Notes:

Marriage (1): Joseph William McDOWALL on 30 Dec 1872 in Owen Sound, Ontario
Children:
Maude S. McDOWALL
Frederick William McDOWELL
Marriage (2): William KNIGHT on 18 Aug 1886 in Owen Sound, Ontario

John married Louisa Williams on 12 Jul 1849 in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Louisa was born on 7 Dec 1823 in Devon, England; died on 10 Jan 1908. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

William Douglas 'ran off to America'.

? Residence: Stockbridge, Edinburgh.

? Occupation: Teacher.

? Emigration: sometime, Bef 1825, Vermont.

? Residence, 1819, St. George's, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland Really This is the church where he married Margaret

William married Margaret Usher on 2 Aug 1819 in St. Georges, Edinburgh. Margaret (daughter of John (of Toftfield) Usher and Janet Oliver) was born on 22 Dec 1794; was christened on 6 Jan 1795 in Stow, Midlothian, Scotland; died on 9 Feb 1863 in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada; was buried on 12 Feb 1863 in Greenwood Cemetery, Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Margaret married Douglas who ran off to America and after waiting about 20 years she married a stocking maker at Lilliesleaf. They went to Ontario America [sic], prospered & came home. Two sons by first marriage prospered in America [sic]. John. & James. Ontario

Samuel Douglas living with her in 1841 is perhaps a son or at least very probably a relative.

(Research):When Margaret was born her father was tenant in Pirn in Stow parish. The 1956 Usher book family tree shows Margaret as married to William Douglas, and there is indeed a record of the marriage in the Melrose and St Cuthbert (Edinburgh) parish registers [per the Melrose registers: William was then living in St George's parish in Edinburgh]. I have added a second marriage for Margaret because a marriage for a Margaret Usher or Douglas to Thomas Lunn is recorded in the St Cuthbert (Edinburgh) parish registers.

Thomas Lun and Margaret Usher then appear in Sydenham, Grey County, Ontario, Canada, in the 1851 census with her nieces Janet and Helen Usher, and James Douglass who appears to be one of the sons from the first marriage.

Notes:

3rd and last Laird of Toftfield, sold to Sir Walter Scott, Bt. later of Leaderfoot, and also Quarryford (Haddington).

James Neville Usher states in a letter, that John Usher "married twice there being two sons by the 1st marriage & 6 by the 2nd. My great grandfather [he must mean grandfather James Usher SSC] was the surviving son of the 1st marriage".

The youngest four children are not to be found in Romanes's Parish Register transcripts.

1813: Isabella, daughter to John Usher, Toftfield, and Agnes Blaikie his lawful wife was born on 11th April 1813.

1815: Georgina, daughter of the same parties was born on the 23 August 1815.

1817: Jane, daughter to the same parties was born on the 19th Decr 1817.

1820: Hugh, son to the same parties was born on the 5th of Jany of 1820

John married Janet Oliver on 8 Jun 1793 in Chesters, Roxburgh, Scotland. Janet was born about 1771; died on 13 Oct 1798 in Dryburgh, Berwick. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The 1956 Usher book records Janet Oliver as "in Chesters" - this fits with the evidence of the Melrose parish registers that record her in that form at her marriage. When she died in 1798 her address was recorded in the Melrose burial register as Pirn: this was almost certainly Pirn in Stow parish, where her husband was tenant at the time. Since she is mentioned in the Melrose burial register it is supposed that she was buried there, but there is no trace of a surviving stone now, though there is a stone for her husband John, his second wife Agnes, and his parents James and Margaret. Janet's date of birth is assumed from her age at death: 27 per the Melrose burial registers.