Individual Details

Stuart E. Duncan, born in Louisville, July 30, 1866, was the son of the Reverend Joseph DeWitt Duncan, a native of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, who died while yet a young man on the threshold of what promised to be a brilliant career in the ministry. Joseph DeWitt Duncan was a son of Thomas H. and Lucretia Duncan, of Hardin County (Kentucky), whose antecedents, natives of Virginia, had journeyed to Lincoln Co., Kentucky (then part of Virginia), as pioneers during the Revolutionary War.
Thomas H. Duncan was a prosperous merchant of Elizabethtown. His wife was the daughter of John and Agnes (Fisher) Bigler and the latter was the daughter of Steven and Magdaline (Garr) Fisher. Steven Fisher, the great-great-grandfather of Stuart English Duncan, was the son of Louis and Barbara (Blandkenbaker) Fisher, all of Virginia. (Simmons, 858-859)


Cemetery near Houchens is part of county history
 By Brian T. Kehl
bkehl@thenewsenterprise.com
 
ELIZABETHTOWN - It is a sight so familiar to many inHardin County it hardly warrants a glance on the way to get a hair cut at HairTech or buy groceries at Houchens.
But the small bricked-in cemetery connected to thesidewalk and in the parking lot between the two stores is as much a part ofHardin County history as the courthouse.
The cemetery has a history all its own, but it is notwell known.
Although it has no official name, the ground there holdsthe remains of six members of the Duncan family. The large headstone belongs toThomas Duncan and his wife, Lucretia Beigler Duncan. Thomas died in 1886 andLucretia followed in 1892. The other four headstones, smaller and worn by morethan a century of weather, mark the remains of four of the Duncans' 11children, as evidence of the fragility of life such a short time ago.
Murry James Duncan lived to be 8, dying in 1863. Nanniedied the day she was one in December 1859. Mary was only 1 month old before shepassed away in 1841, and Silas Lee was 10 when he died in 1845.
Duncan served as a magistrate, and local historian andauthor Gary Kempf believed Duncan also was a military major. Duncan and hiswife bought the first part of the property in January 1839 from Thomas andElizabeth Brown for the then-princely sum of $910. They purchased an adjoiningpiece of land in 1869 from Adam and Elizabeth Beeler for $168.75 in the areajust outside Elizabethtown in what was known as Claysville. Kempf said it was asmall town,
 
small, inset color picture of Mary Duncan's gravestonephoto by Jill Pickett/The News-Enterprise "The gravestone of Mary Duncanis one of four similarly styled markers in the cemetery nest to Houchens inElizabethtown."

CEMETERY: family sold land in 1898 for $2,000 Continuedfrom A1
 
with a brickyard, a tannery and a black water well knownfor its medicinal qualities. The land stayed in the family until 1898, when Loyand Mary Kate Duncan sold the property and house to Will and Lucinda Dodge ofHancock, Mich., for a down payment of $1,200 and three annual payments of$233.33. The land by then included a brick house.
The deed stipulated the Dodges and all subsequentlandowners maintain the cemetery and keep access to it available from the oldL&N Turnpike, now U.S. 31W.
Dodge, by then a widower, sold the land to Dorothy J.Perciful in 1908, and after her death it was willed to her only livingrelative, Ann Wathon. When Wathon died in the early 1960's, the land was givento Severns Valley Baptist Church and Glen Dale Merchants, who in turn sold theproperty to Plaza Shopping Center of Elizabethtown for $1 and otherconsiderations, although the deed neglects to mention what those considerationswere.
Houchens' corporate office in Bowling Green did notreturn a phone call, but the Simpson brothers, owners of Hair Tech, saidHouchens does an excellent job maintaining the small cemetery, cutting thegrass and removing debris.
"Houchens takes good care of it," FrancisSimpson said. "They had to put a brick wall around it to protect it. Somekids sprayed some graffiti on it and the city came and cleaned it off. Me andmy partners watch it as best we can."
Trixy Camner of Radcliff has worked at Hair Tech for fouryears. Walking past a graveyard every morning has become routine.
"It doesn't bother me." she said. "I thinkabout how it used to be all farmland, how it was."
 
Brian T. Kehl can be reached at 505-1743 (ElizabethtownArea code is 270) Family links:
Children:
Silas Lee Duncan (1835 - 1845)*
Mary Duncan (1841 - 1841)*
Murry James Duncan (1855 - 1863)*
Nannie Duncan (1859 - 1859)*
 
Spouse:
Lucretia Beigler Duncan (1814 - 1892)
 
Burial:
Duncan Cemetery
Houchens Plaza
100 Main Street
Elizabethtown
Hardin County
Kentucky, USA
 

Birth	6 Oct 1808	Hardin, Kentucky, United States
Marriage	3 Mar 1831	Hardin, Kentucky, United States - Lucretia Beigler
Death	5 Aug 1886	Hardin, Kentucky, United States
Burial		Elizabethtown, Hardin, Kentucky, United States

Spouse	Lucretia Beigler (1814 - 1892)
Child	Rev. Joseph DeWitt Duncan ( - )
Child	Silas Lee Duncan (1835 - 1845)
Child	Mary Duncan (1841 - 1841)
Child	Murry James Duncan (1855 - 1863)
Child	Nannie Duncan (1859 - 1859)

Notes