Llano County, TX - Obituaries:  Duncan, John Bruce II,  1934

Thursday, 03 May 2001



Submitted by:  sam1916@dellepro.com  (Melissa Twardowski)



The following account of the death of John Bruce Duncan (II) was among the many papers 

that I had collected from various family members. The paper is very thin and almost 

transparent. It is not dated nor is the author known.  It reads as if written for printing 

or possibly the transcript of the originally published obituary.



	"On last Thursday afternoon there was laid to rest in that new and attractive 

portion of the Llano Cemetery, the last remains of John Bruce Duncan, who, at 9:40 P.M. 

February 25, 1934, after a brief illness told his daughter Mrs. Juanita Futch he was ready 

to go, and entered upon his voyage to the other and brighter land. He had not been ill long 

but, despite timely medical aid and careful nursing, the malady had him and refused to yield 

to science or any human agency."

	

	"John Bruce Duncan was born on October 24, 1867, at the ranch, in the eastern part 

of Llano County known as the Duncan Ranch. His father and mother were John (Bruce) Duncan (I) 

and Josephine (Dunman) Duncan, pioneer settlers of Llano County, whose cattle in the early days 

roamed on many a hill, whose home was a land mark in its vicinity, and near which home occurred 

the noted Packsaddle Indian fight, and to which place was borne, after the fight, two of the 

heroes wounded therein who were there cared for and nursed to recovery."



	"The Father and Mother of the deceased were among the first of our ranch owners to 

acquire a home in Llano to avail themselves of the advantages of the schools for their 

children, which they did in the early Eighties (1880's), and the deceased, then a boy, 

with his sisters Rosa and Josie, attended the Llano Public Schools."



	"In the year 1888 the deceased, together with the late Geo. C. Breazeal and the 

writer, three untutored but not-to-be bunched youths, entered Add-Ran College, at Thorp's 

Spring, Texas, a College founded by two noted ministers and educators, Addison Clark and 

Randolph Clark, an institution known, far and wide, for its prestige in the Educational 

world through the personality of those two eminent scholars. Following his two years stay 

in said institution John took a business course at Hills Business College at Waco, Texas, 

a popular and well attended Business School in that day and time. The training received 

at Add-Ran College and said Business College, together with his unusual aptness, quite well 

qualified John Duncan for a business career and he as well as his parents doubtless thought 

such might be the trend of his future life, but not so."



	"The fondness for ranch life was, as it has been with many other boys from ranch 

homes, deeply embedded in his nature. The low of the herd lured him. The rattle of the 

saddle horses' bell in the early morn, he could not forget. From School to the ranch home 

he returned. Throughout his remaining days ranch life and handling livestock was his happy 

and contented vocation, as he loved the range, the glow of the campfire, and the thrill and 

dash of mastering the herb. In his young days he sat his mount with becoming grace, gave him 

with reckless abandon in the roughest places, the rein and the rowel, and threw a lariat 

with accuracy and precision."



	"The deceased was married September 25th, 1895 at the old Llano Hotel in the Town 

of Llano, to Miss Lavina Hardin, also a member of one of our pioneer families, who was noted, 

in addition to other marks of attraction, for her long and beautiful suit of hair, the 

attractiveness of which could not soon be forgotten by anyone who had seen it falling at its 

full length from her head. Two daughters and a son blessed this union, Mrs. Juanita Futch, 

of Llano, Texas, Mrs. Marie Murff now living in Buffalo, New York and Bruce Randolph Duncan, 

now at Yuma, Arizona, each of whom together with their Mother survive the deceased."



	"The funeral services of the deceased were conducted at the home of his daughter 

Mrs. Juanita Futch, by Elder J. J. Ray, Pastor of the Christian Church, at Llano, whose 

acquaintance with the deceased, though brief, was sufficient, as shown by his well expressed 

and appropriate remarks, to have elicited from John B. Duncan, in his visits, that he loved 

the Bible having preference for the Chapter known as the "Love" chapter thereof; the he 

believed in God, the future life and desired, to abide in the end of time with the Blessed 

of the earth, a creed and belief and a desire of a heart that must indeed have met with Divine 

approval."



	"In the course of the services Mr. J. A.  Laning sang a touching song accompanied 

at the piano by Mrs. A. G. Mueller, the friends retired from the room, then a brief final 

moment of the relatives at the bier of the deceased, after which Elmon Stewart, J. F. Spinks, 

J. H. Atchison, Tom Broyles, Ed Crownover and Gray Fowler, named as acting pallbearers, bore 

the casket to the hearse, it was borne thence to the Cemetery, lowered into the grave and 

covered with flowers, in pot plants and otherwise of as rare, rich, beautiful and variegated 

colors, as perhaps and one present ever be held at that season of the year - the development 

towards perfection of the beautiful in the flowery kingdom through hot house conditions having 

even served to show homage and respect to this humble, modest and unassuming man."



	"The deceased left, besides his wife and children, immediate relative in the persons 

of his brother, Jeff Duncan and two sisters Miss Rebecca Duncan and Mrs. Josephine Roberts, 

all of whom now reside in Kerrville, Texas." 



"The deceased was a well-known citizen. He had a host of friends. His life was simple - 

unmarked by arrogance or desire for show. He had a bright mind, was witty, clever in jest and 

repartee. He had a very correct slant on things and the acts of men, and saw quite clearly 

through the motives many supposed well concealed. His popularity was well attested a few years 

ago when in a "sweepstakes" race for the office of Tax Assessor of Llano County, he took 

second place, but lost to his opponent in the run-off by the small margin of a few votes."



	"The children of the deceased named as honorary pallbearers, business men and ranchmen 

friends, with some of whom he had in days gone by rode the range and passed many a merry and 

witty jest about the old "chuck wagon", or as they "punched the doggies along". They were: 

J. B. Mayes, J. D. Slator, and D. M. Long, Judge A. E. Moore, George M. Watkins, Wilburn 

Oatman, Groves Kuykendall, I. W. Williams, W. H. Roberts, J. C. Cone, Jim Wyckoff, S. S. Smith, 

J. F. Kendrick, C. N. Faris, Joe Freeman, T. E. Foster, B. F. Johnson. Being mostly men of 

advanced years, as the casket, bearing their friend was borne between their lines while they 

stood with saddened hearts and thoughtful men, they were, doubtless thinking, as old Father 

Time continues to use his scythe, that they would soon have perhaps more friends on the other 

side of the River than on this, and verily, such is the case with many of the older ones of us.





						(signed) A Friend