Elizabeth McDougall

McDougall, Elizabeth

Elizabeth McDougall, née Boyd, frontier woman (b in Grey County, Canada W 1853; d at Calgary 31 Mar 1941). McDougall is less known for her own activities than for aiding her Methodist missionary husband John MCDOUGALL. She was the first white woman in the Alberta foothills, arriving at Morley in 1873 after a particularly hazardous journey during which she often drove the wagon across the plains. The couple lived among and worked to convert the STONEY on their reserve for 25 years. When her husband travelled as a church superintendent, McDougall went with him by canoe and dogsled, despite having 6 children.

In 1898 she moved to Calgary where she became president of the Southern Alberta Pioneer Women and Old Timer's Association. Speaking to the group, she voiced her conviction that frontier women had made possible their husbands' activities, citing the large number of bachelors who had found it necessary to leave the prairies when unsupported by the labour and sympathy of women.