Dr. John G. Douglass, who served the community of Pinkerton in Bruce County, Ontario, for twenty plus years, often wrote in rhyme. This plaintive longing for his baby girl, Alberta Louise, was recorded in a notebook of poems.

Alberta Louise Douglass was born July 22, 1870 and died Oct. 24, 1870.

Dr. John and his wife, Eliza, later named another baby after the one they lost. Alberta Blanche, called “Bert”, was born Sept 3, 1877 in Pinkerton. She moved to Chicago with her parents in 1900 and 2 years later married Ed Lowry. Bert was a nurse; she lived to age 88, and died at the home of her sister, Bessie Douglass Robertson in Glendale, CA.
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Douglass lineage: Alberta Blanche “Bert”-5, John G.-4, Robert-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1
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Our Darling Babe

Her pilgrimage is o'er;
  How short with us her stay;
The Saviour called her home,
  The Angels led the way.

They took her from this world of sin
  To join them in their glee;
We'll see our darling babe no more,
  Except in memory.

Her little feet not long did tread
  The thorny path of life
Her little heart did nothing know
  Of this world's toil and strife.

Only three short months she stayed
  To cheer us! her spirit fled;
She has gone to dreamless rest
  She is numbered with the dead.

In the churchyard we laid her down,
  Our infant babe, so marble cold.
There she's mouldering into dust,
  In her shroud's embracing fold.

She has left us sad and lonely.
  She has faded from our sight,
She has gone a while before us,
  Robed in angelic light.

I could not think to call her back,
  Out of that spirit land;
For I know she is an angel,
  Bright in that Angel band.

O! methinks I see her now,
  With wings and crown complete,
Joining the Angels in their songs,
  Around God's mercy seat.

Oh! it was hard to part with her;
  With the babe that God had given;
But what a happy, blissful thought,
  A "Treasure" up in Heaven.

But if the angels visit earth;
  To carry tidings home;
Our darling babe in angel form
  Will round our pathway roam.

O! Father guide us, her parents dear,
  Grant us thy grace and love;
That when our pilgrimage is o'er,
  We may meet our child above.

Pinkerton
Oct. 30th 1870