Sacred Ground: Duncan Family Cemetery

The Duncan Family Cemetery in Huntsville sits on a hill overlooking Baker Highway and the industrial complex that includes Scott Appalachian Industries and Tennier Industries along East Monticello Pike.

At one time, though, the cemetery overlooked the Duncan family farm, which was located about where SAI is now located. It was here, on the small hill overlooking their farm, where Flem Baird Duncan and Cassie Lee Duncan were buried, and where many of their descendants have been buried since.

F.B. Duncan died in 1961, and Cassie Duncan died 14 years later. But the cemetery actually dates back well before that, to 1895. While this story will revolve primarily around F.B. and Cassie Duncan, it actually begins with the generation before them: with Emanuel Duncan and Jane Cecil Duncan.

The Duncan Family Cemetery is different from most in Scott County in that a good many of those buried there aren’t Scott Countians. In fact, many of them never lived in Scott County at all. The children of F.B. and Cassie Duncan left Scott County — all but one, anyway — and laid down roots all over the United States (though primarily in Cincinnati, North Carolina and Tennessee). As their descendants have passed away, they’ve returned to the old family farm to be buried.

The Duncan Family Cemetery is also unique in that it is one of only two cemeteries in Scott County where a former member of Congress is buried. U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Sr. was buried there in 1988. (The other is Mossop Cemetery in Huntsville, where U.S. Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr. is buried.)

The Duncan family

Emanuel Duncan (1849-1913) was the son of Henry Duncan and Catherine Thompson. His grandfather, Joshua Duncan, was the first of the Duncan family to move into the area that would become Scott County. They settled on Buffalo Creek when it was still part of Campbell County. The year Emanuel Duncan was born, 1849, is the year Scott County was created by the Tennessee legislature.

Jane Cecil (1851-1936) was the daughter of Samuel Cecil and Priscilla Thomas. While the Duncan family was originally from the Buffalo area, this area along Highway 63 — known as Helenwood rather than Huntsville until it was annexed into the town — has always been Cecil country. In fact, the Old Cecil Cemetery, where Jane Cecil’s grandparents are buried, is located just east of Tennier Industries, behind the Potter building.

Jane’s brother was Beaty Cecil, who served as both a sheriff and judge in Scott County, and was later elected to the state legislature. He was the father of the “Fighting Cecils of New River” that included Medal of Honor winner Col. Joe Cecil.

So it was Jane Cecil who brought the Duncans to Huntsville … or Helenwood, as it was known at the time. It was in 1869, four years after the Civil War ended, that Emanuel Duncan and Jane Cecil were married and settled down on the farm near where SAI and Tennier are now located, just east of Heritage Hills Apartments.

Emanuel and Jane Duncan had seven children: Henry (born 1875), James Idol (born 1872), Flem Baird (born 1870), Kizzie Ann (born 1877), Jerome (born 1879), Polly Belle (born 1883) and Priscilla (born 1886).

F.B. and Cassie Duncan

Flem Baird — F.B., they called him — was a veteran of the Spanish-American War and spent many years as a Sunday school teacher at the old Presbyterian Church of Helenwood, which no longer exists. He grew up on the family farm along what is now Highway 63.

Cassie Lee, born in 1884, was descended from the Goad family of Brimstone. She was the daughter of William Fred Lee (1869-1941) and Ettie Tennessee Goad (1867-1890). Her father served as Scott County’s eighth superintendent of schools in the late 1880s, and later moved to Glenmary where he was postmaster and owned a general store.

Ettie Tennessee Goad Lee died young in 1890 and is buried at Hughett Cemetery near the old Goad farm (now known as the Walker farm) on Brimstone. Following her mother’s death, Cassie Lee frequently visited the home of her uncle, John Goad, who served as Scott County’s sheriff in the 1890s and later served in other public offices. His home was located where the Baker Law Office now stands, adjacent to the old county courthouse in Huntsville. It was there that Cassie Lee and F.B. Duncan met.

“Papa was attached with her right off,” said Joe Duncan, the last of the couple’s surviving children, in a 2019 interview with the Independent Herald. “He started riding his horse to Brimstone to see her. He’d go up and spend the weekend with the Goad family. And when she came down to visit Uncle John, Papa would go see her.”

F.B. Duncan and Cassie Lee were married in 1907. Their first children, twins Martha Inez and Etta Jane, were born in 1908 and died in infancy. They’re both buried at the family cemetery on the hill overlooking the farm, which had already been established by that time.

F.B. and Cassie Duncan would go on to have 10 more children, beginning with daughter Marjorie Lee in 1909.

Of the 10 surviving Duncan children, none was more accomplished than John James, born in 1919. As the Duncan kids hoed corn on the farm on a hot summer day, John Duncan threw down his hoe and declared that he was leaving the farm.

“He said, ‘I’m going to Knoxville, get an education, be mayor, and then go to Congress,'” Joe Duncan told the IH.

Their father might have been a little skeptical.

“Joe, you know he can’t do that by himself,” F.B. Duncan told his son. “You go with him.”

Later, after serving in World War II and graduating law school, the brothers opened a law office in Knoxville. One of their first clients paid his $100 fee in ten-dollar bills. John Duncan looked at the money, then at his brother, and said, “Joe, this sure beats hoeing corn, doesn’t it?”

John Duncan was indeed elected mayor of Knoxville, and later to Congress. As mayor, he served during a period of great racial strife throughout the South. He is credited with helping heal racial relations in the city, which in turn helped Knoxville avoid much of the violence that erupted in other Southern cities.

Duncan was elected to Congress in 1964, representing Tennessee’s 2nd District — which included Scott County — until his death in 1988. His son, Jimmy Duncan, was elected to Congress until retiring in 2018. John Duncan’s daughter, Becky Duncan Massey, currently serves as a state legislator from Knoxville. The federal courthouse in downtown Knoxville is named in Duncan’s honor.

Joe Duncan, meanwhile, became a noted judge in Knoxville and was later appointed to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. He continues to live in West Knoxville.

The other Duncan children ventured away from Scott County, as well. Marjorie Lee, the oldest, taught school at New River for a while before going to business college in Chattanooga. There she began babysitting for a Jewish family. She followed them to Cincinnati when they moved, where she married and settled down. She died in 1988 and is buried at Duncan Family Cemetery in Huntsville.

Dorothy Viola, born in 1910, followed her older sister to Cincinnati, taking a job at a department store. She married a wealthy man, Fred Proctor, who owned a book-binding business. She died in 1987 and is the only of the Duncan children not buried in Huntsville.

Fred Emanuel, born in 1912, also wound up in Ohio, settling down in Dayton. He followed another Huntsville boy who owned a barbershop there. He died in 1993 and is buried at the family cemetery.

Frank Duncan, born in 1915, wasn’t as famous as his younger brothers, John and Joe, but he may have been the most successful of the siblings in terms of wealth. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression and helped build many of the original hiking trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He later moved to Franklin, N.C. and was a successful businessman, owning a Ford dealership and a motel, among other businesses. He died in 1981 and is buried at the family cemetery.

Lillian Elizabeth, born in 1921, followed her brothers John and Joe to Knoxville. She taught special needs children and later worked for the TN Dept. of Health. She died in 2018 and is buried at the family cemetery.

Martha Ann, born in 1922, also wound up in Cincinnati. She died in 2021 and is buried at the family cemetery.

Robert Sevier, born in 1928, was the baby of the family. He dropped out of high school at age 15 and left home, catching a ride to Cincinnati with a truck driver. He later got into the moving business, and his son, Freddy, established Freddy Duncan & Sons Moving & Storage in Cookeville, Tenn. He died in 2013 and is buried at the family cemetery.

Finally, there was Fannye Helen. Born in 1917, she was the only of the Duncan siblings who “stayed home.” She was a successful basketball player at Huntsville High School and attended college on a basketball scholarship. She entered the nursing profession and eventually married Dr. M.F. Frazier (her second husband) in 1956. She worked at Frazier’s office in Oneida for 21 years until his death in 1968. She died in 1973 and is buried at the family cemetery. Her last surviving child, Duane Limburg, is the only of F.B. and Cassie Duncan’s many grandchildren still living in Scott County.

In a 2019 interview, Joe Duncan recalled his parents’ 50th anniversary celebration on the family farm in Huntsville. It was 1957.

“All 10 of us kids showed up back in Scott County,” he said. “The yard was full of cars and everyone was laughing and having a great time. I was sitting on the porch with Papa and all of the family was out in the yard visiting. He says to me, ‘Joe, look out there in the yard. You see all those big fine automobiles out there and all my children? If success is anywhere in the world, it’s out there in that yard. And I’m responsible for all of that.'”

The cemetery begins

The Duncan Family Cemetery dates back to 1895, well before F.B. and Cassie Duncan were married. That year, 25-year-old Henry Duncan died and was buried at the cemetery. (Note: an obituary for Sarah Cecil Duncan, published when she died, states that she had six children and does not include Henry Duncan as one of them. But the 1880 census lists Henry Duncan, age 10 at the time, as the son of Emanuel and Sarah Duncan.)

Henry Duncan was the first person to be buried on the hill. No one else was buried there until 1908, when the newborn twins of F.B. and Cassie, Etta Jane and Martha Inez, were buried there.

Emanuel Duncan was buried at the cemetery when he died in 1913. His wife, Sarah, was later buried there in 1936.

Several other members of the family were buried at the cemetery in the 1930s.

In 1937, tragedy struck at the farm. Dorothy’s daughter, Vera Jo, was living on the farm with her grandparents while Dorothy was away at work in Cincinnati. Vera was getting off the school bus when a truck sped around the bus and struck her, killing her instantly. She was just six years old. She was buried at the family cemetery.

Buried at the cemetery in the 1950s were two more of Emanuel and Jane Duncan’s sons: Jerome in 1950 and James Idol in 1955. James Duncan’s son, George, was also buried at the cemetery in 1952.

Meanwhile, Judge Joe Duncan married a New River girl, Lou Etta Phillips. She was the daughter of Mitchell and Susie Phillips. Their infant son, Douglas Philip, was buried at the cemetery in 1956. (Joe Duncan was the only of F.B. and Cassie Duncan’s children, besides Fannye Helen, to marry a Scott Countian.)

The modern era

Joe Duncan was away from Tennessee for a while, serving in World War II and working for the FBI. When he returned and settled down in Knoxville to practice law, he made good on a promise he had made to his mother: cleaning up the family cemetery.

Eleven acres of the old farm were set aside for the cemetery. A non-profit corporation was set up to manage the cemetery. Enlisting the help of his sister, Fannye Helen, Joe set about the task of cleaning off the land and replacing the original field stones marking the graves that were already there with commercial stones. His brother, Frank, commissioned a large granite stone reading “Duncan” that can still be seen at the cemetery today.

The Duncan stone does not line up evenly with the highway. Instead, it is set on an angle. There was a reason for that, Joe Duncan said. F.B. Duncan wanted to be able to sit on his front porch and look at the stone. And so it was.

“He was so proud of that big Duncan name on that stone,” Joe Duncan said.

The last person buried at the cemetery as of this writing was Barbara Duncan Fulton, who died in June 2023 at the age of 81. She was the daughter of Frank Duncan, a granddaughter of F.B. and Cassie Duncan, and lived in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Cemetery census

DUNCAN FAMILY CEMETERY
GPS Coordinates: 36.41310, -84.52720
First Burial: 1895
Last Burial: 2023

Carolyn Keck Aaronian, 1936-2011
Joseph M. Barr, 1947-2017
Edgar J. Barthell, 1940-1993
Dennis S. Birch, 1976-2018
Dorothy Duncan Boehmier, 1910-1987
Erving Boehmier, 1900-1989
Brenda Limburg Cecil, 1944-2003
Carolyn Duncan Clark, 1941-2016
Cassie Lee Duncan, 1884-1975
Douglas P. Duncan, 1956-1956
Emanuel Duncan, 1849-1913
Etta J. Duncan, 1908-1908
Flem B. Duncan, 1875-1961
Frank B. Duncan, 1915-1981
Fred E. Duncan, 1912-1993
George Duncan, 1905-1952
Henry Duncan, 1870-1895
James I. Duncan, 1872-1955
Jane Cecil Duncan, 1851-1936
Jannie Alread Duncan, 1865-1925
Jerome I. Duncan, 1879-1950
John J. Duncan Sr., 1919-1988
Laura Dehart Duncan, 1915-2009
Lois Swisher Duncan, 1917-2006
Lou Phillips Duncan, 1925-2017
Lynn Hawkins Duncan, 1949-2021
Marilyn Foster Duncan, 1929-2006
Martha I. Duncan, 1908-1908
Robert S. Duncan, 1928-2013
Ruth Mestemaker Duncan, 1918-2012
George C. Ely, 1907-1984
Marjorie Duncan Ely, 1909-1988
Lane H. Foster, 1899-1977
Marie Schaeff Foster, 1896-1993
Fannye Duncan Frazier, 1917-1973
Marshall F. Frazier, 1907-1968
Barbara Duncan Fulton, 1942-2023
Pat Gleason, 1942-2017
Nancy Ely Hicks, 1941-2019
Linda Limburg Hogue, 1941-1972
Kenneth C. Keck Jr., 1950-2022
Kenneth C. Keck Sr., 1921-2002
Lillian Duncan Keck, 1921-2018
Danny G. Moffett, 1962-1997
Naomi R. Owens, 1927-1927
Raymond V. Phillips, 1944-2004
Fred Procter, 1887-1972
Louise Duncan Thomas, 1957-2021
Suzanne Sproat Treadway, 1983-2011
James F. Williams, 1929-1931
Vera J. Williams, 1931-1937

This story is part of the Scott County Cemetery Project.