So I start with Virginia's father, John William, who is actually John William James Lester Duncan the oldest of five boys and one girl. It would be in tracing down his other brothers, Thomas Newton Duncan, Ira Ross Duncan, Sylvester Shields Duncan, and Oscar Orestus Duncan, that I could begin to find sources verifying the life of their father, John Miles Duncan.
But John Miles brought on a new set of challenges. His wife was Mary Ellen Maple, one of the many many descendants of Benjamin Maple senior, who came to this country circa 1690 to Nottingham Township, Burlington County, West Jersey.Once I placed her Grandfather, William R Maple into the family tree, my boards lit up like a family Christmas tree! So no on top of trying to find Moses Duncan, I am also part of a Maple surname study. And they have large families too. But the Maples came from Ohio. How on Earth did Mary from Ohio, and John Miles Duncan from Pennsylvania, get together?
Clues will be given on future blogs, because we are still searching For Moses Parents. Moses name of course, does NOT appear on any census as a child, So my only recourse is to look up historical writings. In one written about Indiana county, Pennsylvania there is a biographical sketch on what appears to turn out to be his nephew William Duncan. William's father was named David and David apparently has several sibling, (one of them Moses) as well as many children and grandchildren.
.So now I will be able to find Moses by researching all his Brothers and sister, his nieces and nephews and grandnieces and nephews and putting together a VERY large family tree that put the Kelloggs to shame.
Here we go again! My head already hurts! I just hope with all the names I uncover that some other Duncan Genealogist might find a treasure.
By the way, I would be remiss in leaving out a very important Duncan researcher, Mary Ann Dobson, and her website, " The Genealogy Bug"
