BIO:  Hon. William A. DUNCAN, Gettysburg, Adams County, PA

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History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania
Chicago:  Warner, Beers & Co., 1886
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Part III, History of Adams County, Page 353

HON. WILLIAM A. DUNCAN, in his extraction a Pennsylvanian, was born in Franklin 
Township, Adams Co., Penn., February 2, 1836.  He died at Gettysburg November 
14, 1884, in his forty-ninth year.  His paternal ancestors originally went from 
the neighborhood of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Donegal, Ireland, from whence, about 
the year 1750, his grandfather, Seth Duncan, immigrated to America, and located 
in Lancaster County, Penn.  He there married and lived until late in life, when 
he removed to Abbottstown, then York (now Adams) County.  Seth had a number of 
children, most of whom became notable people.  His son, Adam Seth Enos Duncan, 
the father of the subject of this sketch, died in 1840, aged fifty-one years, 
and Mr. Duncan was left an orphan boy at the age of four years, with two other 
brothers but a few years older, to the charge of a widowed mother.  He early 
showed an aptitude for intellectual pursuits, as he matriculated at the age of 
seventeen at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Penn., in 1853.  He 
graduated in the regular course, in 1857, as valedictorian of his class.  This 
fact attests the eminent rank he attained while a college student as scholar, 
thinker and orator.  After graduating he entered the law office of R. G. 
McCreary, Esq., at Gettysburg, and in due course was admitted to the bar in 
1859.  He applied himself zealously to practice.  Industry, diligence and 
integrity brought with them the confidence of his associates, of the community, 
an extensive practice, and made his professional career a success.  By the 
election of the people he filled the office of prosecuting attorney for Adams 
County from 1862 to 1865, and so acceptably that he was again chosen to fill the 
same position from 1868 to 1871.  He was also for a long time solicitor for the 
county, and filled various other local offices.  In November, 1882, he was 
elected to represent the populous and intelligent counties of Adams, Cumberland 
and York, comprising the Nineteenth District of Pennsylvania, in the Forty-
eighth Congress.  For several years Mr. Duncan was one of the most prominent 
members of the bar at Gettysburg, and was universally respected and admired.  In 
politics he was a consistent Democrat.  At his decease several memorial 
addresses on his life and character were delivered in the House of 
Representatives, and in the Senate, Forty-eighth Congress, second session.