Notes:

Vice-President of Phelps, Dodge & Co., of which Dr. James Douglas, his father, is President

Birth:
This Dob does not tie in with parents marriage

Notes:

See full biography in the Douglas Archives History section

Birth:
DoB is gueswork

Buried:
In the Douglas plot

James married Naomi Douglas in 1860. Naomi (daughter of Captain Walter Douglas) was born before 1860; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Elsewhere, he is recorded as being born in 1799, but this seems unlikely given his parents date of marriage.

Dr. James Douglas, took his career in his own hands at an early age. After attending school for a time in Scotland, he was placed by his father in the Methodist Academy, Woodhouse Grove. Complaining that the standard of education was below that to which he had been accustomed, he ran away when twelve years old and was indentured to a physician. After serving his term of six years and spending one season in Edinburgh, he entered the Medical Department of Edinburgh University. From the beginning he showed great aptitude for his chosen profession. His first summer holiday was spent as surgeon to a Greenland whaler. He was graduated as a surgeon at Edinburgh and London, first entering the services of the East India Company, but returned to England to take medical charge of Sir Gregor MacGregor's fatal colony to the Mosquito Coast of Central America. More dead than alive, he was rescued from the Black River by a Yankee skipper and taken to Boston, where he was months recovering his health. Later, while travelling through New York, he was held up at Utica by a break in the Canal, and, seeing the need of that locality, practised surgery there for several years. His success led to his appointment as Professor of Anatomy in the Auburn Medical College, where his duties "involved him in practices not then provided for in a legitimate manner," and he was obliged to go to Canada in the dead of winter, taking his young wife with him. In Canada he had a large practice, was noted for his scientific attainments and liberal benevolence and was the founder of the first public institution in the Dominion for the care of the insane.

Died:
Died aged 86

He was prostrated by a stroke of paralysis on April 10th, 1886, and died on April 14th, without recover ing consciousness. He rests in the cemetery at Mount Hermon, Quebec, which he was instrumental in creating.

James married (Mrs Douglas) before 1826. (Mrs died about 1829 in Canada. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died as a result of nursing her husband through Typhoid in the winter of 1828/29

During the winter of 1828-9, I suffered from an
attack of typhus fever, in its most malignant form,
and only escaped death at the last hour, by the inter
vention of Dr. Bone, the Chief of the Army Medical
Department. My severe and protracted illness, caused
the loss of my beloved wife, whose unremitting care
and watchfulness undermined a constitution not nat
urally strong, and induced disease of the lungs, which
terminated her existence.

Notes:

'brought over the Unicorn as the first vessel of the Cunard line in 1840, and commanded her for some years while she was in commission on the St. Lawrence River.'