Great-grandfather of Jane Larson

2nd Lieut   Co. F   16th MO Cavalry
Dates of Service:  17 Aug 1864 - 01 Jul 1865

William Iley Duncan was born in Wright Co., MO, May 19, 1841.  We know almost nothing of his life before the Civil War.  At 21 years, he enlisted in Enrolled Missouri Militia at Springfield, MO, later converted to 16th MO Cavalry.  Mustering date for 16th MO Cavalry was November 1, 1863 - previous time served in E.M.M. unknown.  The 16th spent their service time in Missouri except for brief times in Arkansas, Kansas and Indian Territory.  The 16th was involved in pursuit of General Sterling "Pap" Price during his 2nd invasion of Missouri.  The remainder of the 16th's time was spent suppressing lawlessness of the bushwhackers.

William Iley enlisted as a private on November 1, 1863, promoted to corporal the same day!  Promoted to 1st Sergeant, February 19, 1864, served as 1st Sergeant until August 7, 1864.  That day he was commissioned and mustered as 2nd Lt. in Co F.  He was never discharged as an enlisted man, nor did he receive pay as an enlisted man.  It took a letter to the Adjt. General Department of Missouri to finally straighten out his pay!

William had said his father was a "Scotchman who married an Irish lass".  And after the war, on January 20, 1867, he married Lucinda Kazar Taggart in Webster Co., MO.  Her mother was reputed to be a full-blooded Cherokee.

He had a general store following the war and was first postmaster of Duncanville, MO (listed as a village until 1920; now off the map).  William and Lucinda had seven children. Jane's grandfather, Thomas Hugh, was second to the youngest.

No pictures remain, but his muster roll states he was 6 feet tall, with hazel eyes, dark hair and a fair complexion.  One of the muster rolls shows him at Sand Springs, Missouri, May 26, 1865.  He had been thrown from a horse, suffered a fractured collar bone, right shoulder blade.

Although we haven't found records of a land claim, Jane's grandfather, Thomas, remembered as a child, riding in the wagon driven by his oldest sister, Laura Jane.  It was probably in the Oklahoma land run of 1898, as Aunt Laura was 21 then, and you had to be 21 years old to participate in the run.  She was also an able horsewoman, so she drove the wagon, while her father, William Iley rode his horse.  Jane's great-aunt at a family gathering, related her mother (Laura Jane) telling of them being accosted by "robbers" while on the land run.  The robbers took all her father's money, but not the $2,000 she had in a pouch under her skirt!  The story handed down through the family is they staked a claim in what is now downtown Oklahoma City, and later traded it for a milk cow!

In any event, they settled in Pottawatomie Co, south of Oklahoma City on a farm and raised their children there until his death of pneumonia on January 26, 1894.  Both Lucinda and William are buried in the white cemetery outside the hamlet of Earlsboro, Oklahoma.

Lucinda did draw a government pension for herself and the two minor boys until her death on Nov. 30, 1933.  She lived her last years with her oldest daughter, Laura Jane (Duncan) Earles.

GRAVESITE: Earlsboro Cemetery, Earlsboro, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma

Written by Connie Larson, July 2001