Howard Douglas was born in Halton District, Ontario in
1850. He was the son of Thomas Douglas, a farmer, and the oldest of four
boys.
Howard Douglas spent his boyhood and youth in the east. He
married Alice Maud Johnston, the daughter of a ship captain, in Port
Nelson, Ontario on October 11, 1872. Around 1883 Douglas moved west to
Manitoba and worked as a construction bridge foreman for the Canadian
Pacific Railway. His wife Alice and their three children, Katherine
Clothilde (Katie) (1873-1967); Tom Clifford and Roy Alfred (born 1885). In 1890, Alice and Howard’s fourth child,
Ralph Howard, was born in Calgary, Alberta.
Howard Douglas supervised the laying of the C.P.R. track across the
Prairies in 1882-3, the family accompanying him in a house car in the
summer of '83. They settled in Calgary where Howard built the first
house on the recently-surveyed C.P.R. townsite.
He was instrumental in bringing the last great buffalo herd to Alberta.
These animals lived in Banff for many years, then were moved to Wood
Buffalo National Park, where they remain to this day. The idea of
preserving an endangered species was very unusual in his day, so he did
quite a fine thing in this way.
In 1896 Howard
Douglas was appointed as the second superintendent of Banff National Park. He was
promoted to Commissioner of National Parks in the West in 1911. During
his term of office Jasper, Elk Island, Wainwright and Waterton Lake
Parks were opened. Mount Douglas, west of Banff, was named in his
honour, as was Howard Douglas Creek, a stream in Alberta. Douglas also arranged for the purchase and transfer of the
Michael Pablo herd of buffalo from Montana, United States of America.
When he retired from the Parks position in 1921 he was appointed
the first moving picture censor for the Province of Alberta.
He
died in Edmonton on January 6, 1929.
Alice Maud Johnston
Alice Maud Johnson, (9 June 1854
- 1 June 1924), born in Chelsea, London, England, emigrated to Canada
with her family in 1856. Her father had been organist for Westminster
Abbey and she herself possessed a fine singing voice. She married Howard
Douglas (1850-1929) in Bronte, Ontario (now Hamilton) in 1871.
Mrs. Alice Douglas died in either 1924 or 25.
Katie Clothilde Douglas
Howard and Alice's eldest child, Katherine (Katie) Clothilde, married
George Smith McCarter in 1891 and died in 1942. [Sallie's cousin Shelagh
says] we know very little about George McCarter, “I always understood he
was of Irish extraction, that his people had been United Empire
Loyalists and that he had cousins in California whom he and Katie once
visited. There was a cousin, there, Pansy, who gave Katie a bracelet.”
It is possible that there is a Pennsylvania McCarter connection; there
was a story of McCarters coming over to the United States from Ireland
and settling in Pennsylvania, before the American Revolution. This
hasn't been verified, but there could be a connection here, to
George Smith McCarter. Douglas McCarter, his grandson, Sallie's younger
brother, who, with his family, was living in New York, eventually became
an American citizen thus completing the circle.
Ralph Douglas
Howard Douglas’ youngest son, Ralph attended public school in Banff,
Alberta and was sent to St. John’s College in Winnipeg, Manitoba in
1903. In the fall of 1905 he attended the University of Toronto, School
of Practical Science where he studied Civil and Mining Engineering. He
graduated in 1909.
In 1912 he married Brenda Newton and together
they had two sons, C.H. and Arnold, and one daughter, Mary. For many
years Ralph Douglas worked as an Assistant Structural Engineer for the
Department of Public Works. He resigned in 1921 to pursue private
business but returned to government construction in 1937.
In
1940 he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and worked with the Works
and Buildings Branch. When the war ended he was discharged with the rank
of Flight Lieutenant. Douglas then joined Central Mortgage and Housing
Corporation in 1945 and worked as the Edmonton Branch Manager.
In 1955 he became the manager of a low rental housing project called
Town House Development and remained in this position until his
retirement in January 1965.
Ralph Douglas died on December 25,
1966.
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