(Mrs Mary Catherine McMartin) (died 20 Aug. 1941, in her 74th year), public benefactor. (Mary C. McMartin) Born at Alexandria, GC. Parents: John A. McDougald and his wife Annie (Nancy) Chisholm. Mary C. McDougald was educated in the convent of the Holy Cross Sisters, Alexandria. She was married on 22 Jan. 1896 to John McMartin. As a married woman, she lived in Western Canada, New York and Cornwall, and after the death of her husband she went to live in Montreal in 1918. During WWI, she was active as an organizer for the IODE (Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire) and promoter of its war work. She “organized many Chapters of the Order, including the Cornwall Municipal Chapter.” Her sister-in-law, Annie Bethune McDougald, was also a prominent worker for the IODE. After the death of her husband, Mary C. McMartin gave her splendid Cornwall home, Highland Manor, formerly the home of R. R. (Big Rory) McLennan, to the Hotel Dieu Sisters (the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph) to serve as an orphanage. In its new function as an orphanage, the building was blessed and officially opened by Bishop Macdonell on 27 Nov. 1919. Known for many years under the name of the Nazareth Orphanage, it continued in operation till about 1950, and has been demolished. The building which now stands on that location was used for years by the Cornwall post office and now houses the public library. Mrs McMartin’s gift of the orphanage was one of the larger and more remarkable gifts ever given in charity by a Glengarrian. Mrs McMartin died in Montreal, after being an invalid for the last ten years of her life. (five children, four surviving her) For her family connections (many members of her McDougald family are in the present dictionary), see the entry for her brother A. W. McDougald.
Standard Freeholder 20 Aug. 1941, Glengarry News 22 & 29 Aug. 1941 * biographical sketch, with much useful detail, in Prominent People of the Province of Quebec 1923-24 (Montreal 1924?) (QF) * Fobert 39-42 (with portrait), 61 * Villeneuve 79 * Sister Dolores Kane, Caring People Helping People: the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph of Cornwall (1996) 12, 14 (portrait), 19 * is almost killed (with her family) by coal gas in her home, GN 4 Dec. 1903 * visits Alexandria , meets with others to organize chapter of IODE there, GN 31 Oct. 1919 * gift of home for orphanage, Cornwall Freeholder 4 Dec. 1919