Fayette County PA Archives Biographies.....Duncan, Judge Thomas August 22, 1807 - ????
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Marta Burns marta43@juno.com September 20, 2024, 6:35 pm

Source: Gresham and Wiley, 1889: Biographical & Portrait Cyclopedia, Fayette Co, PA, page 593
Author: John H. Gresham & Samuel T. Wiley

     Judge Thomas Duncan.  Among the venerable men of Bridgeport, highly
esteemed by all who knew him and identified with the interests of that
borough and its twin sister, Brownsville, by over half a century's
residence and active business life within their limits, and participating
in the best  measures, well performing the duties and dignifiedly bearing
the responsibilities of good citizenship therein, watchful ever for the
weal and social good order of the place where has so long been his home
is Judge Thomas Duncan.
    He is of Scotch Irish extraction.  His father, Arthur Duncan, emigrated
from County Donegal, Ireland, to American and found his way to Fayette
county as a soldier in the service of the United States among the troops
sent hither by the government to suppress the Whiskey Insurrection.
    After the troops were disbanded he settled in Franklin township near
Upper Middletown, then known as Plumsock, Menallen township, and married
Sophia Wharton, daughter of Arthur Wharton of Franklin township, but a
native of England who held a large tract of land in that township and was
a man of strong individuality.  Mr and Mrs Arthur Duncan passed the
greater portion of their lives in Upper Middletown, but Mrs Duncan died
about 1845 in Pittsburgh, to which place the family had removed, and Mr
Duncan about 1850 in Moundsville, Virginia, at the residence of one of
his daughters, Mrs Nancy Duncan Rosell.
    Mr and Mrs Duncan were the parents of ten children, the second in 
number of whom is Judge Thomas Duncan, who was born in Franklin township,
August 22, 1807.  He received his early education in the Thorn Bottom
schoolhouse, in those days often pompously or ironically dubbed "The
Thorn Bottom Seminary" on Buck Run in his native township.  During his
boyhood he wrought more or less in the Plumsock Rolling Mill, and at
eighteen years of age was apprenticed to cabinet maker Thomas Hatfield,
an expert mechanic, with whom he remained three years as an apprentice
and three more as a partner.  He then removed to Bridgeport, where he has
ever since resided carrying on as his principal business that in which he
first engaged.
    Judge Duncan has always taken an active part in public affairs.  He was a
member of the first board of school directors in Bridgeport chose under
the present law organizing the common schools, and earnestly advocated
the enactment of the law long before it was made.  He has frequently been
a member of the common council, and several times burgess of Bridgeport.
He has also taken a prominent part as a democrat in the politics of the
county, was county commissioner from 1841 to 1843, both inclusive, and
was elected in 1851 associate judge of Fayette county for a period of
five years, and re-elected in the fall of 1856 for a like term, and
fulfilled the duties of his office throughout both terms.
    In 1837 Judge Duncan joined the Masonic order, uniting with Brownsville
Lodge No 60, and has filled all the offices of the lodge and is a member
of Brownsville Chapter.  He is also a member of St Omer's Commandery, No
7, of Brownsville, and has been a member of Brownsville Lodge No 51 of
the Order of Odd Fellows since 1834.  Judge Duncan has been a member of
the Methodist Episcopal church since the last named year.  
    In May, 1829, he married Priscilla Stevens, daughter of Dr Benjamin
Stevens of Uniontown, who came to Fayette county from Maryland, was also
a physician.  Mrs Duncan died in February, 1873, at the age of sixty six
years.  
    Judge and Mrs Duncan became the parents of five children, three of whom
are living: Mrs Elizabeth Duncan Worrell, Dr W S Duncan, both of
Bridgeport; and Thomas J Duncan, a lawyer practicing his profession in
Washington, Penna.  

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2000.

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