Implement dealer, insurance agent.
Born at Aberdeenshire, Scotland on 6 May 1857, son of James Duncan and Jane Dalgarno, he came to Canada in 1882 and settled at Brandon where he worked in railway construction. He then homesteaded in Wolseley District of Assiniboia, North West Territories (now Saskatchewan). At the outbreak of the 1885 North West Rebellion, he served as a veterinarian and blacksmith under Major Bell of Indian Head. In 1888, he came to Melita where he worked as a blacksmith before the town was incorporated, later opening an implements business. He was President of the Melita Lumber and Manufacturing Company.
In 1887, he married Helen “Nellie” McGuire (1862-1940). They had no children. He served on the Melita town council, was first Secretary and later President of the Melita Board of Trade, an Elder (27) and Sunday School Superintendent of the Presbyterian Church. He was a Justice of the Peace under the Greenway Government. He was a member (Noble Grand, Melita Lodge No. 20) and Grand Master (1909-1910) of the Odd Fellows, and a member of Presbyterian church and Liberal party.
He died at Winnipeg on 23 January 1937 and was buried in the Melita Cemetery.
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
“Oddfellows elect officers,” Winnipeg Tribune, 5 March 1909, page 1.
Pioneers and Prominent People of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Canadian Publicity Company, 1925.
Death registrations [James Duncan, Ellen Duncan], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
We thank Darryl Toews for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 10 February 2025
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