An American Family History

The Duke Family

John Duke

Elizabeth Duke (1747, married Garrett Blue son of John Blue),
William Duke (1749, married Mary Ann Lemon),
Francis Duke (1751, married Sarah Shepherd),
John Duke, Jr. (1753),
Robert Duke (1755),
Mary Duke (1757, died in childhood),
Matthew Duke, (1758),
Margaret Duke (1760),
Mary Duke Foutz
James Duke (1765),
Jane Duke (1767, married Captain James Glenn).

The Dukes were early settlers in, what is now, the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.

William Duke was born on March 17, 1749. He was the son of John and Margaret Duke.

He married Mary Ann Lemon. She was born on January 7, 1756. She was the daughter of Nicholas and Christina Lemon.

Margaret Duke (1778, married Daniel Hendricks),
Francis Duke (1783, married Elizabeth Kendrick),
John Duke (1786, married Lucy Talbot),
Robert Duke (1788, married Anna Newton Moore)
Matthew Duke (1791)
Nancy Duke (1793, married Isaac Clyner).

William died in Berkeley County, Virginia in 1794.

William Duke was born 17 March, 1749, and died in Berkeley County, Virginia, 13 Sept., 1794, in his forty-fifth year. He was the eldest son, and was probably born in Ireland.

About 1777 he married Mary Ann, dau. of Nicholas and Christina Lemon, of Harper's Ferry. Her mother was a descendant of Robert Lemon, a soldier and personal friend of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, and was born 7 Jan., 1756. She died circa 1796, and was buried at "Southwood Springs," near Kearneysville, in Berkeley County. Her mother married, 2d, Rev. Henry Eaty, a Presbyterian minister, by whom she had two daughters and a son: Sebastian Eaty, a well-known justice of the peace in Clark Co., Va., between 1819 and 1840.

In the old graveyard at "Southwood Springs" several of the Lemon family are buried, and here two were interred, John Duke, Jr., his wife Margaret, and some of their children. It is a regretable circumstance that the burial place of these ancestors was swept over by the fiery flame of the Rebellion and its desolating torch, with other changes since that time, has caused the obliteration of their graves. The Duke tombstones were long ago past finding, and in this generation there is only the recollection of a few fragments of a lettered sandstone from one of the graves found in a neighbor's farm-yard wall, and these, too, have now disappeared. Thus memory alone recalls the spot where repose the ashes of our Virginia forefathers and reminds us of the passing of all material things.

In the settlement of the estate of John Duke the homestead was conveyed to Captain James Kearney, April 1, 1792, by Robert Duke, the executor, and in October of the same year, Captain Kearney transferred the title to William Duke. William Duke and Mary, his wife, by deed dated 15 Oct., 1793, for the consideration of £209, Virginia currency, reconveyed to Captain Kearney a portion of the homestead containing 47 acres. This instrument was witnessed by Elisha Boyd, John Riddle and James Kennedy, and recorded at Martinsburg, in Deed Book, No. 11, P- 365

William Duke died intestate 13 Sept., 1794, and the inventory and appraisal of his personal estate was filed 21 Sept., 1795. The value of the personal property amounted to £156. 11. i£.; the appraisers were David Moore, David Osbourne and Thomas Lafferty.

William Duke, eldest son of John and Margaret Duke, born 17 March, 1749, died in Berkeley Co., Va., 13 Sept., 1794; m. circa 1777, Mary Ann, dau. of Nicholas and Christina Lemon, of Frederick Co., Va. She was born in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry, 7 Jan., 1756; d. circa 1796, and was buried at "Southwood Springs," near Kearneysville, Berkeley Co., Va.

Issue:
1, Margaret, b. 18 Aug., 1778; d. 5 Oct., 1839.
2, Francis, b. 29 Nov., 1783; d. 8 Nov., 1836.
3, John, b. 7 May, 1786; d. 31 March, 1871.
4, Robert, b. 9 Aug., 1788; d. 16 Aug., 1834.
5, Matthew, b. 5 Jan., 1791; d. circa 1820.
6, Nancy, b. 13 April, 1793; d. July, 1876.

1. Margaret Duke (John1, William2), eldest child of William and Mary A. Duke, b. Rocky Marsh, Berkeley Co., Va., 18 Aug., 1778; d. 5 Oct., 1839; m. circa 1794, Daniel Hendricks, a farmer, of Berkeley Co., Va., and son of Daniel (?) Hendricks and his wife Rebecca ( ?) Buckles, dau. of one of the early settlers, who located at "Rattling Springs" on the Potomac River, two miles above Harper's Ferry, Va....

2. Francis Duke (John1, William2), eldest son of William and Mary A. Duke, b. Rocky Marsh, 29 Nov., 1783; drowned at Harper's Ferry, Va., 8 Nov., 1836; m. 20 Nov., 1819, at Shepherdstown, Va., Elizabeth, dau. of Jacob and Rebecca (McNutt) Kendrick, of Lampeter Square, Lancaster Co., Pa....

3. John Duke (John1, William2), son of William and Mary A. Duke, b. Rocky Marsh, Va., 7 May, 1786; d. at Harper's Ferry, Va., 31 March, 1871; m. 23 Sept., 1813, Lucy Keys Talbot, dau. of Walter and Elizabeth (French) Talbot Shirley, a pioneer settler of Chestertown, Md. Her first husband was George Talbot, of Delaware City, Del., b. 1778; d. at Harper's Ferry, Va., 19 July, 1862....

4. Robert Duke (John1, William2), son of William and Mary A. Duke, b. at Rocky Marsh, Va., 9 Aug., 1788; d. at "Willow Springs," near Harper's Ferry, Va., 16 Aug., 1834; m. circa, 1815, Anna Newton Moore, dau. of Rev. Francis Moore, pastor of the Zoar Baptist Congregation (Ketochtin District), and his wife Sally Allnut, only dau. of Jesse, son of James Allnut, one of the original settlers of Dawsonville, Prince George's Co., Md., and his wife, Eleanor Chiswell....

5. Matthew Duke (John1, William2), son of William and Mary A. Duke, b. 5 Jan., 1791; he never married, but lived with his sister, Mrs. Daniel Hendricks. He served as a substitute in the War of 1812. The date of his death is unknown, but he was living in 1822. He was buried in the burial plot on the Hendricks farm, where his grave is marked by a sandstone with the letters "M. D." carved upon it.

6. Nancy Duke (John1, William2), second dau. and youngest child of William and Mary A. Duke, b. at Rocky Marsh, Va., 13 March, 1793; d. — July, 1876, and was buried at Rocky Marsh. She m. circa 1818, Isaac Clymer, Jr., son of Isaac Clymer, Sr., of Reading, Pa., and a cousin of George Clymer, Esq., a merchant of Philadelphia, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Her husband was a soldier in the War of 1812; one of the Defenders of Baltimore and an eye-witness to the death of Lord Ross. Isaac Clymer, Jr., was b. circa 1779, and d. 10 Oct., 1870.