The Douglas Family Memorial

A prominent business family in the early community, perhaps the most famous member of Robert Douglas's family is not interred here. Caroline Cox Douglas was better known as "Mrs. John Haggart" and is interred in Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa.

Ron Shaw, writing about John Haggart, noted, "On May 26, 1861, 25-year-old John G. Haggart married 19-year-old Caroline Douglas at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Perth. His bride was the daughter of Robert Douglas (1818-1886) and Caroline Cox (1819-1868). A native of Northern Ireland, her father began his career at Perth as a carpenter, developed a contracting business, opened a merchant store, was elected to the Town’s first municipal council at incorporation in 1850 and was elected Mayor in 1867. Through the 1850s and 1860s he was also Quartermaster of the 1st Battalion, Lanark Militia."

The Balderson Theatre was built on the lot that had once held the Douglas Block built in 1848 by Robert Douglas & Co. and destroyed by fire in 1892. When it burned in 1892 the Douglas Block accommodated a hardware store, grocer, dentist, butcher, photographer, and the office of the Perth Star newspaper. A clipping on the fire from the Perth Courier is part of the media.

In addition to Robert (1818-1886), his wife Caroline Cox (1819-1868) and their children James(1847-1895), Charlotte (1850-1910) and Albert (1858-1888) are interred here.