Simeon Duncan & Sisters, Town of Richland, NY

Many thanks to Esther Rancier for sharing her information on the Duncan/Dunkin family. Esther is researching in Richland and Mexico the Soul/Soule, Brace and Daniel P. Smith families, and would appreciate hearing from anyone researching these surnames.   Esther Rancier at: [email protected]

For more information on the Duncan/Dunkin Family, please contact the 
Historians and Historical Societies.

        Samuel1 Duncan/Dunkin believed born in England ca. 1619 has much known about him.  While in England he was a servant for Comfort Starr of Ashford, Kent.  Because of his employment he was enrolled for passage to New England on the Hercules 1634/5 to act as a servant for his master Starr.  After his arrival at Boston he had to serve out a five-year indenture to pay for his voyage. He was admitted to church in Boston in 1657.  His wife’s name was Mary.  A number of early court and land records refer to him and/or his family.  They are believed to have had five children.

 He had a son Samuel2 who lived in Roxbury, MA where he died 19 November 1693.  His wife was named Deliverance.  Here the hard data ends and some speculation has ensued.  It is thought by many that John Duncan/Dunkin, born ca. 1650, who married Johanna Jefts in Billerica, MA, was surely the son of Samual2, but experts do not all agree.  The line from John to Simeon can be documented to the satisfaction of most, but not the two Samuels1-2.

 John and Johanna’s son John wed Sarah Dutton.  Their son Simeon was born 27 May 1725 in Worcester, MA.  He wed Bridget Richardson on 22 August 1743.

 Simeon and Bridget’s son Samuel married Patience Choate.  They resided in Dummerston, VT.  They had nine children of which two daughters died young.  Their oldest son Simeon and three sisters all traveled to Oswego County, NY where they settled in an area called Richland which later was made into Sandy Creek, NY. 

 Arathusa Esther Duncan, born 8 February in Dummerston, VT, married Bernard Salisbury, son of William and Joyce (Eddy) Salisbury from Rhode Island.  Bernard was born 30 March 1786.  Arathusa Esther died 27 December 1832 probably in Pulaski, NY.  Bernard died 4 July 1854 in Pulaski.

 Electa Duncan was born 13 January 1790 in Dummerston, VT.  She married Anson Maltby on 20 January 1814 in Dummerston.  He was the son of Timothy and Mabel (Dimmock) Maltby. Anson fought in the War of 1812 with Parkhurst’s Militia.  In 1814 this group served at the Battle of Sackett’s Harbor.  This service puts the family in Richland in late May 1814.  Anson and Electa supposedly had, according to family researchers, Desalvo Maltby born in VT(?) in 1816.  On 22 August 1819 in Oswego County Lafayette Maltby was born.  Before 1830 Mosial(?) Maltby was born according to family researchers.  The 1850 Richland census showed the following:

 Maltby, Anson 58 farmer $1000    CT
           Electa  53 wife                VT
         Martha I 30 daughter          NY
        Frances J 11     “                 “
            Maria   9      “                  “
 Duncan, Rebecca 51 sister-in-law  VT

 Rebecca Duncan, born 7 December 1794 in Dummerston, lived in Sandy Creek, NY alone in 1830 and with her sister at Richland in 1850.  Electa Maltby died 8 February 1855.  She was a member of the Congregational Church at Richland.
 Lafayette Maltby left Richland and went west where he married 25 June 1840 Frances Marshall who was born in Ohio.  They settled in Fleming, KY and after 1850 in Covington, KY.  He fathered several children.

 Anson Maltby was far more than a farmer.  He was popular and well-liked enough to be selected for civic positions.  In 1825 he was the first assessor for the new town of Sandy Creek.  In 1828 he was the coroner of Pulaski.  As a skilled carpenter he built a three-story addition to Jeremiah Mathewson’s hotel located on the Salt Road.   Anson was one of a group in 1853 which established the Pulaski Academy.  He died in 1870.

 Simeon Duncan was born in Dummerston, VT on 26 July 1782.  He married Eunice Wilder from Newfane, VT.  They wed on 30 November 1806.  The couple had two known children.  The 1840 census for Sandy Creek showed the household of Simon [sic] with two males and five females suggesting four more children for this marriage.  The name of one more apparent daughter  was revealed in the 1870 census.  The two identified children were Anson and Mary Ann.  Simeon died 21 November 1842.  Eunice lived to 2 February 1855, dying in Sandy Creek.

 Son Anson Duncan was married in the 1840 Sandy Creek census but had no children.  By the 1850 Richland census the enumeration was as follows:

 Duncan, Anson M 40 carpenter $1500 NY
           Angeline L 22 wife                  “
              Mary E   4 daughter             “
             Eunice R  1     “                   “

 In the 1870 Sandy Creek census there were two unmarried Duncan sisters Electa and Mary A. who were the children of Simeon and Eunice.  Anson Maltby at age 77 was living with the Harmons in Richland.

 By 1880 the two unmarried Duncan sisters Electa, age 60, and Mary A., age 70, were still residing together in Sandy Creek.  Mary said she was born in VT, while Electa stated she was born in NY. 

 Anson M. Duncan and his family left Sandy Creek before 1856. By 1870 he resided with a second English born wife Mary K., living in Ward 2, Beloit, Rock Co., WI.  He had another child, Ellen E.  It remains unclear which wife was Ellen’s mother.  Mary K. may have been an Oliver, since two members of the Oliver family resided with this family.  The Olivers were both born in England.  The 1870 Beloit census gave the following:

      Duncan, A M 49 carpenter NY
             Mary K. 48 wife        England
             Mary E. 23 daughter  NY
             Eunice  20     “          “
             Ellen E 14     “          WI 
       Oliver, E H  24                England
            Julian G.                   England
  ??       Ellen     15 domestic    WI

 In 1880 Anson M. resided with his married daughter Ellen (Duncan) Manley and her husband J.M. Manley in Turtle, Rock Co., WI.  Anson worked in a drug store as a clerk.  He had divorced his wife Mary K. according to his own statement. 
 There were both Duncan and Maltby families left in Oswego County after 1880, but not emanating from the lines outlined above. 

SOURCES:

 Anderson, Robert Charles.  The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England.  Available [online] http://ancestry.com [2 January 2004].
 Congregational Church of Pulaski, Town of Richland, NY.  Available [online] https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nyoswego/towns/richland/congregationaldeaths.html [2 January 2004].
 Davies, T.T. The Town of Sandy Creek-Early History.  Available [online] https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nyoswego/towns/sandycreek/earlyhistory.html [2 January 2004].
 Duncan Family Genealogy Forum.  Available [online] http://genforum.genealogy.com [4 January 2004].
 International Genealogy Index.  Available [online] http://familysearch.org [4 January 2004].
 Marston, Hope Irwin.  Salmon River Odyssey: The Town of Richland and Its Hamlets.  Syracuse: Pulaski Historical Society, 2002.
 Oswego County, N.Y. Offices in 1830.  Available [online]  https://sites.rootsweb.com/nyoswego/oswegocounty/offices.html [4 January 2004].
 Seamans, B.C. 1923 History of Richland, NY.  Available [online] http://www.rootweb.com/~nyoswego/towns/richland/history1923.html [4 January 2004].
 “Servant in England and New England of Comfort Starr.”  New England Historic Genealogical Register. 75:220.
 U.S. Census, Richland, Oswego Co., NY 1830, 1850 & 1870.
 U.S. Census, Sandy Creek, Oswego Co., NY 1830, 1840, 1850, 1870 & 1880.
U.S. Census, Dummerston, Windham Co., VT 1790, 1800 & 1810.
 U.S. Census, 2nd Ward, Beloit, Rock Co., WI 1870
 U.S. Census, Turtle, Rock Co., WI 1880. 
 WorldConnect Project.  Available [online] http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com [4 January 2004].