Duncans in Chippewa Co. MI

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Duncan research files of
Mary Ann (Duncan) Dobson
the Genealogy Bug

Last revised October 29, 2007

CHIPPEWA CO. MI
Formed 1826 from Mackinac
Marquette, Ontonagon formed 1843 from Chippewa, Houghton
Schoolcraft formed 1843 from Chippewa, Houghton, Marquette
Houghton formed 1845 from Chippewa
Luce formed 1887 from Chippewa, Mackinac
 

CENSUS RECORDS

1830-1850 Chippewa Co. MI Census
      No Duncan indexed

1860 Chippewa Co. MI Census
Sault Ste. Marie Twp.
Pg.489, #269-269, Homer DUNCAN 25 NY fisherman $0-$500
                  John SMITH 28 NY fisherman
                  Harvey ANDREWS 30 OH fisherman

1870 Chippewa Co. MI Census
      No Duncan indexed
 

OTHER RECORDS

"Territorial Papers, Michigan Territory, 1829-1837" Vol.XII (CA State Univ. Sacramento Library 11/1984)
      Pg.316-7: Petition to Congress by Inhabitants of Chippewa Co., July, 1831: That in 1823 a court was established by Congress for counties of Michilimakinaw, Brown and Crawford, at which time Chippewa composed a part of Michilimakinaw Co. until 1827 when the legislative council of Michigan separated them and established a separate court; that in 1829 the council abolished that court; that the principal settlement in Chippewa is at the Saut de Ste. Marie, about 90 miles from the Mackinaw court; petition that a court be held at Saut de Ste. Marie for Chippewa Co. on first Monday in July annually. Signed by Leslie Duncan among others.
      Pg.344-8: Memorial to Congress by Inhabitants of Chippewa Co., August, 1831: That the boundaries of the Territory of Huron, established by the Bill reported on 6 Jan. 1830 for the government of that Territory, embraced the whole of the Louisiana purchase north of the state of Missouri and of the MO river, and parts of the Territories of Indiana and Illinois which were temporarily attached to Michigan in 1818; the district north of straits of Mackinaw, composing a fraction of the counties of Mackinaw and Chippewa, inhabited by the petitioners, is likewise embraced. Petition to be detached from the State of Michigan and to be placed under the government of the Territory of Huron. Signed by Leslie Duncan among others.
      Pg.397-9: Memorial to Congress by Inhabitants of St. Mary's in Chippewa Co., Dec. 16, 1831: They are separated by the River St. Mary's from upper Canada; petition for extension of road being built to Sagana, to extend to Mackinac, which "is nearly a parralel base line across the peninsula, formed by lakes Huron & Super'or & the Straits of St. Mary," to commence at Point St. Ignace, near Mackinac, and extend inland to this place, about 45 miles. Signed by Leslie Duncan among others.
      Pg.604-6: Petition to Congress by Inhabitants of Chippewa Co., July, 1833: Protest against being excluded from the proposed Territory of Huron and being attached to the contemplated "State of Michigan." Their habits and pursuits are different from those of the people of the Peninsular counties whose laws are inoperative and injurious to the petitioners; they live at a great distance from the Seat of Government of Michigan; they are cut off for six months in each year from Detroit, the present seat of Government; the Lakes and straits which separate Michilimackinac and the Sault de St. Marie from the peninsula seem to be a natural boundary for the New State. Signed by Leslie Duncan among others.
 

HISTORIES before 1923

1915 "History of Michigan" by Charles Moore, pub. by Lewis Publishing Co. (FHL film 845,428; SLC 9/2007)
      Vol.3, pg.1177-1181: HENRY DUNCAN. It is both a privilege and a matter of satisfaction to be able to enter in this publication a brief tribute to the memory of the late Henry Duncan, who not only gained definite precedence as one of the representative business men and honored citizens of Detroit but who also was a scion of a family that was founded in Michigan in the territorial epoch of the history of this favored commonwealth, the name of Duncan having been prominently and worthily linked with social and material progress in Michigan for nearly a century.
            Henry Duncan was born in the little frontier settlement of Sault Ste. Marie, Chippewa county, Michigan, on the 14th of August, 1828, and is a son of John Leslie Duncan, a native of the city of Dublin, Ireland, and a representative of the historic old Scottish family of the name. John L. Duncan was reared and educated in his native land and came to America when young. It was his adventurous spirit and self-reliant zeal that prompted him to come to the territory of Michigan in the early pioneer days, and he established his home in the little settlement on the site of the present thriving city of Sault Ste. Marie, where he entered fully and influentially into the activities of the pioneer community. He developed a prosperous business as a trader with the Indians in the surrounding territory and was a leader in the affairs of the settlement on the frontier wilds. He continued his operations as a trader until his death, which occurred in 1840, and his name merits enduring place on the roll of the sturdy and honored pioneers of the Wolverine state, which was admitted to the Union about three years prior to his demise.
            The rugged environment and influences of the pioneer days in northern Michigan compassed the childhood of Henry Duncan, whose rudimentary education was acquired in a primitive school maintained in the settlement in which he was born. He was a lad of about twelve years at the time of his father's death and shortly afterward he removed with his widowed mother to Detroit, ... in which his devoted mother passed the residue of her life. ... Mr. Duncan ... continue his studies under the direction of the same able instructor who had been his teacher at Sault Ste. Marie, ... apprenticeship to the harnessmaker's trade, ... Having become a skilled workman in his craft, Mr. Duncan removed to the little village of Orion, Oakland county, where he opened a small shop ... for several years, but after his marriage ... returned to Detroit ... loyal to the Union ... death having occurred on the 17th of March, 1865. After conducting his business for several years in an individual way he admitted his brother to partnership, and for several years thereafter the harness and saddlery establishment of the Duncan Brothers was the most extensive of its kind in Detroit. Mr. Duncan's loyalty and patriotism ... at the Time of the Mexican war, as he enlisted for service in the same, as a member of the first volunteer regiment from Michigan. ...
            On the 17th of March, 1853, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Duncan to Miss Harriet S. Cady, who was born in New York, and who is a daughter of Alpheus and Patty (Chambers) Cady, sterling pioneers of Michigan. The ideal wedded life of Mr. and Mrs. Duncan continued about a decade and the gracious bonds were then severed by the death of the devoted husband and father, to whose memory the venerable widow has continued devoted during the long intervening years. Mr. and Mrs. Duncan became the parents of one child, Leslie H., who was born at Orion, Oakland county, in 1858. The son was afforded the advantages of Professor Bacon's school for boys, in Detroit, and those of well ordered institutions in the city of New York. In his early business career he conducted a drug store at Mount Clemens, Macomb county, Michigan, and finally he retired to his excellent farm, in that county, where he became a prominent agriculturist and stock-grower and where he passed the residue of his life, his death having occurred in 1888, at which time he was but thirty years of age. He wedded Miss Gertrude McCall, who survived him by a number of years. They became the parents of two daughters, Harriet and Jessie. Harriet Duncan became the wife of Samuel Coombs, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and their only son, Duncan Shafter Coombs, who was born on the 15th of November, 1907, is the only great-grandchild of Mrs. Henry Duncan, widow of the honored subject of his memoir. Samuel Coombs is now deceased and his widow still resides in Pittsburgh. Jessie Duncan, younger of the two daughters of Leslie H. and Gertrude (McCall) Duncan is the wife of Homan Hallet, who holds large mining interests in Mexico but who, with his family, is residing temporarily in Detroit, Michigan, owing to the disturbed conditions incident to the recent revolution in Mexico. (MAD: Detroit, Wayne Co. MI)
            Mrs. Henry Duncan still maintains her home in Detroit ... Venerable in years, ... For little short of a half century she continued to occupy the fine residence which her husband had purchased and which was the place of his death. This property, at the corner of Woodward avenue and Winder street, she finally sold, after which she purchased her present modern and attractive residence, at 29 Woodward Terrace ... She was a child at the time of her parents' removal to Michigan, and in this favored commonwealth she has continued to reside during the long intervening years, the town of Cadyville, Lapeer county, having been named in honor of the family of which she is a representative. ... member of the Detroit chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution, Protestant Episcopal Church.
            Alpheus Cady, father of Mrs. Duncan, was one of the representative pioneers of Lapeer county, Michigan, where he settled in the early '30s, ... His wife, Mrs. Patty (Chambers) Cady ... Alpheus and Patty Cady became the parents of nine children, of whom only two are now living, -- Mrs. Duncan, who was the eighth in order of birth, and Orson, who is the youngest of the number and the only one born in Michigan ... (MAD: much more on the Cady family, not copied here)
 

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