Margaret McNaughton was a Scottish Canadian author and historian. Her account of her husband's experiences travelling across Canada to the Cariboo gold fields was the second non-fiction book published by a woman in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. Born Margaret Peebles in 1856 to Thomas Peebles and his wife Jane Mackenzie Murie in

Balmaghie Balmaghie ( ), from the Scottish Gaelic ''Baile Mhic Aoidh'', is an ecclesiastical and civil parish in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland and was the seat of the McGhee family. It is bordered by the R ...

Kirkcudbrightshire Kirkcudbrightshire ( ), or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an administrative county ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, she came to British Columbia in 1888, and married Montreal-born Archibald McNaughton in

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capita ...

in 1890. The McNaughtons lived in

Quesnel Quesnel or Quesnell means "little oak" in the Picard dialect of French. It is used as a proper name and may refer to: Places * Le Quesnel, a commune the Somme department in France * Quesnel, British Columbia, a city in British Columbia, Canada ...

, where Archibald worked as a postmaster and

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

official. Their only child died in childhood. She died in 1915 whilst on a visit to Los Angeles, California.

Writing career

McNaughton wrote the account of the 150-person, five-month expedition in 1896, covering Archibald's 1864 journey from

Fort Garry Fort Garry, also known as Upper Fort Garry, was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in what is now downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1822 on or near the site of the North West Company's ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, across the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

and into the Cariboo goldfields. By this time Archibald was paralyzed and under Margaret's full-time care. Titled ''Overland to the Cariboo: An Eventful Journey of Canadian Pioneers to the Gold-Fields of British Columbia in 1862'', it was published by Toronto-based William Briggs. The book was reprinted in 1973 by J.J. Douglas, Ltd. (now

Douglas & McIntyre Douglas and McIntyre (2013) Ltd. is a Canadian book publishing firm. Douglas & McIntyre was founded by James Douglas and Scott McIntyre in 1971 as an independent publishing company based in Vancouver. Reorganized with new owners in 2008 as D&M P ...

). McNaughton also wrote regularly for regional newspapers and historical societies and served for various women's groups and writers associations.

Books

* ''Overland to the Cariboo'' (Toronto: William Briggs, 1896)

References

External links

Full text of "Overland to the Cariboo", BC Historical Books, University of British Columbia Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:McNaughton, Margaret Writers from British Columbia People from Dumfries and Galloway Scottish emigrants to Canada Place of birth missing Scottish travel writers British women travel writers Canadian travel writers 19th-century Canadian historians 1856 births 1915 deaths