John H. Duncan was born June 27, 1858, in Benton, Ky., and moved with his parents to Franklin County, Illinois, in 1865 and settled where Herrin now stands, then known as Herrin’s Prairie. After teaching in his own neighborhood a couple of years, he spent two years in Shurtleff College, Upper Alton, Illinois, sawing wood and doing chores for his board. After leaving college he was elected Principal of Carterville High School in the fall of 1881, where he served for three years.
This time is captured in the 1880 census which finds him living with his 51 year old widowed mother in Herrin Prairie with his sister Azzie Duncan, 18, and his brother Samuel Edward Duncan, aged 14. John is listed as a teacher.
In 1877, John F. Lusk, a practical printer and writer, bought an interest in “The Monitor” , a Marion newspaper, from George W. Young, and remained connected with the paper something like two years, when he sold out to John H. Duncan and E. E. Mitchell.
In 1879, M.L. Baker formed a partnership with John H. Duncan and engaged in the retail hardware and furniture trade. The business of the firm prospered and in the fall of 1903 the business was incorporated under the name of Duncan-Baker Hardware Co., capital stock $30,000.00; a branch store established at Johnston City and a jobbing department added.
On August 26, 1883, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Spiller, daughter of William J. Spiller, by whom he has had three children, Nettie and Willie, both of whom died before 1904, and Rose who married F. G. Campbell.
In 1886, Thomas J. Helton started a paper called “The Marion Independent,” published the same about one year, when it was bought by a stock company composed of E. E. Mitchell, John H. Duncan. W. C. S. Rhea and Elder William H. Boles and this office was consolidated with “The Marion Monitor” in 1886, and the name changed to “The Leader,” with James P. Copeland editor and manager.
John H. Duncan succeeded Mr. Fowler in 1882 as County Superintendent of schools and served until 1890. During all this time, since the organization of the county, the old log school houses had been gradually giving place to frame buildings, with some pretensions to comfort, and slight tendencies to convenience.
The close of Mr. Duncan’s term, 1890, left only one log school house—an old moss covered land-mark of the early school days of Williamson County. This district, in 1893, replaced the log house with a frame building, together with good board furniture and some apparatus. The county, in the meantime, had been making progress in other ways.
The Teachers’ Institute had become an established fact, provisions having been made by the Legislature for payment of Instructors and other necessary expenses, by requiring the applicants for certificates to pay a fee of $1.
During the term of Mr. Duncan as County Superintendent, the first step looking to the grading of the County, or common schools, was made by suggesting the use of the Manual and Guide, a rudimentary Course of Study. Under this law the first Township or Central and Final Examinations were held. Also during the last term of Mr. Duncan, the first volumes of a Teachers’ County Library were bought, the County Superintendent being made Librarian.
During his administration of the public schools as superintendent, he established an educational journal known as “Our Public Schools”.
After two full terms, eight years as superintendent of Schools, he was elected to the Illinois Legislature in 1890 and re-elected in 1892.
At the close of his last term in the Legislature, he accepted a position as traveling salesman for the Simmons Hardware Company of St. Louis, and remained on the road for them until 1900.
In 1899 and 1900 he served as Alderman for the City of Marion, Illinois both times under Mayor Thomas J. Youngblood. Duncan served again as Alderman in 1908.
In the 1900 federal census, John,42, his wife Mary, 38 and their daughter Rose Clare, 15, were living at 1004 W. Main Street on the corner of West Main and North Vicksburg Street.
In April, 1901, he was appointed by Gov. Yates one of the commissioners of the Southern Illinois Penitentiary at Chester, and afterwards elected by the Illinois Board as its president, which office he still held in 1905.
In June, 1904, The Leader Printing Office was incorporated with a capital stock of eight thousand dollars, incorporators being Arthur Roberts, T. M. Mitchell, John H. Duncan, O. H. Burnett, Oliver J. Page, Lloyd C. Campbell, J. F. Throgmorton, John M. Dodd, J. B. Bundy, F. T. Joyner, Leonard Culp, W. T. Felts. John H. Duncan was elected President of the Company; O. H. Burnett, Vice President, and L. C. Campbell, Secretary and Treasurer. Arthur Roberts was chosen as editor and publisher.
John H. Duncan was an original stockholder in Marion Pressed Brick Company along with Adele Holland, W.H. Warder, E. N. Rice, L. C. Campbell, A. L. Cline, and Martin L. Baker.
In 1910, John had reached 52, Mary was 48 and they were living alone in their home on W. Main St. Their married daughter Rose was living two doors down at 1008 W. Main St. John lists himself as being in the mercantile business.
When the 1920 federal census was taken, John was 62 and Mary was 58, he was listed as a hardware merchant and they were still in their home on W. Main St.
By the 1930 census, John, 72, and Mary, 68, had retired. They owned their W. Main St. home and a radio. The home was valued at $6,000. They were now taking in boarders at their home. Residing with them were Paul and Louise Houghton. Paul was a 28 year old school teacher and Louise was a 20 year old stenographer.
On June 22, 1933, John dies at the age of 74. He was buried the next day at Rose Hill Cemetery. His wife Mary followed him the following year.
Rose and her husband Fred had a child named John Campbell born in 1910 in Marion, Illinois. They moved to Chicago around 1930. Their son, John, died in 1963 and Rose died on March 11, 1979.
John H. Duncan was an elder of the Christian church and a member of the A. F. and A .M. Masonic Lodge.
(Photos and some data extracted from 1905 Souvenir History, WCHS; Federal Census Records; Marion Illinois City Directories; Ancestry.com; Marion City Cemetery Records; Compiled by Sam Lattuca on 02/16/2013)