This is a transcription of the Elizabeth McDougall biography from New Hampshire Women: A Collection of Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Daughters and Residents of the Granite State, Who are Worthy Representatives of their Sex in the Various Walks and Conditions of Life, The New Hampshire Publishing Co., Concord, NH, 1895, page 95.
Elizabeth McDougall
AMONG the successful teachers of New Hampshire Elizabeth McDougall, a native of Goffstown, daughter of William and Lydia (Gregg) McDougall, will be kindly remembered by the many who have enjoyed her instructions. A true daughter of New Hampshire, she received all her mental training in the public school and academy in her native state. She entered the Literary Institute and Gymnasium at Pembroke, at an early age, and was graduated with honors as a thorough scholar and versatile essayist. Soon after, she was elected principal of the female department of that institution, and entering upon her work with an enthusiasm that could not fail of success and with methods that were new and efficient, she brought the school to a high degree of excellence. Health failing, she was obliged to give up her chosen work but, not content with a quiet life, made a new business for herself along mercantile lines at St. Johnsbury, Vt., where, by her rare business acumen, after a few years of prosperous activity she acquired a competence. Manchester is now her home and she enjoys her retirement in study and in keeping up her interest in educational and literary matters. She has been all her life a close student of social, political, and religious questions, and with a knowledge of history rarely equalled, she is a just critic of the various movements of today, and good authority upon their final results. Miss McDougall is a person of vigorous intellect, great perseverance, unaffected dignity, and native refinement. She is a kind friend, a generous patron of good works, and a most womanly woman. She is an appreciated member of the Manchester Shakespeare club, having been director of its literary work for several years.