Dr. JOSHUA C. DUNCAN, D. D. S., a skilled dentist of Johnstown, this county, is a son of James W. and Rachel M. (Cole) Duncan, and was born February 1, 1862, in Indiana county.

Dr. Duncan is a scion of one of those worthy Scotch families to which Indiana county owes her early settlement and development, as well as her present thrift. His grandfather, William Duncan, was born in Dauphin county, in 1798, and his father, William Duncan, moved to Indiana county, in 1808 showing that the family was one of the pioneer families of the county. Their early ancestral home is in the vicinity of Buffington. William Duncan was a man of but limited education so far as the books go, but he was a man of excellent judgment and good business capacity. In his day, farming was about the only pursuit available in his section of the country, and he was largely engaged in that enterprise and the related one of stock-raising and stock-dealing, and owned large tracts of land in the county. He married a Miss Graham, also a Scotch lady, and their marriage resulted in the birth of the following children: John, James, William, Samuel, who died young; Elizabeth, Jane, and Ann.

James Duncan (father) was born in May, 1826, on the old homestead in Indiana county. He was reared in the section of his nativity, and has always lived there and followed the arts of husbandry as a means of securing a livelihood; he has lived a quiet, unassuming, yet a very useful life. He married <B>Rachel M. Cole, a daughter of Joshua Cole and Anna Galbraith</B>, the former of Irish and the latter of Scotch blood, of Westmoreland county. This marriage resulted in the birth of ten children, two boys and eight girls, as follows; Frances, deceased; William, of the old homestead; Lizzie, deceased; Annie M., Dr. Joshua C., Laura B., Mollie, Ada, Ella, and Olive.

Dr. Duncan was educated in Dayton academy, Armstrong county, and in the Indiana State Normal school. Like many of our successful professional men, he taught for a time, and then took up the study of dentistry in the office of Dr. G. W. Simpson, of Indiana. He then entered the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, at Baltimore, Maryland, from which reliable institution he graduated in 1884. He at once located in Johnstown, and began the practice of his profession, and has been uniformly successful, taking rank among the leading and most skillful dentists of the county. In addition to his professional work, he does some business along the line of real estate. Religiously, he is a member of the Presbyterian church, and fraternally of Corona Lodge, No. 999, I.O.O.F., and Mineral Lodge, No. 89, Knights of Pythias. On May 9, 1892, Dr. Duncan married Agnes M. Murdock, of Johnstown, and to this marriage have been born two children; Rachel M., deceased, and John Murdock.

--Samuel T. Wiley, ed. "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria
County, Pennsylvania." (Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896), pages 401-402
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