FRANCIS M. DUNCAN, was born on a farm in Menard county, Illinois, two miles northwest of Salisbury, Illinois, October 1, 1831. He lived there and in Hancock county until eighteen years of age, when he moved with his parents to the head of Richland creek, in Cartwright township, Sangamon county, where he remained two years. December 30, 1852, he married Miss Martha J. Yoakum; she was born in Sangamon county, Illinois, and was a daughter of William Yoakum, born in West Virginia. He was a farmer. He died April 26, 1880. His wife, Sarah (Simmons) Yoakum, born in Kentucky. She was the mother of ten children; she died December 5, 1865. Some time after Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Duncan were married he bought a farm of one hundred and eighteen acres in section seventeen, where he resides. He and wife are members of the United Brethren Church and have had eight children, viz: Charles U., Laura H., William R., and James F., (who are twins), Jenetta A., George H., Louisa E. and Mary J. Duncan. Mr. F. M. Duncan was a son of James T. Duncan, born in Kentucky, who came to Illinois at an early day and was one of the first settlers in Salisbury township. He was a farmer and died on July 9, 1856, and his wife was Miss Polly (Penny) Duncan, who was born near Beardstown; she was a daughter of Robert Penny, who came down the Ohio river in a dug-out, and landed in Illinois in 1807. She was a member of the Methodist Church, and is still living in Salisbury. She was born in 1809, and was the mother of eleven children. F. M. Duncan had his farm of one hundred and eighteen acres all fenced and seventy acres under good cultivation and well stocked. In politics he is a Democrat and he cast his first vote for Buchanan for President.