03 July 2006

Mississippi McDougall




Occasionally we take pictures of gravestones of interest. Elizabeth McDougall's stone noted her place of birth. She was born in Hillsdale, New York (Columbia County) in 1785, and in 1850 was buried in Port Gibson, Mississippi. The name McDougall interested me -- my 1st cousin (4x removed), Jane Morrow Howard, married an "Honorable" McDougall in Canada, though her McDougalls had previously lived in the United States. Columbia County, New York, interested me because my 4th Great-grandfather, Elijah Richmond, was born there about ten years earlier.

A quick check at www.familysearch.org indicated that Elizabeth's parents were James & Maria Louisa (HOWARD)McEvers.

Further checking indicated that James McEvers was a Revolutionary War veteran from Massachusetts whose pension papers were online at HeritageQuest. Bible records included in the McEvers file listed a daughter,Elizabeth (Betsey)McEvers, whose birthdate matched the gravestone information of Elizabeth McDougall (October 17, 1785).

Elizabeth may have been married to Robert Rouse before she married the Honorable N. (Nicholas) McDougall. Do not know what brought this New York girl to Mississippi, especially since her parents and most (if not all) of her siblings moved to the Midwest.

Though no family connections were found, it was an interesting journey trying to discover the "rest of the story" of Elizabeth McEvers McDougall.

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