J. B. DART, who is one of the successful and honored agriculturists of Peru township, Morrow county, Ohio, and who has passed nearly his entire life in this section of the Buckeye State, is well deserving of consideration in this connection.
     He was born in Onondaga county, New York, July 7, 1828, the son of Chauncey Dart, who was a native of Connecticut, and whose death occurred in 1838.  But little is known of his personal history or of his antecedents, though it is supposed that the family was of Scotch origin.  Chauncey Dart married Elizabeth Babcock, who was a native of Onondaga county, New York, where she was reared to mature years.  Her father was a native of the old Empire State, and the family had been long residents of that State.  The parents of our subject were married in their native State, and continued their residence there for a number of years.  They were the parents of seven children, ––four sons and three daughters, of whom we enter the following brief record: Russell is a resident of Illinois; Jonathan B. is the immediate subject of this review; Celinda is deceased; Alonzo is a resident of Peru township, this county; Florilla is the widow of the late Dennis Stanton, of Columbus, Ohio; Chauncey is a resident of Illinois; and Harriet is deceased.
     Our subject was the second child, and was but two and one-half years of age when his parents came to that part of Delaware county that is now incorporated in Morrow county, ––this removal taking place in 1830.  The family took up their abode in the sylvan wilds of Westfield township, where the father built a log house, and where he lived until the hour of his death.  In politics he was a Democrat, and was a man of considerable prominence in the pioneer locality.  The mother lived to attain the age of sixty-eight years, having been a zealous and consistent member of the Baptist Church.
     At the time of the death of Chauncey Dart the family comprised seven children, and the care of them devolved upon the widowed mother.  The eldest child was but thirteen years of age at the time and the youngest was a mere babe.  Our subject remained with his mother until he was thirteen years of age, when he courageously started forth to work for himself and to aid in the support of his mother and the younger children.  His first work was with William Brundage, and for his services he received $4 per month for six months.  He then worked two months for another man and received as his pay the making of a new suit of clothes.  His schooling was meager in extent, as he was able to attend the district schools through the winter months only.  During these months he worked for his board and it is interesting to note that he paid 18 cents for his first winter’s educational discipline.  Mr. Dart continued to work by the month for some few years, and the wages he received during his last service in this way was at the rate of $8 per month.
     In the fall of 1843 our subject was apprenticed to learn the harness and saddlery trade, in the city of Delaware, and in this line he served for three and one-half years.  His first work as a journeyman was performed at South Woodbury, Ohio, and after this he went to New York and was employed at his trade in his native county for two years, after which he engaged in business for himself, carrying on the business successfully for a period of eight years.  Thereafter he returned to Morrow county, and was here engaged in working at his trade for ten years.  At that time he was established in a diminutive log house located on the same farm which he now owns and occupies.  He walked to and from Ashley each day to attend to his work.
     In 1850 Mr. Dart was united in marriage to Miss Lucy M. Swatman, who was born in Oneida county, New York, in 1830, which year was that which marked the emigration of her parents from England to America.  She remained in her native county until she had attained the age of sixteen years.  She was a devoted companion and true helpmeet to her husband during the long years of their married life, her death occurring July 28, 1893.  Our subject and his wife were the parents of one son, Frederick A., who married Charlotte Baldwin and who has one daughter, Hazel.  They reside on a seventy-five acre farm belonging to our subject, in Peru township.  In addition to the farm just noted our subject owns in his home place 100 acres, the farm being under effective cultivation and thoroughly well improved.  He has conducted his business according to correct and progressive methods and has been prospered in his affairs.  He is prominently identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being trustee of the lodge at Ashley.  In politics he renders an unswerving allegiance to the Republican party, and at the present time he holds official preferment as Trustee of Peru township.  He is a stockholder in the co-operative creamery at Ashley, and is president of the corporation.  A man of marked intelligence and much force of character, and one whose honor is beyond questioning, Mr. Dart holds as his own the respect and confidence of the community.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 421-423
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

SAMUEL DEMUTH, a farmer of Cardington township, is a son of John Demuth, a native of Bucks county, Pennsylvania.  He located on an unimproved farm in Pickaway county, Ohio, in 1820.  He was married in Pennsylvania to Magdalena Wimmer, a native also of Bucks county, and a daughter of Philip Wimmer, a soldier in the Revolutionary war.  Mr. and Mrs. Demuth had seven children, four sons and three daughters, and four are now living: Samuel, the subject of this sketch; John, a resident of Circleville, Ohio: Jacob, of Cardington; and Daniel, also of Circleville.  The parents were members of the Lutheran Church, and both died in Pickaway county.
     Samuel Demuth was born in that county April 20, 1820.  He received his education in the district schools, also spending one term at Granville, and, after completing his education, taught thirteen terms.  After his marriage he located at Adelphi, Ross county, Ohio, where he worked at the blacksmith’s trade, and was also proprietor of a hotel.  Seven years afterward he purchased a farm in Hocking county, this State, and in 1860 came to his present farm of 240 acres, all of which is under a fine state of cultivation.  Mr. Demuth has served as Trustee, Justice of the Peace three terms, and School Director of Cardington township, and is identified with the Republican party.  He began life as a poor boy, and, although afflicted with asthma, has made all he now owns by hard labor and economy.
     November 6, 1842, Mr. Demuth was united in marriage with Harriet Patterson, who was born in Ross county, Ohio, January 9, 1820, a daughter of John Patterson, an early pioneer of Ross county.  To this union have been born eight children, viz.: Robert B., a soldier in the Ninetieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, died at St. Louis, Missouri, while in the service; John, a member of the One Hundred and Seventy-fourth Ohio Volunteers, also died in service, at Louisville, Kentucky; Smith, of Westfield township; Otto, Martin, and Samuel, at home; and two deceased in infancy.  Mr. and Mrs. Demuth have been members of the Methodist Episcopal Church for fifty-five years, in which the former was Class-leader for fourteen years.  He is a member of the I. O. O. F. at Cardington, has been a member of the Odd Fellows’ order since 1848, and has passed all the chairs in the latter lodge.
     Smith, eldest son of Samuel Demuth, was born at Ade1phi, Ross county, Ohio, February 16, 1849.  In 1860 he came with his father to Morrow county, and spent two years in a dry-goods store in Cardington, spent the following year in the West, and then taught school in this county one year.  In October, 1873, he entered the United States Navy as a “Blue Jacket” for eighteen months on the Roanoke.  Mr. Demuth afterward served as schoolmaster on the United States flagship, Minnesota, in New York harbor, his duties having been to teach the boys the common branches and drill them in all departments of seamanship on board the ship.  His time expiring July 20, 1876, he returned home, and taught school the following year in Westfield.  After his marriage he was engaged in the sewing-machine business two years, and then, in partnership with Mr. White, began the raising of Percheron horses, in which he still continues.
     Mr. Demuth was married, in 1877, to Miss Harriet White, a daughter of J. M. White, a prominent and early pioneer of Bennington township, Morrow county.  He had two daughters, ––Mrs. Lovenia Dickey and Mrs. Demuth.  Mr. and Mrs. Demuth are the parents of three children, ––Josephine, Roy, and Marie.  They are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  Mr. Demuth is identified with the Populist party, and is a member of the Royal Arcanum.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 268-269
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

WILLIAM DENMAN, a farmer of Chester township, Morrow county, is a son of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Rose) Denman.  The father was born in Morris county, New Jersey, in 1777, a son of William Denman.  The maternal grandfather of our subject, James Butler, was born in the State of New York, and served three years in the Revolutionary war.  Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Denman came to Ohio in 1838, locating on an unimproved farm two miles west of Chesterville.  The mother departed this life March 24, 1862, and the father July 17, 1859.  During the later years of their lives they made their home with our subject.  They were the parents of seven children, four sons and three daughters, and three are now living, ––Caroline Quick, of Pennsylvania; William, the subject of this sketch, and James B., of Harmony township, Morrow county.  Mr. and Mrs. Denman were members of the old-school Baptist Church, in which the former held the position of deacon.
     William Denman was born in Sussex county, New Jersey, July 27, 1812, where he was also reared and educated.  In 1837 he came to Ohio, remaining nine years on a rented farm in Knox county, and then located on land near his present place.  His farm now contains 240 acres of well-improved land.  In political matters, Mr. Denman affiliates with the Republican party.
     He was married in 1841 to Sarah Ann Davidson, born in Morgan township, Knox county, Ohio, January 7, 1822, a daughter of William Davidson, a pioneer settler of that county.  They were the parents of thirteen children, namely: Mary Williamson, John, Lucetta Ulmon, William Eliot, Cressy Blaise, Joel, Elnora, Belle Gardiner, Ida Chipps, and two deceased in infancy.  Belle Gardiner is a teacher of vocal and instrumental music.  The wife and mother died April 16, 1894.  Mr. Denman has served as School Director for many years.  While living in Knox county he served four years as assessor.  He is a member of the Baptist Church, as was also his wife.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, p. 94
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

GEORGE R. DENTON, who is one of the well-known and substantial agriculturists of Westfield township, Morrow county, Ohio, finds the place of his nativity in merrie old England, having been born in Lincolnshire, on the 12th of September, 1831.
     His father was Jonathan Denton, who was a native of the same English shire and who was a farmer by occupation.  He died at the age of sixty-six years, having never left his native land.  The maiden name of our subject’s mother was Frances Swabey and she likewise was born on English soil, coming to America when well advanced in years and dying in the State of Kansas, at the venerable age of about eighty-five years.
     George R. Denton was the eldest of ten children and he passed his boyhood on the paternal farm, receiving his educational training in the common schools.  At the age of thirteen he hired out by the year, working almost thirteen years for different farmers.  In the fall of 1854 he got into trouble by shooting a hare, sometimes called jack rabbit in America, the game-keeper claiming his gun or a lawsuit.  He gave up the gun in preference to entering into a lawsuit.  Soon after this he went to London, where he spent the winter months, working most of the time for the Great Northern Railroad Company.  In the spring of 1855, he bade adieu to relatives and friends, also to the crown of Great Britain.  He remained in his native land until he had attained the age of twenty-seven years, when he emigrated to America, coming direct to Marion county, Ohio, and thence to Morrow county.  For two summers he worked by the month, then by day piece work on shares, etc., keeping bachelor’s hall two years, and in 1864 he married Mrs. Eliza Jane (Trickle) Yagala, widow of George Yagala, thereupon locating upon his present farm of eighty-four acres, to the cultivation and improvement of which he has since devoted his attention.
     Mr. and Mrs. Denton are the parents of three children, namely: Rachel F., wife of Albert Goorley, of Mount Gilead, this county; Samuel J., a resident of Dentonville, Kansas; and Benjamin E., who remains on the parental homestead part of the time.  In the spring of 1877, his first wife died, at the age of forty-seven years.  For his second wife he married Mrs. Christina Mitchell, a native of Scotland, born in the city of Dundee and reared by friends, her parents having died while she was yet a child.  She obtained her education by attending school half of each day, working in the factories the other half.  Her first husband died a short time after their marriage, in 1873.  She came to America, locating in Brooklyn; from there she went to Marion, Ohio, then came to her present home.  Mrs. Denton visited friends in her native isle in 1890.  She is a woman of perseverance, and has many true friends.
     In politics Mr. Denton is identified with the Republican party, and he has taken a somewhat active part in forwarding its interests in a local sense.  He has never sought political preferment, but for one term he served as Road Supervisor in his township, proving a most capable official.  Strictly in opposition to our present style of making smooth tracks by the ditch, he prefers filling ruts, giving a smooth track in the center of the public roads at all seasons.
     Religiously, he is prominently identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, being a steward of the local organization and contributing liberally to the support and advancement of the same.  A man of deep integrity and unswerving honor, he has gained and held the respect and esteem of the community, and in him is reposed the most perfect confidence.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 224-225
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

JUDGE JABEZ DICKEY, a well known attorney of Mount Gilead, prominent at the bar of Morrow county, has a reputation not only among the public but also among his professional brethren that might well be envied by almost any legal practitioner.  This worthy gentleman is one of Ohio’s sons.  His father, David Dickey, was a native of Pennsylvania and the family is of Scotch-Irish descent.  He served as a soldier in the war of 1812 and during that time suffered an attack of the jaundice, lying ill at blockhouse at Mansfield, Ohio, until the close of the struggle.  He then purchased a farm one mile south of that place, ––a tract of wild timber land, and thereon spent his remaining days, an honored pioneer and influential citizen of the community.  His wife, who bore the maiden name of Rachel Cook, was also born in the Keystone State, and with her father’s family removed to Richland county, Ohio, at a very early day.  Mr. Dickey died on the old homestead in 1848, and in 1853 she removed with her children to Mansfield, where her death occurred in 1880.  They were members of the Old School Presbyterian Church and took an active part in its work.  Their family numbered seven children, four of whom are yet living, namely: Susan M., who resides in Chicago, Illinois; Emma D., widow of Philemon P. Berry, and a resident of New York city; M. R., a member of the firm of Estey, Dickey, Carr & Goff, of Cleveland, Ohio; and the gentleman whose name heads this record.  The four sons of the family all served in the civil war as members of the Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, ––Moses R. was its Colonel; Noah C., who was a private of Company H, was taken prisoner in Tennessee, and died in Mansfield, Ohio, in May, 1867; and James McBrier, who belonged to Company G, was killed on the second day of the battle at Pittsburg Landing.
     Judge Dickey is so widely and favorably known throughout Morrow county that he needs no special introduction to the readers of this volume.  He was born in the little log cabin on the old home farm, near Mansfield, June 15, 1838, and attended the district school until thirteen years of age, when he supplemented his early school privileges with a course in Monroe Seminary and at Vermillion Institute, in Hayesville, Ohio.  Not wishing to follow the pursuit to which he was reared, he took up the study of law, January 1, 1859, with the firm of Burns & Dickey at Mansfield, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar before the Supreme Court of the State, April 4, 1861.
     He did not, however, at once begin practice, for, prompted by patriotic impulses, he responded to his country’s call for troops, and enlisted in Company H, Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which he was made Corporal.  The troops were ordered to drive the rebels from Grafton, Virginia, and subsequently to Rowlesburg, on Cheat river, West Virginia.  After the battle of Philippi they were engaged in guarding the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and Judge Dickey remained with his regiment until, with a broken ankle, he returned home on a furlough.  In March, 1862, he started to rejoin his old regiment, which had been reorganized for three years’ service.  On reaching Bowling Green, Kentucky, he found that the bridge had been burned across Barron river, and he took the only train for Nashville, but after going twenty-two miles it was learned that General Morgan was lying in wait to capture the train at Gallatin, and the passengers unloaded, while the train returned to Russellville for a guard of soldiers.  Mr. Dickey pushed on ahead, walking a distance of fifty miles, and running the gauntlet of Morgan’s men.  This trip so lamed his ankle that he gave a colored man his last dollar to carry him in a little mule cart the remaining eight miles to Nashville, but on reaching that place he found that the regiment had gone on forty miles to Duck river.  With a provision train he proceeded to that place, but his ankle was so severely injured that he was unfit for field service and he entered the service of a sutler, continuing there until after the battle of Shiloh.  He then went on a boat, loaded with wounded soldiers, to Cincinnati, having charge of a ward while en route, and thence returned to his home in Mansfield, Ohio, where he practiced law until February, 1865.
     In the fall of 1863, in the celebrated Vallandingham campaign, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Richland county, ––being the only candidate elected on the Democratic ticket in the county at that election.  He thus served until February, 1865, when he resigned to go with his brother into the northern peninsula of Michigan to engage in hunting arid in the fur business, but after seven months thus passed, he returned to his old home, where he again practiced until the autumn of 1866.  At that time he formed a partnership with Major James Olds, which connection was continued until the fall of 1882, when our subject was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, second sub-division of the sixth judicial district.  In the fall of 1883 he was elected for a full term, and served until his six years’ term had almost expired, when he resigned, in order that he might serve as counsel on a murder trial.  In 1889 he entered into partnership with Judge G. W. Geddes, and they continued together until 1891, when, on account of ill-health, Judge Geddes was forced to withdraw.  Judge Dickey practiced at the bar of Richland county until June, 1892, when he went to Tacoma, Washington, practicing there until April, 1893; but his native State proved his most attractive place of residence, and he has since made his home in Mount Gilead.
     The Judge was married September 1, 1869, to Miss Eleanor A. Rhodes, a native of Mount Vernon, Ohio, and a daughter of John and Rachel (Shaw) Rhodes.  She was born in May, 1847, and was educated in Mount Gilead.  To them have been born four children, ––Charles C., who married Harriet L. Coleman, and lives in this city; Edwin W.; Berry B., and Carrie E., all at home.  The parents worship with the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which Mrs. Dickey takes an active interest.  Judge Dickey was formerly quite prominent in Sunday-school work, and formerly served as Superintendent.  He has always been a stanch Democrat, influential in the work of his party, and is a member of the County Bar Association.  His abilities, both natural and acquired, have won him prominence as a lawyer, and his power before judge and jury is recognized by a large clientage, and by the general public as well.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 497-499
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

 JUDGE THOMAS E. DUNCAN, the subject of this brief sketch, is an honored resident of Morrow county, where he has attained high distinction and precedence in the line of his profession, in business and social circles, and upon the bench in the exercise of important judicial functions.
    The subject of this review was born November 21, 1839, in Mechanic township, Holmes county, Ohio, the son of William Duncan, a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he was born in the year 1812, as the offspring of Andrew and Jane (Wiley) Duncan, the latter of whom was a sister of Dr. Andrew Wiley, a distinguished Presbyterian divine, as well as Dr. Andrew Wiley, who attained eminence as a physician.  The first named brother was for many years president of Washington College, Pennsylvania, which institution was subsequently consolidated with Jefferson College, forming the present Washington and Jefferson College.  The ancestral lineage of the Duncan family is highly honorable and dates back to Scotland, where Andrew was born.
     Andrew Duncan removed from Washington county, Pennsylvania, to Jefferson county, Ohio, at an early day and here he subsequently met his death, receiving fatal injuries as the result of an accident in a clearing, in which a log rolled upon him.  The father of our subject was six years of age when his parents took up their residence in the Buckeye State, and he was reared to maturity in Jefferson county, remaining on the farm during his boyhood and early youth, and finally giving his time and attention to acquiring the trade of a blacksmith, but subsequently became a leading farmer and stockraiser.  He was an active participant in the Black Hawk war and was a sturdy, loyal and honorable son of the Republic.  In Holmes county where he finally settled and there passed the remainder of his days, he was united in marriage to Frances Elliott, a native of the famous old county of Donegal, Ireland, where she was born in 1819, being only a babe of six months when her parents, James and Hester (Stevenson) Elliott, emigrated from the Emerald Isle to America, settling in Holmes county.  Here the Elliotts made their permanent home, the father being a stone mason by trade, but eventually engaging in farming.  He was a man of literary tastes and became one of the prominent and successful men in that section, where he was one of the early pioneers.
     William and Frances (Elliott) Duncan consummated their marriage in Holmes county, and there passed the remainder of their days, being honored and prominent members of the community in which they lived for so many years.  He was killed by a falling tree, in December, 1877, and the mother of our subject entered into eternal rest in 1891.
     They were the parents of six sons and six daughters, ten of whom are now living.  The names of the family are as follows: Thomas E. (the subject of this review), Jane Carr, Mary, Andrew, Eliza, Fannie, Heddington, James, William, John, Emma Chase, Elmira Bickle and George.  Emma Chase and George are deceased.
     The parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the mother was particularly active in her devotions to the same.  Andrew and James were soldiers in the late war of the Rebellion and the first named was severely wounded while in the service.
     Thomas E. Duncan, the immediate subject of this biographical resume grew to manhood on the parental farmstead in Holmes county, attending the district schools and subsequently supplementing the knowledge thus acquired in a rudimentary way by a course of study in the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware.
     Within the time that he was pursuing his literary education he devoted himself to school teaching at irregular intervals, thus assisting in defraying the expenses of his own education.
     After he left college he at once made ready to take up the line of professional study which should fit him for the practice of the law, entering the law office of Barcroft & Vorhees, a prominent law firm of Millersburg, Holmes county; he continued his reading assiduously and, in 1862, was admitted to the bar upon examination at Columbus.
     Now thoroughly re-enforced in a theoretical way he at once proceeded to Cardington, Morrow county, where he proudly displayed his professional shingle and entered upon the active practice of his profession.  His technical ability, facility in debate and his judicial acumen in counsel gained him a representative clientage, as his power became known, and there he remained until 1878, when he came to the official center of the county, Mt. Gilead, where he has ever since continued in the practice of his profession, and where he has risen to distinction as the result of the qualifications above noted, as well as the confidence begotten by the integrity of his character.
     Politically he has always been an ardent supporter of the Republican party, and has ever been active in the support of its principles and its candidates.
     He was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Morrow county in 1868 and in 1870 was selected his own successor.  In 1873 he was elected representative in the General Assembly of Ohio, and at the expiration of his term was chosen to succeed himself, having proved a capable and discriminating legislator, and one to whose keeping popular interests could be consigned without reference to party or political creeds.
     Among other positions assigned him while in the Legislature, he was made chairman of the committee on the elective franchise.  At this time, 1876, party feeling was at its highest tension, stimulated in part by the doubts involved in the result of the presidential election of that year and the charges of fraud upon the ballot box, and believing that the law intended to secure the purity of the ballot was imperfect, and that the public peace and the interests of the State demanded more stringent election laws, he undertook, formulated and introduced into the Legislature, and, after a long and bitter contest, secured the passage of the first registration law in the history of the State.  The wisdom of this legislation is shown by the fact that many of its provisions remain upon the statute books to-day.  In 1882 our subject was appointed by Governor Foster, a member of the Board of Directors of the Ohio Penitentiary, a position which he held until 1884, when he was appointed by the Governor as judge of the Court of Common Pleas, to fill out the unexpired term of Judge Thomas J. Kinney, deceased.  He retained this incumbency for one year.  In 1884 Judge Duncan was elected a delegate from the ninth Ohio Congressional district, as it was then composed, to the Republican National Convention, held in Chicago, and bore an honorable part in the proceedings of the convention, which resulted in the nomination of the Hon. James G. Blaine for President.
     In 1893 he became the Republican nominee for the important office which he had previously held by special appointment and was duly elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the second sub-division of the sixth Judicial district, receiving a majority of 700 votes in a district which gave a Democratic majority of more than 1,800 the preceding year.  This circumstance affords sufficient evidence of his popularity in a pronounced way, and of the confidence in which he is held by his neighbors and the voters of the district.  The Judge has served the public in a more local way as a member of the Common Council of Mt. Gilead, and other local offices.
     In all the public positions which Judge Duncan has been called upon to fill, he has at all times shown himself possessed of marked ability, and has discharged the duties of his various offices with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his constituents.
     In addition to the business of his profession and the cares of public life, he has found time to devote to commercial enterprises of considerable importance.  He was for several years associated with the Duncan Brothers, hardware dealers, in Cardington, and was one of the organizers and principal stockholder in the Cardington Flouring Mill Company, and later on, in connection with Messrs. House & Dawson, built and equipped the Buckeye Flouring Mill, at Mt. Gilead, which enterprise has since been organized into a joint stock company, of which he is now one of the directors and principal stockholders.
     Judge Duncan is now in the prime of his life, with abundant opportunities for usefulness, and is what you may call a busy man, with health, ambition and strength to carry forward successfully whatever he undertakes.  With a keen sense of honor, social and genial, he never forgets a friend and many can testify to his generous magnanimity in helping them on in the world, and to his potent influence in the support of their cause.
     At the breaking out of the late war he was connected with the United States Survey Service, in Colorado, where he had been allured by what proved to be extravagant stories of the rich gold find in that Territory.  He had left his books and his home in high expectation of becoming rich and enjoying in life whatever aches bring.  Reaching Denver, then containing but a few log huts and adobes, he found to his dismay that he had undergone the hardships of a long journey of thousands of miles with ox teams, much of the way over a trackless prairie and desert plain, to find himself deceived and his fond hopes blasted.  He could not well return, and having by this time some experience as a frontiersman, well educated, young and active, he applied for and obtained employment as above stated.  In July, 1861, he received the first news of the war, and the officer in charge of the surveying party was ordered to report forthwith at Fort Leavenworth.  Being again disappointed and out of employment in the western fastnesses of Colorado, nothing remained but to return, so turning his face eastward and with sturdy tread, he reached his home in Holmes county to find his old chums and the boys of his age in the army.  So after recruiting his health and strength, now somewhat impaired by the hardships through which he had passed, he resumed the study of the law and the following year was admitted to the bar.  The Judge says that this experience while a boy doubtless cured him of a roving disposition, which he suspects he had at that time.
     Turning in conclusion to the domestic pages of Judge Duncan’s history, we learn that on the 14th day of May, 1862, he was united in marriage to Miss Rachel, daughter of Major John and Sophia (Clark) Frew, the former of whom was a prominent dry-goods merchant at Coshocton, Ohio, for nearly a half a century; both parents are now deceased.  Mrs. Duncan was born at Coshocton, in September, 1841, and was there reared and educated.
     Judge and Mrs. Duncan became the parents of seven children, and of this number all are living save one.  William F. married Elba Ireland and they have one child; he is a prominent young attorney of Findlay, this State.  Seth C. has been admitted to practice law but is now engaged as a traveling salesmen [sic].  The other children are Carrie L., Josephine, Mary, Thomas A. and Bessie.  Thomas A. met his death at Cardington, Ohio, falling into a cistern and being drowned, at the age of two and one-half years.  Josephine is the wife of Wert A. Robinson, a dry-goods merchant of Goshen, Elkhart county, Indiana.  All the children were afforded exceptional educational advantages.  The attractive family home is located on Court street.  Mrs. Duncan is a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  The family is a Methodist family.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 145-148
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.