Thomas Duncanson (1836 - 1921)

Born 17 Jul 1836 in Clackmannan, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, United Kingdom [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Catherine (Tait) Duncanson — married 10 Sep 1858 in Port Sorell, Tasmania, Australia

Husband of Jane (McCulloch) Duncanson — married 4 May 1874 in Port Sorell, Tasmania, Australia

Descendants

Died 22 Jul 1921 at age 85 in Zeehan, Tasmania, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Lorna Henderson [send private message]

Biography

Name

Name: Thomas /Duncanson/ ^[1]

Birth

Date: 17 JUL 1836

Place: Alloa, Par. of Clackmannan, Clackmannanshire, Scotland^[2][3][4]

Death

Date: 22 JUL 1921

Place: Zeehan, , Tasmania, Australia

Note: Obit (Mon 25th Jul 1921): " Passing of a Bischoff Pioneer

MR. THOMAS DUNCANSON. FRIEND OF "PHILOSOPHER" SMITH AND EARLY DAYS SETTLER

There passed away, on Friday, at the residence of his daughter in Stop street, Zeehan, a pioneer of Bischoff in the person of Mr Thomas Duncanson, a man who, in the early days, and when, men counted for more than they do at present, bore his part worthily and fought his fight with clean hands, and in that fair and open manner which characterised his day.

Thomas Duncanson realised in a special way that pioneering was essential, the work of brave hearts and free spirits. He knew that the race is composed of 'neither children nor gods, but men in a world of men. That was the characteristic of his world, of the days of his early struggles, of his triumphs and of his failures. Every phase of life was accepted with that resolute courage, that unfailing resource, and that characteristic dignity of a day that is done, and done to be no more.

Deceased was born in Scotland a little over 86 years ago, and when 19 years of age the lure of travel and romance of the gold discovery fired his imagination.

He left the famed land of his birth in 1855 for Australia, and shortly after arrival found himself in Launceston, where he accepted a position as clerk.

The 'roughing' of gold days did not directly appeal to his practical turn of mind, and so he worked on steadily and improved his position.

The North-West Coast was then attracting attention, and the late Mr Duncanson decided to try his luck at farming, and away he went for what was then a wilderness, but now a smiling land the garden of Tasmania, the rural beauty spot of the Commonwealth.

Mr Duncanson was married on the North-Wost Coast, and there he made the acquaintance of 'Philosopher' Smith, whose name is associated with the world's greatest tin mine Mount Bischoff as its discoverer. Mr Smith had not then tramped the 'dreary heights of the barren mount,' but the days when both he and Mr Duncanson were to be associated were already arranged by Destiny. Mr Duncanson worked on in the Ulverstone district, living the life of the pioneer of those days.

Life was, in reality, composed of toil and privations. It took stout hearts to see it through, but the men of those days all honour to their memory were equal to it all. They were of good stuff, and many a one of them had a heart of gold.

The Ulverstone district was vastly different in the days of Thomas Duncanson to what it is today. Lines of communication there were none. Rivers had to be forded, and the forest gradually subdued to the will and purposes of the valiant battlers of the long ago. But they stuck it out, and their sons and grandsons followed, and now sweet plenty is scattered over a smiling land.

Thomas Dancanson used to drive his cattle one and a half miles, not to water, but out of the deep recesses of the forest to catch a little sunshine in order to maintain their health and condition. The fortunes of Tasmania were in the closing 'sixties.' and at the opening of the 'seventies' in a desperate condition, owing to the imposition of the heavy Victorian protective tariff and the competition of other colonies as a ** held, and that wrought a remarkable change.

'Philisopher' Smith was a man of patient endurance and highly imaginative powers a rare combination, indeed. His stories of tbe potentialities of Bischoff fired Mr Duncanson with enthusiasm, and so he threw up farming for good, and left all its then heavy drudgery behind him.

Away he set sail for Waratah where he opened a general store, and carried on business successfully until the Bischoff boom was succeeded in course of time by the Bischoff slump. But even the slump could have been held in defiance only for the fact that Tom Duncanson was liberality itself, and did not know how to say 'nay' to any man. It was the spirit of the times, and he lived it in its best expression.

During his years at Waratah the late Mr Duncanson held many public positions, and worked well for the progress and general welfare of the community. He was chairman of the Road Trust aud Medical Board. He was a member of the Waratah Lodge of Freemasons, and a member of the Manchester Unity Order of Oddfellows. He was also a territorial juistice of the peace, road inspector, and postmaster in the early days of the Bischoff field, and generally he was full of enterprise, bussness and go.

He was creative in the sense that he never wearied of endeavors for tbe progress of the community. His enterprise caused him to build a public hall in order to meet a great requirement of the people, and in that hall the Rev. Piercy afterwards held divine service, and used a beer barrel as a pulpit! Many a stirring sermon on men's weaknesses amiable and otherwise including, we may be sure, the curse of strong drink, arose from the depths of that beer barrel! It was one of the humorous incidents of the early days.

The late Mr Duncanson was instrumental in securing the appointment of Dr. John McCall (after Sir John McCall. Agent-General for Tasmania) as medical officer at Waratah. It was 'Johnnie McCall's first practice, and the sturdy son of Scotland won the position for the young doctor - a Scotsman's son - in a great set-to with the then manager of the Bischoff mine, the late Mr Kayser, who had a nominee of his own, but didn't have his own way, as he so much loved to in everything.

It is between 25 and 30 years ago since the late Mr Duncanson first came to Zeehan. He was one of the contractors for the Corinna water race back in the gold days of that now fo forgotten field, and he had a lively faith in the mineral potentialities, not only of one or two favored localities, but of tbe entire Western Mineral Division, and he took a great interest in all the big movements and developments relating to the mining industry.

During his residence in Zeehan he never lost that active interest in public affairs which he so strongly developed in the early Bischoff days, and none more than he regretted the decline in mining.

For the past two years he had been confined, owing to increasing infirmities, to his daughter's home, where he was nursed and tended by Miss Duncanson with a loving care and fidelity which are quite remarkable in these days. The end came on Friday when he peacefully passed away in his 86th year, and as honest and generous man, true as a dye and straightforward in all his dealings, ceased to be.

His funeral yesterday was attended by a large number of representative townsmen, the chief mourner being his son, Mr James Duncanson. He left a numerous family of sons and daughters, for whom considerable sympathy is felt in the loss of their pioneer father. Rev. R Walter Finger officiated at the graveside.^[5][6][7]

Christening

Date: 31 JUL 1836

Place: Clackmannan, , Clackmannanshire, Scotland

Note: entry reads: Thomas Duncanson lawful son of William Duncanson ploughman at Tulligarth and Mary McEwan born 17th and baptized 31st July 1836^[8][9]

Marriage

Husband: Thomas Duncanson

Wife: Jane McCulloch

Child: Roseanna Duncanson

Child: Jane Duncanson

Child: Margaret Duncanson

Child: James McEwan Duncanson

Marriage:

Date: 04 MAY 1874

Place: Port Sorell, , Tasmania, Australia

Note: "on the North West Coast"^[10][11]

Husband: Thomas Duncanson

Wife: Catherine Tait

Child: Mary Clark Duncanson

Child: Thomas William Duncanson

Child: John Liddle Duncanson

Child: Robert William Duncanson

Marriage:

Date: 10 SEP 1858

Place: Port Sorrell, , Tasmania, Australia^[12]

Husband: William Duncanson

Wife: Mary McEwan

Child: Mary Duncanson

Child: Margaret Duncanson

Child: Thomas Duncanson

Child: Jane Duncanson

Child: Christian Duncanson

Marriage:

Date: 13 NOV 1831

Place: , Par. of Kincardine by Doune, Perthshire, Scotland

Note: Entry reads: "William Duncanson & Mary McEwan, Parishioners:^[13][14][15]

Census

Date: 1841

Place: , , Clackmannanshire, Scotland

Note: DUNCANSON: Wm 30 ag lab; Mary 25 both b Scotland; Assumed children: Mary 8 b SCT; Margt 6, Thos 4, Lane (?Jane) female 6 mos all b CLK;^[16]

Census:

Date: 1851

Place: , Par. of Alva, Stirlingshire, Scotland

Note: DUNCANSON: William 42 ag lab b St Ninians, STI; wife Mary 39 b Kincardine, STI; Children: Mary 18 b St Ninians; Margaret 16, Thomas 14 wool piecer, Jane 10, all b Alloa, CLK; Christian 7 b Logie, PER^[17][18]

Reference

Reference: 71482

Sources

1. ↑ Source: #S203 Par. of Alva, Stirlingshire, Par. 470 ED 3 Sched 104, hsehold of William & Mary DUNCANSON, extracted May 2011
2. ↑ Source: #S203 Par. of Alva, Stirlingshire, Par. 470 ED 3 Sched 104, hsehold of William & Mary DUNCANSON, extracted May 2011
3. ↑ Source: #S1597 Birth 17 Jul Bap. 31 Jul 1836 Thomas s/o William DUNCANSON & Mary McEWAN, Clackmannan, Clackmannanshire, from Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950 batch C11466-8 film 1040355, extracted Aug 2013
4. ↑ Source: #S7 Birth 17th Bap. 31st Jul 1836 Thomas s/o William DUNCANSON & Mary McEWAN, Clackmannan, CLK 466/00 0060 0243, extracted from image on Shipp family tree of sallyjones2808, Aug 2013
5. ↑ Source: #S3129 "Letters of Admin" Apr 1885 Mary DUNCANSON, from TASMANIAN INTELLIGENCE. (1885, April 28). Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899), p. 2, online at http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38298933, extracted from image Aug 2013
6. ↑ Source: #S7 Dth 25 Jul 1921 Thomas DUNCANSON, Zeehan, TAS, from obit on Shipp family tree of sallyjones2808, http://trees.ancestry.com.au/tree/37264173/person/19207214572/, extracted Aug 2013
7. ↑ Source: #S3129 Obit: 25 Jul 1921 Thomas DUNCANSON, Zeehan, TAS, from Passing of a Bischoff Pioneer. (1921, July 25). Zeehan and Dundas Herald (Tas. : 1890 - 1922), p. 2, online at http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article84500153, extracted from image Aug 2013
8. ↑ Source: #S1597 Birth 17 Jul Bap. 31 Jul 1836 Thomas s/o William DUNCANSON & Mary McEWAN, Clackmannan, Clackmannanshire, from Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950 batch C11466-8 film 1040355, extracted Aug 2013
9. ↑ Source: #S7 Birth 17th Bap. 31st Jul 1836 Thomas s/o William DUNCANSON & Mary McEWAN, Clackmannan, CLK 466/00 0060 0243, extracted from image on Shipp family tree of sallyjones2808, Aug 2013
10. ↑ Source: #S3129 Obit: 25 Jul 1921 Thomas DUNCANSON, Zeehan, TAS, from Passing of a Bischoff Pioneer. (1921, July 25). Zeehan and Dundas Herald (Tas. : 1890 - 1922), p. 2, online at http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article84500153, extracted from image Aug 2013
11. ↑ Source: #S5 Marr. 4 May 1874 Thomas DUNCANSON & Jane McCULLOCH, Port Sorell, TAS, #634, from Australia Marriage Index, 1788-1950, extracted Aug 2013
12. ↑ Source: #S5 Marr. 10 Sep 1858 Thomas DUNCANSON & Catherine TAIT, Port Sorell, TAS, #702, from Australia Marriage Index, 1788-1950, extracted Aug 2013
13. ↑ Source: #S1610 Par. of Alva, Stirlingshire, 1851Scotland/STI Pg 27 Sched 104, hsehold of William & Mary DUNCANSON, extracted May 2011
14. ↑ Source: #S1597 Marr. 13 Nov 1831 William DUNCANSON & Mary McEWAN, Kincardine by Doune, PER, from Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910, batch M11364-5 film M11364-5, extracted May 2011
15. ↑ Source: #S7 Marr. 13 Nov 1831 Mary McEWAN & William DUNCANSON, Kincardine by Doune, PER, 364/00 0010 0003, submitted by SallyJones2808, extracted from image Aug 2013
16. ↑ Source: #S201 Par. Clackmannan, Clackmannanshire, Par. 466 ED 6 pg 7, hsehold of Wm & Mary DUNCANSON, extracted May 2011
17. ↑ Source: #S203 Par. of Alva, Stirlingshire, Par. 470 ED 3 Sched 104, hsehold of William & Mary DUNCANSON, extracted May 2011
18. ↑ Source: #S1610 Par. of Alva, Stirlingshire, 1851Scotland/STI Pg 27 Sched 104, hsehold of William & Mary DUNCANSON, extracted May 2011

• Source: S1597 FamilySearch Labs Record Search (LDS), Url: http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/
• Source: S1610 FreeCensus, UK, Url: http://freecen.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl
• Source: S201 1841 Census transcripts for Scotland via Ancestry.com Repository: #R121
• Repository: R121 Ancestry.com
• Source: S203 1851 Census transcripts for Scotland via Ancestry.com Repository: #R121
• Source: S3129 Trove - Digitised Newspapers Repository: #R139
• Repository: R139 National Library, Australia
• Source: S5 Ancestry.com
• Source: S7 Ancestry.com - Family Trees

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Lorna Henderson for creating WikiTree profile Duncanson-73 through the import of McEWANMaryDUNCANSONWilliam4WikiTreeAug2013PlaceUpdated.ged on Aug 16, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Lorna and others.