John James Douglas was born 7 November 1860 in Guelph [D00307, D00335, D00766, D00862, D01131, D01559, D01597, D02022, D04768], the third son of Thomas Williams and Sybel Foxwell. When he was about two or three years old, the family moved from Guelph to Owen Sound [D02412]. In Owen Sound, JJ Douglas attended school at what was known at the time as the old Hill Street School, but later renamed Strathcona School [D02412] and is now closed. He later attended the Ottawa Grammar School, where his brother-in-law Joseph McDowall was a teacher [D02412].
In the mid-1870s, the fifteen-year old JJ Douglas began his training as a watchmaker. He returned to Owen Sound from Ottawa briefly before apprenticing in Toronto. After three and a half years in Toronto, he relocated to Bracebridge, Ontario and ran a watchmaking business there for five years [D02412].
He returned to Owen Sound in the 1880s and purchased a forty-foot schooner, named Caliope with his older brother Frederick [D02412]. The two fitted up the boat to serve as a floating jewellery store and watchmaking shop and sailed back and forth between Owen Sound and the north shore of Georgian Bay, doing business with the crews building the Canadian Pacific Railway in Northern Ontario [D02412].
The floating store business lasted for only a short while and J.J.Douglas opened up a jewellery store on Division Street in Owen Sound. He married Janet Highet Kennedy 16 December 1886 in Tara, Bruce County [D05698].
Janet Highet Kennedy was the daughter of Dr. James Kennedy and Margaret Thom and was born about 1866 [D00766, D04771, D01131, D03075, D04772, D06970].
The couple had two children together, Norman Kennedy Douglas, born 29 May 1888 [D00410] and Clarence Cecil Douglas, born 30 January 1890 [D00409]
Around 1896, Janet Douglas became sick with consumption [D02412, D06977, D06981]. JJ Douglas gave up his business and moved the family out to Rat Portage, now known as Kenora, Ontario in an attempt to aid her failing health. Unfortunately the move had the opposite effect and so after a year and a half, the family moved to the warmer climate of Los Angeles, California along with Janet’s mother [D02412, D06977, D06981].
Sadly, the change of climate did not improve her health, and Janet Kennedy Douglas passed on 27 November 1898 in Los Angeles [D01131, D03075, D04772].
Shortly after the death of his wife, JJ Douglas returned to Owen Sound and began working for A.J. Frost, later buying out his business [D02412].
On 29 August 1901, JJ Douglas married his second wife, Edna Pearl Galbraith in Owen Sound [D00862, D02746]. They had twon children, John Gordon Douglas, born 18 April 1906 [D01535] and Helen Henrietta Douglas, born 23 November 1913 [D00465].
In 1910, JJ Douglas partnered with David Creighton Taylor to form the business of Douglas and Taylor Jewellers and Watchmakers [D02412, *]. Douglas and Taylor knew each other from their apprenticing days [*]. The two ran a successful business located at 941 2nd Ave. West in Owen Sound for several years [D04768, D04932, D04934, D04939]. In 1928, both Douglas and Taylor had sons who were of age to being working in the business and so the two dissolved the partnership and went their separate ways [D02412, *].
J.J. Douglas continued on in his business by himself, and became a successful jeweller and watchmaker and was very well-known for his skills throughout Ontario.
On the eventing of Friday 29th July, 1938, J.J. Douglas was returning from a Rotary Club meeting held in Paisley, Bruce County. He was in a car with three other Owen Sound Rotarians that collieded with another car near Arkwright, Bruce County. J.J. Douglas was critically injured in the accident and was taken to the General and Marine Hospital in Owen Sound [D02412, D05685]. After being in the hospital for a week he contracted pneumonia, which ultimately led to his death on 8 August 1938 [D02022, D02412, D05685].
John James Douglas’ funeral was held two days later at the Division Street Church in Owen Sound and he is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Owen Sound [D01131, D03816, D05719].
Sources:
[D00307] 1901 census of Canada, Ontario, district 65, sub-district D-8, Owen Sound, p. 11, dwelling 89, family 100; RG 31; digital images.
[D00335] 1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 73, sub-district 48, Owen Sound, p. 17, dwelling 173, family 189; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com.
[D00409] Ontario Archives of Ontario, MS 929, reels 1-245, MS929; Reel: 98: 700, 10866, 44; digital image, Ancestry.com, "Ontario, Canada Births,".
[D00410] Ontario Archives of Ontario, MS 929, reels 1-245, Series: MS929; Reel: 98: 700, 10865, 43; digital image, Ancestry.com, "Ontario, Canada Births,".
[D00465] Ontario Archives of Ontario, MS 929, reels 1-245, MS929; Reel: 240: 268, 27039, 64; digital image, Ancestry.com, "Ontario, Canada Births,”.
[D00766] 1891 census of Canada, Ontario, district 68, sub-district Owen Sound Center Ward, Owen Sound, p. 59, family 282; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca, Ancestry .
[D00776] 1891 census of Canada, Ontario, district 68, sub-district Owen Sound Center Ward, Owen Sound, p. 59, family 282; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca, Ancestry.
[D00862] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Marriages, MS932; Reel: 107: 140, 7796, Douglas-Galbraith; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Marriages,".
[D01131] “Owen Sound Greenwood Cemetery Interments" (typescript, 2005), p. 81.
[D01535] Ontario Archives of Ontario, MS 929, reels 1-245, MS929; Reel: 179: 708, 20570, 2; digital image, Ancestry.com, "Ontario, Canada Births,”.
[D01559] 1871 census of Canada, Ontario, district 37, sub-district 1-G, Owen Sound, p. 67, dwelling 258, family 262; RG 31; digital images.
[D01597] 1861 census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, Guelph, Guelph, p. 14; RG 31; digital images,Ancestry.ca.
[D02412] "JJ Douglas Dies Result of Injuries," Owen Sound Sun-Times , 9 August 1938, p. 1, col. 1; digital images(accessed 1 Nov 2020), Grey County Surname Collection.
[D02022] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935, Reel 607: 54, 017136; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca.
[D02412] "JJ Douglas Dies Result of Injuries," Owen Sound Sun-Times , 9 August 1938, p. 1, col. 1; digital images, Grey County Surname Collection.
[D02746] Douglas-Galbraith marriage entry (1901); issued 2011, First Methodist Church (Central United) (Owen Sound, Ontario).
[D03075] Greenwood Cemetery (Owen Sound, Grey, Ontario), G-BLM- 37-.
[D03816] Greenwood Cemetery (Owen Sound, Grey, Ontario), G-W34- 4-.
[D04768] 1921 census of Canada, district 83, sub-district 45, Owen Sound, p. 11, dwelling 5, family 5; RG 31; digital images, ancestry.com.
[D04771] 1881 census of Canada, Ontario, district 156, sub-district C-2, Holland, p. 24, dwelling 114, family 120; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca.
[D04772] California California Department of Public Health, 1849-1880, 74; digital image, ancestry.ca, "California, County Birth Marriage and Death Records,".
[D04932] Vernon's City of Owen Sound Street, Alphabetical Business & Miscellaneous Directory for the year 1924 (Hamilton, Ontario: Henry Vernon & Sons Publishers, 1924), 104.
[D04934] Vernon's City of Owen Sound Street, Alphabetical Business & Miscellaneous Directory for the year 1922 (Hamilton, Ontario: Henry Vernon & Sons Publishers, 1922), 106.
[D04939] Vernon's Town of Owen Sound Street Directory, 1917 (Hamilton, Ontario: Henry Vernon & Sons Publishers, 1917), 72. [D05685] "J.J. Douglas, Owen Sound, Died From Injuries Received in Car Accident," Grey County Surname Collection , 11 August 1938; digital images, Grey County Surname Collection.
[D05698] (Owen Sound) The Advertiser, Owen Sound, 23 December 1886, p. 2, col. 4.
[D06970] 1871 census of Canada, Ontario, district 37, sub-district a-2, Sullivan, p. 63, dwelling 200, family 203; RG 31; digital images.
[D05709] Grey County Surname Collection , 1938; digital images(accessed 31 Oct 2020), Grey County Surname Collection.
[D06977] (Owen Sound) The Advertiser, Owen Sound, 29 Nov 1898, p. 1, col. 3.
[D06981] (Owen Sound) Owen Sound Times, 1 December 1898, p. 5, col. 3.
[*] p99 "Owen Sound The Port City by Paul White. Natural Heritage Books Toronto c2000
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