Chasing Those Duncans Again

 

A few days ago this photo (taken in 1972) showed up in my FB Memories. It was sent to me by my brother Les 10 years ago when he wanted to know if I knew who the two men were on the far left and right. We shared the photo with other Duncan relatives, but no one knew. Les thought it might be Uncle Ralph Duncan and his son, Bill. I only had photos of Ralph from 1957. I finally decided that, yes, that was, most likely Grandma Bessie's youngest brother and his son. Two of her other brothers are on the right next to their nephew; Leslie (Uncle Bus) standing behind Lloyd. (Whose middle name is Chapman. I still have no idea where that name came from.)

This is the 1957 photo I used of Uncle Ralph for comparison to the above photo - the one that convinced me of his identity.

And here is one from 1940 with him on the far right. My Grandma Bessie is directly in front of him and my Dad, Louis is next to him. Grandpa George is the man fartherest left.

My Mom, Ruth, holding brother Ron, left front. Dad's cousin Elvera holding her little sister Margery next to Mom. Dad's sister, my aunt, Leona with her hands on the shoulders of Ralph's daughter Shirley. 

Ralph's wife, Pearl is behind Mom and Ron. The other couple is Mahlon and Josephine Harris, grandparents of Elvera and Margery.

I finally was able to trace the Duncans back to Scotland, which I was almost certain they must have come from, but I had never tried to find out more about Grandma's other brother, Lawrence, and her sister Agnes (Babe). I knew who their children were and remembered many of them. (My Dad's first cousins.) And I knew that Agnes had died young, but I never knew more than that about her except her nickname and that she was married to Herman Figgins, whom I did remember. 

Agnes and Herman's children were Ronald Earl, Harley Dean and Hazel Irene. I knew Ronald quite well because he stayed around the area. But Hazel married and moved to St. Joseph, MO. I only knew she was Grandma's niece and they corresponded regularly. Harley died when his ship, the USS Indianapolis went down in the Pacific July 30, 1945 during WWII. Grandma Bessie kept Harley's naval picture on the bureau in her spare bedroom.

Thursday I called my brother Ron to see if he remembered ever hearing the cause of Aunt Agnes' death. Because she was only 38, I wondered if she had died of an aneurysm as our sister Betty did. I thought he might know because he and Ron Figgins were good friends. But he had no idea. All he remembered hearing about Agnes was that she and Herman lived with Grandpa George and Grandma Bessie a few months until their March 1 move date and that when they left Aunt Agnes aired all her pent up grievances against them. Apparently the sisters had little to do with one another after that. 

Yesterday I did some more digging and found Babe's death certificate. 

It appears she died of 'gangrene of leg'. The leg was amputated April 14, 1935 and she died May 18, 1935.

So, now I know. (And so does brother Ron because I called him to let him know I had found out.)

Her daughter was only 13 when she died. I have no idea how she ended up in St. Joe where she met her husband, George Frankovich.

I also have not been able to learn much more about Uncle Ralph, though I've had some contact with his granddaughter. 

And information about Uncle Lawrence is equally limited. I'll just have to keep digging.

Later...

I just found this photo of Herman and Agnes on the Find A Grave website with Herman's obituary.

I'm assuming their wedding photo. Married July 9, 1918 shortly before her 20th birthday. (July 30, 1896) He was 22. (March 8, 1894)