Disambiguation:John Duncan of Southwest Virginia

There are a number of records for a "John Duncan's" in southwest Virginia during the period of Indian Hostilities (1773-1794). It is clear that some of these records refer to different persons with the same name. Others refer to the same person, but with slightly different spellings (e.g., "Duncan" vice "Dunkin"). It is clear that there are at least three, and probably four, John Duncans in the area during this period.

Person:John Duncan (31) who was killed by Indians at Moore's Fort in late September of 1774 Person:John Duncan (32) son of Person:John Duncan (31) who was not yet an adult when his father was killed in 1774 Person:John Duncan (33) who is listed as "John Duncan, Jr." Captain William Russells 1774 militia roster for the Clinch River. Person:John Dunkin (2) who appears on the Glade Hollow Roster of later summer 1774.

This article is intended to bring together information needed to discriminate between these John Duncan's.

The Records

The SWVP Register 1769-1775 summarizes early settlers in the area between 1769 and 1775. It includes the following entries for persons using the "Duncan/Dunkin" surname.

Note in particular that "John Duncan (32)" and "John Duncan (33)" appear together on the same roster for Captain William Russell's Company, early Fall 1774. We can thus be assured that they, at least, are two separate and distinctive individuals. Despite the fact that one of these "John Duncan's" is designated "Jr.", we have no reason to believe that they were related to each other; the "Jr" designation may have simply been applied to distinguish between the two men, one being presumably younger than the other (1).

Sergeant " John Dunkin (2)" appears on the Roster of the Glade Hollow Fort under Captain Daniel Smith. This roster covers the period beginning 13 August 1774, and continues into the late fall. It is possible that this John Dunkin is one of the two John Duncan's listed under Captain William Russell. It is probably significant that with the possible exception of John Dunkin, NONE of the individuals, appear on both the Glade Hollow Roster and on the First Payroll Roster. Unless John Dunkin was uniquely transferred from Daniel Smith's Company to William Russells company, his presence on the Glade Hollow Roster probably represents a third "John Duncan/Dunkin".

There is a fourth John Duncan that should also be mentioned.

Notes: (1) We can not even assume that the one designated "Jr" was the younger of the two. Sometimes the designation "Jr" was given to the person who was considered less senior socially, or came to the area later than the other.

Note:A listing of the "John Duncans" that appear on WeRelate pages, as of 16 December 2007, is provided at the bottom of this article.

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