Decatur-Butts-Randolph County GaArchives Biographies.....Duke, Willis J. 1870 - living in 1913
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 31, 2004, 4:26 pm

Author: William Harden
p. 1012-1014

   WILLIS J. DUKE. Now in his early forties, Mr. Duke of Decatur county is one
of the largest land owners and crop producers of this part of Georgia. His
career has encouragement for young men who start without resources except those
contained in themselves. He was a renter for several years, prospered in every
undertaking, and thriftily turned his surplus into more land until he found
himself independent and with better provision for the future of himself and
family than most men have at the close of a long lifetime.

   It is an old family of Georgia that is represented by Mr. Duke. He was
himself born in Decatur county, December 8, 1870. His father was Maston
Hendricks Duke, who was born in Butts county, Georgia, September 4, 1845. The
grandfather was Weekly W. Duke, and it is thought that he also was a native of
Butts county, where he was reared and married. From there the grandfather moved
into Randolph county, buying land about eight miles north of Cuthbert. He built
up a large plantation and had numerous slaves to do the work of the fields and
the household. That remained his home until his death when he was about fifty
years of age. The maiden name of his wife was Penelope McClenden, who was born
in Butts county, and died in Randolph county. They were the parents of several
children and both were members of the Baptist church, and the grandfather was a
Mason.

   Maston Hendricks Duke, the father, was a small boy when his family moved into
Randolph county, where he was reared and married. When eighteen years old he
enlisted in the Twenty-eighth Georgia Battalion, first accompanying the command
to Florida, and subsequently to North Carolina. He participated in several of
the campaigns and battles of the closing years of the war, the last engagement
being that at Bentonviiie. He also fought at Ocean Pond in Florida, and was the
great struggle at Chickamauga. He was never wounded or captured, and went with
his command until the final surrender. On returning home he found that his
father was dead, and he then took charge of the home farm. In the fall of 1866,
he bought a farm of seven hundred acres in lots 382, 384, 264, 383, and 182 in
the Faceville district. There he carried on general farming and made his home
until his death on October 23, 1909.

   By marriage, Maston H. Duke became connected with another old and prominent
family of Georgia. He was married to Miss Frances Elizabeth Mounger, who was
born in Stewart county, Georgia, January 11, 1847. Her father was Edwin
Mounger,. who was born, in Jefferson county, Georgia, in 1806. Her grandfather,
Edwin Mounger, was years ago treasurer of the state of Georgia, was also trustee
of University of Georgia for years, and married Frances Clark, daughter of Gen.
Elijah Clark. He was also cousin of Thomas Jefferson and was offered a position
in his cabinet but refused on account of relationship. Edwin Mounger was left an
orphan when a boy, and was reared by his uncle, Governor Clark, and for a time
was a student in the State University. He then took up the printers' trade,
becoming an expert compositor, and set type on the first newspaper published at
Marianna, Florida, He subsequently taught school at Perry in Houston county,
Georgia. After his marriage he bought a farm in Stewart county, where he lived
three years, then sold out and moved into Randolph county, where he bought a
plantation five miles north of Cuthbert, cultivating its broad acres with the
aid of his slaves and remained there until his death. The maiden name of the
wife of Edwin Mounger was Elizabeth Jane Ball, whose relationship has been
traced back to Gen. George Washington. She was born in Milledgeville, a daughter
of William Ball, who was a Virginian and said to have been a Revolutionary
soldier. Coming to Georgia, he bought a home in Milledgeville and a plantation
near by, and remained there the rest of his days. William Ball married Elizabeth
Grey. Their daughter, Elizabeth Jane, first married a Mr. Allen, and was the
mother of five children by her first marriage and seven by the second. The Allen
children were named William H., Julia, John R., Thomas and Marcus. The children
of Edwin Mounger and his wife, Elizabeth Jane, were Sarah A., Edwin 0., Frances
E., Mary Jane, Annie E., Selma, and Clara 0.

   Maston H. Duke and wife reared nine children, named as follows: Momelus W.,
Edwin Mounger, Willis J., Oscar Clark, Elizabeth P., Julia Frances, Clara P.,
Maston H., and Annie Pearl. The parents were both members of the Methodist church.

   As a boy Willis J. Duke received such education as the rural schools could
furnish, and remained at home and worked for his father until he was twenty-four
years old. He then began an independent career on rented land. His industry and
good management brought him success from the start, and for several years he
continued as a renter. In the meantime, however, he had bought a tract of land
in the south part of the county, and also bought a tract in lot No. 370 in the
Bethel district, seven miles northwest of Bainbridge, and in 1901 took up his
residence on that farm. Mr. Duke is a Progressive farmer, and has a homestead
which in its improvement is equalled by few others in district. He has built a
good frame house as a residence, has erected barns for the shelter of stock and
shed to protect all his farm machinery, and from time to time has bought other
tracts of land so that he now owns upwards of one thousand acres. He engages in
farming, raising a variety of crops and feeding a large number of hogs and
cattle each year.

   In 1894, Mr. Duke married Martha Elizabeth Sunday, who was born on the south
line of Decatur, Georgia. Her father was Joseph Larue Sunday, who was born in
the same vicinity, but across the state line in Gadsden county, Florida, where
his father, George Sunday, had been one of the early settlers. About 1873,
George Sunday moved to Montgomery county, Texas, which was his home until his
death. The maiden name of his wife was Martha Johnson. Both parents lived to a
good old age. Joseph L. Sunday, the father of Mrs. Duke, lived in Decatur county
for a few years after marriage and then returned to Gadsden county, Florida,
where he now resides. Joseph L. Sunday married Nancy Ann Johnson, who was born
in Decatur county, daughter of Noah and Nancy (Lewis) Johnson. The eight
children in the Sunday family were named as follows: Jesse W., Martha E., Nannie
J., Bera and Burrus, twins, Joseph Jarius, Jeptha L., and Mary Lou. Both Mr. and
Mrs. Sunday were members of the Methodist church. Mr. and Mrs. Duke are the
parents of five children, whose names are Vasta Elizabeth, Bernard Lamar, Wesley
Allen, Fannie Mae, Annie Ruby. Mr. and Mrs. Duke are both members of the
Methodist church.

From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/decatur/bios/gbs490duke.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/

File size: 7.3 Kb