Barbara Sophia (Gordon) Duncan (1933)
DUNCAN, GORDON, FURGUSON
Posted By: Pat Hochstetler (email)
Date: 1/21/2015 at 16:39:35
Earlham Echo
Earlham, Iowa
Thursday, December 7, 1933Mrs. Barbara S. Duncan; Was Former Earlham Resident
Mrs. Barbara Sophia Duncan, 83 years old, former resident of Earlham, died at East Peoria, Il., Sunday, Nov. 5.
Barbara Sophia, youngest daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Furguson Gordon, was born in Little York, Warren county, Il., January 16, 1850.
Robert Gordon brought his family north from Georgia, by way of the Mississippi river during the fall of 1849. The experience of a northern winter in those early pioneer days was too severe for the frail constitution of Elizabeth Furguson Gordon so the new daughter was taken for her first year into the home of Barbara Gordon Reynolds near Biggsville.
When later, Robert Gordon moved his family into the vicinity of Biggsville she was taken home by her parents and together with three sisters and two brothers grew to young girlhood. In the autumn of 1866 the family followed the covered wagon trail across the fenceless plains of Iowa, to Winterset, then a small hamlet. She spent eight years of her life teaching in the pioneer schools of this section. She united with the United Presbyterian church of Pitzer which had developed from the small gathering of people who met in her father’s home.
April 23, 1874, she was united in marriage with Samuel Harper Duncan, who was then principal of the school in Earlham. They resided in Earlham until 1894. Here their three children were born, Charles Everett, Edna Maude and Roscoe.
In December, 1894, they moved to Seaton, Ill.
Many years of semi-invalidism followed a serious illness in 1902. Mr. Duncan died Jan. 5, 1917, after a short illness from pneumonia. Jan. 12, 1925 she was again called to give up a loved one, when her eldest son, Charles, died after a long illness from arthritis. He had been one of the first students of Earlham Academy, with his father having assisted in its construction. He was editor of “The Seaton Independent” at the time of his death.
In September 1927, she together with her daughter, Maude, moved to East Peoria, Ill., to be with their son and brother, Roscoe, who had located there two years previous. Maude is a teacher in the East Peoria schools, while Roscoe is editor of the “East Peoria Courier.” Mrs. Duncan was then recovering from a long serious illness. Her body weakness increased and she became bedfast Oct. 19, 1933.
She leaves a daughter, Maude, and son, Roscoe, of East Peoria; five grandchildren and two great grandchildren of Seaton; four nieces and one nephew, and their children.
She was a charter member of Judea White Shrine in Galesburg, a past matron of Sister of Charity chapter, Order of Easter Star and a member of Marjorie Rebekah lodge, both of Seaton.
Gravestone Photo
Madison Obituaries maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
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