Lewis County, West Virginia         Biography of JAMES W. DUNCAN

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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 490
Lewis

JAMES W. DUNCAN fought as a Union soldier in the
Civil war until disabled by wounds, was with a West Vir-
ginia regiment, and since the war has enjoyed prosperity
and a substantial place in the affairs of Lewis County. He
is now retired from the business of farming and lives with
his son on Sugar Camp Fork on Skin Creek, fourteen miles
southeast of Weston.

Mr. Duncan was born in Albemarle County, Virginia,
June 30, 1845, son of Jacob and Martha S. (Key) Duncan.
His father was a native of Buckingham County and his
mother of Fluvanna County, Virginia. After their mar-
riage they lived for a time in Buckingham County and then
in Albemarle, and later started west with the intention
of settling in Ohio. Instead they remained in Upshur
County, West Virginia, where Jacob Duncan was a resi-
dent until about a year before his death, when he came
to Lewis County. His wife was a member of the Baptist
Church. He was a whig and later a republican. Of their
twelve children ten reached mature years and five are still
living, named Henry, James W., Sarah, wife of J. B.
Simons, Lucy J., wife of John Polts, and Martha S., wife
of Sanford McNamara.

James W. Duncan was a youth when he came to West
Virginia and was about seventeen when on June 1, 1862,
he enlisted in Company B of the Tenth West Virginia In-
fantry as a private. He had two years of arduous service
until disabled by an explosion of a chest of ammunition,
July 18, 1864. He was wounded in five places on the
head and breast, and remained a patient in the hospital
from that time until June 5, 1865, when he was honorably
discharged on a surgeon's certificate.

After the war he returned to Upshur County, and on
October 18, 1869, married Christina Peterson and soon
afterward they located in Lewis County. His first wife died
October 6, 1872, the mother of two children: William E.
and Orlando G. Duncan. On March 2, 1874, Mr. Duncan
married Mrs. Marsh, a widow, whose maiden name was
Nottingham. By this marriage there are seven children:
Bertie, wife of Floyd Ferrell; Cammie J., wife of Lloyd
Hefner; Oscar H., of Braxton County; Nicholas T.; James
E.; Goldie, wife of Ira Jones; and Arlie O., of Clarksburg.
The mother of these children died March 25, 1900. She was
a member of the Methodist Protestant Church, while Mr.
Duncan belongs to the Methodist Episcopal denomination.
He is affiliated with the Grand Army Post, is a member of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a republican.
For six years he was a member of the Lewis County Court.
When in his prime as a farmer Mr. Duncan owned a place
of 312 acres, and this farm is now under the direction of his
son Nicholas T. Duncan.