MASON CO. KY
HISTORIES before 1923
 

1876 "A history of the pioneer families of Missouri, with numerous sketches, anecdotes, adventures, etc., relating to early days in Missouri : also the lives of Daniel Boone and the celebrated Indian Chief Black Hawk, with numerous biographies and histories of primitive institutions" by Wm. S. Bryan and Robert Rose (Los Angeles Public Library book 977.8 B915)
      Pg.325, Callaway Co.: DUNCAN -- David Duncan, of Scotland, came to America with his wife, and remained some time in Boston, after which they removed to Mercer county, Ky. They had nine children. Mrs. Duncan died, after which he married again and had eleven children more. William, the eldest son by his first wife, married Elizabeth Henderson, of Kentucky, and settled in Callaway county in 1826. His children were -- Alfred R., Joshua M., William G., Nancy M., Amanda E., and Elizabeth J. (MAD: See Mason Co. KY; not Mercer)
 

1883 "History of Centre & Clinton Cos. PA" by John Blair Linn (Los Angeles Public Library)
      (Note: Haines Township was originally in Northumberland Co.) - Page 301, 302, incl. picture of James Duncan.
      Aaronsburg: ... James Duncan was the first store-keeper in 1790 .... He was born in Scotland in 1758, and came with his father to the place where Lewisburg now stands some years before the Revolution. His father erected a cabin there in 1773, in connection with William McMurray, lying between Millheim and Aaronsburg. On account of Indian troubles, David Duncan and his family returned to York County in 1782, and subsequently removed to Fredericksburg, Va. Two of his sons, David and Enos, removed to Kentucky and were progenitors of well-known families in that State and Louisiana. James ... (returned) to Lewisburg, ... (then) to Northumberland, ... (then) to Aaronsburg in the year 1790. .... James Duncan, Esq., ... died Oct. 14, 1843, aged eighty-five. ....
 

1888 "History of Rush County, Indiana, from the earliest time to the present : with biographical sketches, notes, etc., together with a short history of the northwest, the Indiana Territory, and the state of Indiana" pub. by Brant & Fuller (FHL book 977.261 H2h; pg.355 also quoted in "Duncan Family" by Donald Linville Duncan, Part 2, pg.23)
      Pg.355-6, Anderson Township: WILLIAM DUNCAN was born in Fleming Co. KY, June 28th, 1815, son of Martin and Mary (Henry) Duncan, and is of Scotch-Irish lineage. The father of our subject, was born October 17, 1777, in Pennsylvania and died in Decatur Co. IN, in 1857. He was the son of David Duncan, who after coming to America, first settled in Pennsylvania in 1765 and afterward, in 1791 removed to Marion Co. KY, where he died in 1827. The mother of our subject was born in Pennsylvania in 1791 and died in Rush Co. IN, in the spring of 1855. The Duncan family came to Indiana in 1824 and settled in what is now Decatur County. In 1843 the subject of this sketch came to Rush County and located where he now resides. Mr. Duncan owns 160 acres of good land, which was entered by Stephen Sharp in 1821. Our subject's first marriage occured in May, 1842, the bride being Miss Rosanna Mitchell, a native of Ohio. Mrs. Duncan died in 1865 and in 1867 Mr. Duncan was married to Miss Martha A. Ruddell, a native of Decatur County, born in 1826, a daughter of William and Delilah (Cain) Ruddell. Mr. Duncan was formerly a Whig, but he is now a Republican and for many years has been a faithful member of the United Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Duncan is a member of the Methodist Church. (MAD: Mason Co. KY, not Marion Co.)
 

"1792 to 1892, the Illustrated Centennial Record of State of KY, containing complete list of Executive, Judicial and Legislative Departments of State ... since 1792" by Sam Carpenter Elliott, 1892 (FHL film 156,890 item 8)
      Pg.8: Simon Kenton, pioneer of KY, b. April 13, 1755 in Fauquier Co. VA, father was native of Ireland, mother of Scotch descent, at age 16 he left home on account of difficulty with a neighbor, William Veatch, whom he thought he had killed; to KY, assumed name of Simon Butler which enabled him to escape. Later found he had not killed Veatch. Captured many times by Indians and escaped. Planted first corn raised in Mason Co. KY or north of the KY river. Died at his home in Logan Co. OH 4/29/1836. (MAD: copied because we keep seeing the Simon Kenton name in early KY & OH records)
 

1878 "The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men" (no editor given) Pub. New York. United States Biographical Pub. Co. (from Kathy D. Cawley by email 11/20/2005; also on FHL film 934926 Item 5)
      Missouri volume, pg.246, 246a (picture of Herman C. Duncan), 247, 248: REV. HERMAN COPE DUNCAN, KANSAS CITY [Jackson Co. MO].
      REV. HERMAN COPE DUNCAN is a native of Louisiana. On the paternal side he is a descendant of a long line of distinguished Scotchmen. His father's grandsire was an eminent promoter of the scheme to place Charles Edward, the last of the Stuarts, on the united throne of England and Scotland, and because of his prominence, after the disastrous battle of Culloden, he was banished and his estates confiscated. Reaching this country he settled in Massachusetts, and while residing there took part in the "Boston Tea Party." Subsequently he removed to Central Pennsylvania and afterward to Washington, Mason county, Kentucky. Several of his sons were distinguished in the Black Hawk war. His son David Duncan at one time resided near New Mardrid, Missouri Territory. Here Greer Brown Duncan, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born. His birthplace was annexed to the State of Kentucky by the violent earthquake of 1811, which changed the course of the Mississippi river. Greer Brown Duncan was admitted to the bar in Terre Haute, Indiana. Subsequently he removed to New Orleans, and won high rank in the social and political world. His universally successful defense of the property owners against the claims of the celebrated Myra Clark Gaines, and his advocacy of the rights of the cities of New Orleans and Baltimore in the matter of the McDonough estates, greatly distinguished him. Daniel Webster said, in addressing the Supreme Court of the United States in the latter suit, that Mr. Duncan was a zealous member of the vestry of Christ's Church, New Orleans, a prominent organizer in the diocese in the General (national) Convention. October 1, 1845, he married Mary Jane Cope, a native of Baltimore and daughter of Herman Cope, who was for many years treasurer of the General (national) Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Their only child, Herman Cope Duncan, the subject of this sketch, was born August 12, 1846. At an early age he was left an orphan, his mother dying January 10, 1856, and his father, June 25, 1858. He prepared for college at the Episcopal Academy, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was graduated with honors at the Pennsylvania University in 1867. Having given up the study of the law, for which profession he had begun to fit himself, he determined early in his junior year at college to seek holy orders; he deferred his application to be received as a candidate, however, until the latter part of 1866. He entered the Philadelphia Divinity School in September 1867, but soon after found that he could make greater progress in his studies by pursuing them in private. He accordingly applied for and received an honorable discharge from the seminary, and was enabled by due diligence to pass his examinations nearly two years ahead of his class. He received ordination as a deacon from the Bishop of Louisiana, J.P.B. Wilmer, D.D., in the Church of the Transfiguration, New York city, October 25, 1868. In the same year the Rev. H.C. Duncan was placed in charge of Emmanuel Church, New Orleans, where he officiated for fifteen months. He succeeded in paying off a large indebtedness on the parish and greatly increased the congregation. At the Diocesan Council of 1870 Mr. Duncan was made secretary of the diocese, to which office he was constantly reelected until he left the diocese. Several times mutatis mutandis the council adopted resolutions declaring
      "That the thanks of this council are eminently due and hearby tendered to the Rev Herman C. Duncan, for the faithful and able manner in which he was discharged his arduous duties."
      In December, 1870, he took charge of Calvary Church, New Orleans. He had to face another indebtedness, which was largely reduced during his ministration. In this parish, January 22, 1871, he was ordained priest by the Bishop of Louisiana, J.P.B. Wilmer, D.D. In April of the same year he was elected registrar and historian of the diocese. As to his administration, while in this office, the following resolution adopted by the Diocesan Council in 1876, after he had left the diocese, will speak for themselves:
      "Whereas, the Rev. Herman Cope Duncan, late registrar and historian, obtained and arranged a most complete and valuable collection of historical documents to be placed among the archives of this diocese; therefore be it
Resolved, that this council tender to its late registrar and historian its sincere thanks for his long, efficient and untiring service in that capacity."
      In 1872 he resigned the charge of Calvary Church and entered upon a missionary life in the Florida parishes of Louisiana. He spent twenty months in this work, filling eleven appointments each month. During this time he was instrumental in causing to be built three churches in Tangipahoa parish. The erection of the Grace Church, Hammond, one of the most ornate rural churches in the state, was the result of a stimulus of five hundred dollars procured by him from an unknown lady friend of New York city. Previous to this the people had felt unable to accomplish anything, nut with this help they succeeded in raising a sufficient sum to build a church valued at $3,500. His mission work, at this and other places in the field, was successful in laying the foundation for that permanent growth of the Church which is now being largely realized.
      In 1873 Mr. Duncan was elected a director of the Protestant Episcopal Association and also one of the diocesan board of trustees of endowment funds. He was at once elected secretary of the board, and while holding the office succeeded in inspiring a renewed zeal in the conduct of the board where before there had been so great a want of it that a meeting had not been held for several years. In 1874 he returned to his old field of labor in the Sixth District of New Orleans. In the meantime a new parish called St. Mark's Church had been developed from Emmanuel Church, and of this he took charge. The parish was overwhelmingly in debt, but he succeeding in reuniting the two parishes under the name of St. George's Church, and left it at the time of his resignation, October 1875, unencumbered. In April, 1875, Mr. Duncan was elected trustee of the Church Education Society of Louisiana and in the same year a member of the Board of Missions of the General (National) Church.
      In November, 1875, he removed to Illinois and became rector of the Bishop Whitehouse Memorial Church, Chicago, which position he held for some nine months, when he returned to New Orleans and took temporary charge of Christ Church, the parent parish of the Southwest. Here he remained during the summer. While in this charge he was called to the rectorship of Grace Church, Kansas City. He was personally unknown to any of the parishioners of this charge, and was elected entirely on the ground of his reputation. He accepted the invitation and entered upon his duties, October, 1876. He was almost immediately thereafter appointed by the bishop of the diocese, dean of the missionary district of Kansas City, embracing the counties of Jackson, Platte, Clay, Lafayette, Cass and Johnson. He organized the convocation in January, 1877. Grace Church is enjoying a great degree of prosperity under his administration.
      In 1870 Mr. Duncan was elected a fellow of the New Orleans Academy of Sciences, and subsequently was made chairman of the scientific section of philology, in which position he filled the usual lecture requirements. He is Past Master of Jefferson Lodge, No. 191, A.F. & A.M. of New Orleans, and Past M.E. High Priest of Kansas City Royal Arch Chapter. He has organized and is Thrice Illustrious Master of Palace Council, No. 21, Royal and Select Masters, Kansas City; Prelate of Kansas City Commandery No. 10, and is Past Grand Prelate of the Grand Commandery Knights Templar of Louisiana. He has held the office of Grand Chaplain of the Grand Council of the State of Louisiana, and has recently been elected to the same position in Missouri. During the existence of the McEnery government, from 1872 to 1876, Mr. Duncan was Chaplain of the Senate of Louisiana. During the winter of 1878 Mr. Duncan was elected Chaplain of Co. A. Jackson County National Guards.
      In character, Mr. Duncan displays great individuality. It is evident that he copies from no one, but hews out his own path. The legal acumen necessary in abstruse investigation he has evidently inherited from his distinguished father. Tenacity of purpose and boldness of enterprise he possesses in an eminent degree, and his record shows that he has remarkable executive ability. The chosen purpose of his life seized hold of his brain with the grip of doom. His power to achieve great things lay in his intense resoluteness, which made him proof against all confusing and diverting influences. He formed at the outset of his career a solemn purpose to make the most and best of the powers which God had given him, and to turn to the best possible account every outward advantage within his reach. This purpose has carried with it the assent of the reason, the approval of the conscience and the sober judgment of the intellect, and to-day we see few men of his age his equal and none his superior.
 

1890 "Biographical and historical memoirs of northwest Louisiana : comprising a large fund of biography of actual residents, and an interesting historical sketch of thirteen counties." pub. Nashville : Southern Pub. Co. (Chicago : Press of J. Morris Co.) (IN State Library fiche LH12073; from C.T. Duncan 12/2007)
      Pg.565-568: Rapides Parish. Ven. Herman Cope Duncan, Alexandria, La., is descended from a long line of illustrious Scotch ancestry, his paternal great grandsire being a leading promoter of the scheme to place Charles Edward, the last of the Stuarts, on the united throne of England and Scotland, and because of his prominence, after the disastrous battle of Culloden, he was banished and his estates confiscated. Upon reaching America he settled in Massachusetts, and while there took part in the "Boston Tea Party." Subsequently he removed to Central Pennsylvania, and afterward to Washington, Mason County, Ky., several of his sons becoming distinguished in the Black Hawk War. His son, David Duncan, at one time resided near New Madrid, Missouri Territory, and here Greer Brown Duncan, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born, his birthplace being afterward annexed to the State of Kentucky by the violent earthquake of 1811, which changed the course of the Mississippi River. Greer Brown Duncan was educated in Augusta College, Kentucky, and upon completing his course he studied law with Judge A. Kinney, of Terre Haute, Ind., and was admitted to the bar of that place in December, 1830. Subsequently he removed to New Orleans, and, owing to his fine mental qualities, he obtained a high rank in the social and political circles of that place. ... Mr. Duncan was a prominent member of the vestry of Christ Church of New Orleans, a prominent organizer of the diocesan councils, and a representative of the diocese in the general (national) convention. On October 1, 1845, he was married to Mary Jane, daughter of Herman Cope, of Baltimore, who was for many years treasurer of the general (national) convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Their only child is the subject of this sketch, who was born August 12, 1846. He was left an orphan at an early age, his mother dying January 9, 1856, and his father June 25, 1858. He was prepared for college at the Episcopal Academy of Philadelphia, Penn., and graduated with honors in the University of Pennsylvania in 1867. Having given up the profession of law ... latter part of 1867, entering the Philadelphia Divinity School in September of that year. ... He was ordained deacon by the Bishop of Louisiana, J.P.B. Wilmer, D.D., in the Church of the Transfiguration, New York City, October 25, 1868, and the same year was placed in charge of the Emmanuel Church, New Orleans, (MAD: more on his church and diocesan positions, not copied here) ... Rev. Herman C. Duncan ... In 1877 he resigned the charge of Calvary Church, and entered upon a missionary life in the Florida Parishes of Louisiana, spending twenty months in this work, ... In November, 1875, he removed to Illinois ... for nine months, when he returned to New Orleans ... Kansas City ... 1876, 1877, 1878, resigned 1880, to Alexandria, La., April 17, 1880. ... In 1888, after about twenty years' work in collation, he published the history of the diocese of Louisiana. ... He was married January 9, 1883, to Miss Maria Elizabeth Cooke, in St.John's Church, Washington, La., and the issue of their marriage has been two children, a daughter (who died at birth, in 1884), and Greer Assheton (who was born March 31, 1887). Mrs. Duncan is the daughter of the late Thomas Alfred Cooke, M.D., and of Frances Pannill. Dr. Cooke was a son of Thomas and Catherine Byrd (Didlake) Cooke, of Gloucester County, Va., and Mrs. Cooke was a daughter of David and Frances Assheton (Wikoff) Pannill, the latter being the grand-daughter of Ralph Assheton, a provincial councillor of Pennsylvania; and the first lawyer to settle in that province. ... (MAD: more on the ancestry of Frances Assheton Wikoff, not copied here) ....
 

"Quincy and Adams County [IL] history and representative men" by Henry Bornmann; ed. by David F. Wilcox; pub. Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1919, 1676 pgs. (LH13147, HeritageQuest images 4/2007; FHL book 977.344 D3w v.1&2 and films 924,750 item 2 and 924,751 item 1)
      Pg.883: JOHN A. STILLWELL, president of the Electric Wheel Company, Quincy, Illinois, was born at Hannibal in Marion County, Missouri, January 23, 1861. His parents were Brison and Margaret (Duncan) Stillwell, both of whom were born in Kentucky, probably being of Scotch parentage. For many years the father was in the pork packing business. His death occurred in 1876, six children surviving him and four of these still living. The mother died in 1916. The only son, John A. Stillwell, ... married in December, 1893, to Miss Elizabeth M. Newcomb, and they have three children, ... (MAD: see Clark and Mason Co. KY)
 

Return to the Mason Co. KY Research File
 

END

Return to Index to Duncan Research Files in Kentucky

Return to The Genealogy Bug's Home Page