The Methodist Missionaries

Rev. George McDougall devoted his life to frontier mission work. As a young man he became interested in religion, and while attending one of his first revival meetings he met Elizabeth Chantler, a young Quaker woman. They married in 1841, and their first child, John Chantler, was born the following year. In 1860, George and his family moved to continue mission work in the Western Territories, going to Norway House on Lake Winnipeg. In 1862, they established a new mission at Victoria on the North Saskatchewan River, and in 1872 they moved to Fort Edmonton, where they built the first church outside the fort. In 1873, George instructed his son John, newly ordained as a minister, to establish a mission for the Stoney People near the Bow River, and they called it Morleyville. In a letter dated September 2, 1862, George wrote on the way to Fort Edmonton that the scenery was extremely beautiful, the grassy plains appeared very fertile, and a herd of buffaloes let them pass within fifty rods without showing fear.

Alberta · Canada