Person Page 153

William Robert Duncan^1,2

Facts and Notes

• Title: Reverend¹
• Birth: Between 7 January 1627/28 and 7 January 1629/30; Perth, Perthshire, ScotlandBGO; Margaret's genealogy lists the birth year as 1620 and the Yate's compilation of marriage records lists it as 1730, while the findagrave database indicates it was 1727/28.^1,3,2,4
• Education: 1648; King's College, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, ScotlandBG; Degree in Theology^1,4
• Marriage: 29 August 1657; Sarah Haldane; Glasgow, Lanarkshire, ScotlandBGO; Unknown source listed 20 Aug 1656/57 as marriage date. LDS site lists her last name as HALDANE.^2,3,1
• Occupation: Before 1690; ScotlandBGO; Covenant Presbyterian Minister^3,1,4
• Anecdote: Before 1690; See person note below^1,5
• Death: 2 January 1690/91; Glasgow, Lanarkshire, ScotlandBGO; Possibly beheaded for refusing to take the Jacobite oath (see person note). Cause of Death: Possible execution^3,1,4
• Burial: After 2 January 1690/91; Mount Schiehallion, Perthshire, ScotlandBG^1,4

• Note: According to the story on Find A Grave, William Robert Duncan was beheaded in Glasgow, Scotland, on 2 January 1690/91 by orders from the English King for refusing to take the Jacobite Oath. He was buried as a martyr at the foot of Mount Schiehallion in Perthshire, and his children then fled to America to escape the king’s wrath.
  
  However, research conducted in 2016 casts some doubt on this story. The study’s author indicates that one of the earliest Duncan researchers looked at an old Duncan family bible and discovered that it contained no mention of William Robert Duncan’s martyrdom, which would seem to be a striking omission given the striking nature of his death. The study’s author uncovered the work of another early researcher who surmised that the martyrdom of William Robert Duncan might have originated during a correspondence in the late 19th century in which one of the writers added information about the martyrdom of William Welsh, which was then integrated into the William Robert Duncan story.
  
  So, does that mean William Robert Duncan was not the martyr the family story makes him out to be? Not necessarily.
  
  The 2016 research also uncovered a family story about martyrdom among the Duncans, recorded in 1852 before the correspondence naming William Welsh occurred. According to that story, William Duncan was one of three brothers martyred in 1665. This date is well before the Jacobite uprising but could have been conflated with the William Welsh story to produce today’s prevalent narrative.
  
  We may never know the truth about William Robert Duncan’s death, but it is nevertheless fascinating and warrants further study.
  

• Related Pages: Ancestors of Marianna Woodson; Notable People

Citations

1. [S489] Ancestry.com, UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current, http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=FindAGraveUK&h=106523&indiv=try, (the Findagrave memorial for Rev William Robert Duncan is posted at http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=60040920&ref=acom&ftm=1)
2. [S425] Yates Publishing, U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=WorldMarr_ga&h=511577&indiv=try, Source number: 841.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: BB1, Record for Sarah Haldane
3. [S439] McNaull, Margaret, Personal Family Tree, McNaull, Margaret. Personal Family Tree. Privately held by Marianna Cobb, Arlington, Virginia, 1993.
   
   These are copies of three separate genealogical records and a personal letter that were sent by Margaret McNaull to Marianna Cobb in Virginia in 1993. The copies were on file in the home of Mary Jane and Robert Reyes of Lorton, Virginia, as of 2014., Margaret McNaull Genealogical Records, Copies sent to Marianna Cobb on 11 May 1993.
4. [S362] Online database, Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60040920/william-robert-duncan, database and images, accessed 24 August 2023. Memorial page for Rev William Robert “The Martyr” Duncan (7 Jan 1628–1 Jan 1690), Find a Grave Memorial ID 60040920, citing Schiehallion, Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland; Maintained by Eternal Peace (contributor 48793983).
5. [S824] Nelson Fowler, Assessing Duncan Family Stories, https://silo.tips/download/assessing-duncan-family-stories, Published online; accessed 24 Aug 2023.