Union County, SD Biographies.....Duncan, Archibald, Sr. 1827 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/sd/sdfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 29, 2007, 11:42 pm Author: Geo. A. Ogle & Co. (1897) ARCHIBALD DUNCAN, SR., was the first settler of Prairie township, Union county, and is now the fortunate possessor of a fine farm in section 32, of the same township. He has been numbered among the agriculturists of the county since 1869, and in prosecuting his farm work has been very industrious, progressive in his ideas, and ready to take advantage of every turn of the tide to improve his circumstances. He is widely known throughout the community for his many excellent traits of character, and his host of friends will be glad to read this sketch of his life work in the history of his adopted country. Mr. Duncan is a native of Scotland, and is the second child of a family of eleven children born to Samuel and Janet (Flockhart) Duncan. Samuel, the eldest, is deceased; then came Archibald, our subject; and then, in order of birth, the following children: Mrs. Helen Patterson; Mrs. Janet Hayes; Margaret; John, deceased; Robert, whose biography will be found on another page of this record; Thomas, deceased; William; and Elizabeth and Ann, both deceased. The father died at the age of eighty-nine years, having been born October 10, 1800, and his good wife passed from time to eternity in 1854 at the age of forty-eight years. Archibald Duncan, Sr., was born September 27, 1827, at Linlithgowshire, Scotland, and was raised in the land of his birth, imbibing during his boyhood the thrift and industry characteristic of the Scottish race, which is indelibly stamped in the natures of the lads and lassies of the land of heather. He learned the trade of blacksmith, but followed farming all his life, and began working out at the early age of eight years, in this wise assisting to rear and educate his younger brothers and sisters. Mr. Duncan left the home of his ancestors in 1854' and emigrated to Canada. He first settled in Gray county, Ontario, near the Georgian bay, on a farm which was of little use for the purpose of agriculture because of the stones with which it was covered. He* succeeded in cleaning up sixty acres of this and then sold out in 1869 and came to Union county, Dak. Ter. The county had just been organized then and settlers in his neighborhood were few and far between, no claims to the north of his homestead having been taken. With nothing to speak of when he took up his residence in the township where he yet lives, he has diligently and earnestly applied himself to his work, and is now the owner of three hundred and twenty acres, all of which is improved. Although grasshoppers and hailstorms destroyed his crops and blizzards made life in the pioneer winter days uncomfortable, he has steadily kept pace with the growth of the country, gathering without scattering, and is now able to pass the evening of his life surrounded by everything his heart could wish that money can buy. As an early settler he has seen the county pass from a vast wilderness, fit only for a stamping ground for buffaloes and other wild animals, which were numerous in those days, to its present well-cultivated condition, and has himself been active in the development of its agricultural interests. His old homestead he improved and lived on until 1880, and then purchased and removed to his present farm, where he carries on an extensive general farming business. Politically he is a stanch supporter of Republican doctrines and casts his vote accordingly. He has served as road overseer and uses his influence as a prominent citizen in making a success any worthy enterprise calculated to advance the welfare of the community. Mr. Duncan has a nice, comfortable home, and to the lady who has presided over his household affairs so gracefully for the past thirty-five years, and who has contributed so much to his happiness in life, he was wedded in 1861. Mrs. Duncan bore the maiden name of Miss Agnes Hill, and is, like her husband, a native of Scotland. She is the youngest of a family of twelve children born to George and Grace (Braidwood) Hill, the former a native of Leith, and the latter of Lannockshire, where, also, Mrs. Duncan was born, August 28, 1840. The other children, in the order of their birth, are as follows: Grace, Margaret, Daniel, John, Mary and Elizabeth, deceased; George and Kate; the ninth and eleventh children died in infancy, and Helen, the tenth, also died young. Mr. and Mrs. Hill came to America in 1851, with their family, and settled in Buffalo, N. Y., and later went to Canada, their deaths occurring in Delaware county, Iowa, whither they went in 1861. Mr. Duncan and his estimable wife have been blessed in their marriage by the birth of six children, viz.: Samuel; Mrs. Grace B. Anderson; Mrs. Jessie F. Johnson; Mrs. Mary E. Bussler; George H.; and Agnes, deceased. All the children have been thoroughly educated and well-fitted for their various callings in life, and the whole family are members of the Baptist church. Additional Comments: Extracted from: MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF Turner, Lincoln, Union and Clay Counties, SOUTH DAKOTA. Containing Biographical Sketches of Hundreds of Prominent Old Settlers and Representative Citizens, with a Review of their Life Work; their Identity with the Growth and Development of these Counties; Reminiscences of Personal History and Pioneer Life; and other Interesting and Valuable Matter which should be Preserved in History. ILLUSTRATED CHICAGO. GEO. A. OGLE & CO. Publishers, Engravers and Book Manufacturers. 1897. Biography is the only true history.—EMERSON. A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote generations.—MACAULAY. 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