT 1817)
- +Hugh MCDOUGALL (b. 1817)
This is probably the Robert McDougall whose family (4 sons and 4 daughters) appears on the 1820 census of Argyle, NY (p. 152). His age in the 1860 census is consistent with the data in 1820. The 1820 reading shows a wife of similar age, plus 4 sons and 4 daughters, all under the age of 16. One of those sons appears to be the Robert McDougall living in the same household in 1860 (Lewis, Essex Co., NY), and another would be Alexander who married Sarah Combs and whose son Henry was living with Robert Jr's. son Adam in 1860.
What inferences can be made about Robert's relationships?
First, he cannot be a child of immigrant James McDougall and Agnes Moodie, because there is a list of heirs-at-law implicit in deeds of 1824 that name all the other children or their heirs. Also, there is no evidence that any of the descendants of immigrant Ronald McDougall came to Washington Co., so we rule him out as well. Further, there is no record of male descendants of the line of immigrant Allen McDougall. His son John was last mentioned in 1784, with no indication of heirs. The family of John McDougall (son of Alexander, son of immigrant Duncan who married Janet Calder) is very well documented. In particular, although there is enough space between children James b. 10 jan 1783 and Elizabeth b. 02 may 1786, there is a list of heirs-at-law from 1825 that does not include Robert. Daniel McDougall, also son of immigrant Duncan who married Janet Calder, is about the right age to be Robert's father, but had a son John D. McDougall also born in 1785, and it appears from census records that all of his sons have been accounted for. While Dougal son of immigrant Duncan and Janet Calder is about the right age, census records seem to show that all of his sons, too, have been accounted for. Finally, immigrant William McDougall did have a son Robert, but family tradition says he went with his brother Andrew to Georgia, and both died there without children. The will of Andrew has been found (1819, Jones Co., GA), but so far no mention of Robert has been found. A partition deed of 1831 names all the surviving children of William, omitting Andrew and Robert.
That leaves as possible parents:
1. Alexander McDougall (son of immigrant Archibald) who married in 1760 to Margaret Shaw. It is possible that Alexander married (2) Ann, who appears as a widow in the 1800 census. The only known children are Archibald b. 1767 and Sarah b. 1768, so it is likely some others have been missed. However, Robert would need to be the youngest child, and we have difficulty believing that all trace has been lost of the large number of additional children this would imply. What little we know of this lineage comes from the region of Volney, Oswego Co., NY.
2. Duncan McDougall (son of immigrant Archibald) who married in 1760 to Mary McCoy and again in 1764 to Catherine Kirkwood. It is possible that Duncan, rather than his brother Alexander, is the one who married the Ann who appears as widow in 1800; if so, she would probably be Ann Traford. Census records suggest Duncan had at least 3 sons, but we know of only one, Duncan b. 1761.
3. Sergeant Alexander McDougall b. 1755 who married Janet McDougall, daughter of Alexander son of immigrant Duncan and Janet Calder. The census readings suggest there was a son besides those definitely known, born about 1784. The names Robert and Henry, not common among the McDougall's, are both found in this kindred.
4. Alexander McDougall (son of Alexander son of immigrant Duncan who married Janet Calder) who married Ann. This Alexander was certainly alive as late as 1807, as he appears in a partition deed with all of his siblings and their spouses. No descendants are known, but there is an 1820 census entry that could be his; if so, there were at least 3 sons whose names have been lost.
5. Ronald McDougall (son of Alexander son of immigrant Duncan who married Janet Calder) who married Euphemia or Effie. There is an entry for this family in the membership list of the United Presbyterian Church of Argyle, believed to date from about 1802. The list does not include a Robert. If the listing includes only children past the age of confirmation, thus official members of the congregation, it is just possible that Robert could be added to the known children of Ronald and Effie; their birthdates have not been established.
Question: Which Robert's "right and title" to a 5 acre share of a 35 acre tract were sold by the Sheriff to Thomas Gilchrist, and then purchased by John McDougall 05 jul 1828? The property was bounded on the south by the "highway", on the east by Thomas Gilchrist, on the north by William Martin, and on the west by John J. Dings. It would appear that this Robert had a 1/7 undivided share of the property, which is too small to be a complete town lot. The Sheriff's sale is recorded in deed book X p. 177. From the neighboring owners, we suppose the land was a part of Farm Lot 75, part of which was sold to Thomas Martin, another part to John J. Dings, and another part to Thomas Gilchrist. If this is so, Robert becomes the seventh child of Ronald and Effie, thus explaining the division of the estate. (In fact, with the addition of Nancy, wife of Edward Town, there are now eight children, but nothing at all is known about the two daughters Jean and Margaret. We presume that one of them had already died by 1821.) There is one other connection between Ronald and Robert, though it is very tenuous. When Ronald and Effie sold the eastern-most portion of the middle division of Lot 75 to Edward Town (now known to be a person, and not the town of Ft. Edward) in 1806, one of the witnesses was Robert McDougall, who made his mark. He was illiterate, as were Ronald and Effie themselves. Robert would have been about 21 years of age at that time.
The sheriff's sale mentioned above resulted from a judgement against Robert McDougall in the New York Supreme Court of Judicature, which in those days functioned as a circuit court. It may be possible to locate the particulars of the case, for example, the nature of the debt. (Somewhat earlier, a number of notices appeared in local newspapers regarding cases of insolvent debtors heard by the Supreme Court. It may be possible to locate a notice about Robert McDougall in the newspapers.) We have not determined whether the court was sitting as a circuit court in Washington Co., in which case we would expect the details to have been recorded by the County Clerk, or in some other venue. The Supreme Court of Judicature also heard appeals for probate matters.
A further complication is that census records for Essex Co., NY, at least, show widely divergent ages for Robert and his descendants. Possible birthdates for Robert range from 1775 to 1792, and for his son Robert, from 1799 to 1812 or even later. It is not likely that all the census enumerators were illiterate or just made up the ages over as many as 9 successive enumerations. Is it possible that this family, being illiterate, really did not keep track of their own ages, or did they habitually mislead the enumerator?
Descendants have identified him with a Robert McDougall who served in the War of 1812, and have given him a wife Margaret. It is not clear whether the evidence for either of these conclusions has been documented. It may be that they have conflated Margaret Kilmer, wife of Robert II McDougall, with the unknown wife of the first Robert McDougall. But it is plausible that the first Robert could have served in the War of 1812.
Another tree, on MyHeritage.com, calls him Robert F. McDougall. The pedigree descends: his son Robert McDougall b.1807 d. about 1889 in Cass Co., NE and married Margaret Kilmer. Their son John McDougall b. 20 apr 1841 Lewis Co., NY, d. 22 mar 1914 Lewis Co., NY, married Mary Jane Wilkins b. 08 nov 1856 d. 20 dec 1935. Their daughter Mary Jane McDougall b. 15 apr 1889 Elizabethtown, Lewis Co., NY d. 23 jul 1970 at Elizabethtown, married William Leroy Pulsifer b. 08 nov 1993. Their daughter Beatrice Alice Pulsifer b. 06 sep 1918 Elizabethtown, d. 27 mar 1997, Lake Placid, NY, married Clifford Joseph Bridge b. 17 jan 1902, d. 29 oct 1989. Their son Chester James Bridge, now in his 70's, is an autosomal DNA match with John Wayne McCoy on chromosome 14, 15.2 cM, 61.2M-76.6M.
A similar tree on GEDmatch gives dates 06 jan 1814 - about 1887 for the son Robert McDougall, and for the wife of the elder Robert F. McDougall, Eleanor Dick. Meanwhile, if the middle initial F can be confirmed, we might suppose that it comes from the maiden name of his mother Euphemia. Was she perhaps Euphemia Frazier, or Euphemia Ferguson, or...? But another tree asserts she was Euphemia Lindsay, also without sources.
By far the best genetic matches discovered so far are two siblings, descendants of "Robert F. McDougall", who would be John Wayne McCoy's fourth cousins. These matches are descendants of Henry McDougall through his wife Katherine McCormick. The match, on MyHeritage.com, consists of two segments of 20 cM each: chromosome 2, 20.2 cM, 174.5M-202.5M (Donna Serrano and Lorraine Wallace share part of this segment, but they are not on MyHeritage), chromosome 12, 20.1 cM, 116.3M-128.0M (this segment is shared by a number of John McDougall descendants, plus several known Robert McDougall descendants, some on MyHeritage). As a result of these matches, the most plausible solution is to attach our John McDougall to the family Robert McDougall.
_The Washington County NY MCDOUGALLS _
|
_Duncan MCDOUGALL ___|
| (1708 - 1789) m 1728|
| |______________________________________
|
_Ronald MCDOUGALL _______|
| (.... - 1821) |
| | ______________________________________
| | |
| |_Janet CALDER _______|
| (1710 - 1764) m 1728|
| |______________________________________
|
|
|--Robert MCDOUGALL
| (1785 - 1860)
| ______________________________________
| |
| _____________________|
| | |
| | |______________________________________
| |
|_Euphemia (Effie) _____ _|
(1740 - 1822) |
| ______________________________________
| |
|_____________________|
|
|______________________________________