John Alexander McDougall
| John Alexander McDougall | |
|---|---|
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| 4th Mayor of Edmonton | |
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In office December 14, 1896 – December 13, 1897 |
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| Preceded by | Cornelius Gallagher |
| Succeeded by | William S. Edmiston |
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In office December 9, 1907 – December 14, 1908 |
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| Preceded by | William Antrobus Griesbach |
| Succeeded by | Robert Lee |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Edmonton | |
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In office March 23, 1909 – April 17, 1913 |
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| Preceded by | Charles Wilson Cross |
| Succeeded by | Charles Wilson Cross, Albert Ewing |
| Alderman on the Edmonton Town Council | |
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In office January 13, 1893 – January 14, 1895 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | May 20, 1854 Oakwood, Canada West |
| Died | December 17, 1928 (aged 74) Edmonton, Alberta |
| Spouse(s) | Lovisa Jane Amey (6 children) |
| Parents | Alexander J. McDougall and Janet Cummings |
| Profession | Merchant |
| Religion | Presbyterian |
| Signature |  |
John Alexander McDougall (May 20, 1854 – December 17, 1928) was a politician in Alberta, Canada, a municipal councillor and mayor in Edmonton, and a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
John Alexander McDougall was born May 20, 1854 in Oakwood, Canada West (now Ontario) to Alexander J. McDougall and Janet Cummings. His father died in 1867 when John was thirteen. He left school and worked to support his family.
In 1873, he moved to Fort Garry (now Winnipeg) where he worked as a fur trader and completed his education at Manitoba College. In 1877 this work brought him to Edmonton, where he decided to settle, but not before returning to Ontario in 1878 to marry his high school sweetheart, Lovisa Jane Amey (1878-1943), with whom he would have three sons and three daughters. The pair settled in Edmonton in 1879, where McDougall commenced trading furs in competition with the Hudson's Bay Company.
In 1881, he was one of ten Edmontonians to guarantee the five hundred dollar annual salary of the settlement's first schoolteacher. He became a justice of the peace in 1885.
McDougall traded furs until 1896, when he and partner Richard Secord founded McDougall & Secord, which advertised itself as "general merchants, wholesale and retail; buyers and exporters of raw furs; dealers in land scrip and north west lands; outfitters for survey parties, traders, trappers, miners and others for the north, and suppliers for country stores." The two ran the company until 1907, when they sold it and went into business as a financial house and mortgage corporation called McDougall & Secord, Limited. McDougall operated this company until his death, when its leadership was taken over by his son John Charles McDougall.
John McDougall was the first President of the Edmonton Board of Trade.
In 1892, McDougall ran for alderman of Edmonton's first town council. He was narrowly defeated, finishing seventh place (16 votes behind sixth place Philip Daly) out of fourteen candidates in an election in which the top six candidates were elected. When he made his second attempt in 1893, he finished first of nine candidates and was elected. He was re-elected in 1894 (finishing second of nine candidates, behind Colin Strang) and was elected to the public school board the same year (he would serve one year).
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