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Show I . CENTEKHtLB 1 HISTORICAL SOCIETY i 1 I ARCHIBALD DUNCAN they bestowed on their own children. "This couple. Uncle Arch and Aunt Oil, as they came to be known by nearly everyone in the community, communi-ty, lived together until they had celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary, an-niversary, and then on Jan. 1, 1946, Arch's beloved wife was taken from him and he was left alone in the home that for so many years had been the scene of his joys and sorrows, his triumphs and disappointments, disap-pointments, the hub of his life. "It was there that he stayed for the next few years of his life, sometimes alone, sometimes with grandchildren who would come to stay with him and help him, but always a lonesome and solitary figure, fig-ure, missing his loving helpmate of so many years with all his heart. "Inevitably the time came when he was unable to live by himself, when he required the same care that he and Grandmother Duncan so ungrudgingly gave to their parents. Then it was his son and daughter-in-law, Austin and Lavon, beset with almost insurmountable problems prob-lems of their own, who took him into their little home and gave him the care that he so richly deserved. With love, kindness and patience they administered to his every need through sickness, health and adversity. adver-sity. "Grandfather's one wish in the last several years of his life has been to be at home when the end came. Realizing this, Aunt Pearl, his eldest daughter, came a short time ago and brought him home. I By VES HARRISON I March meeting drew a crowd to hear Eric Hogan recount the life of his grandfather, Archibald Duncan, and relive his personal memories of growing up in the home of his grandparents who raised him after the death of his mother, Margaret. Eric began by reading a tribute and life summary which he wrote ' for his grandfather's funeral 36 I years ago. We will print it verbatim, I and follow with a report of Eric's personal memories. I "On June 29, 1860, in a little log 1 cabin located about 25 yards west of the old Duncan home, a little boy was born to Charles and Margaret Bowman Duncan. "As he grew to young manhood he pursued the activities normal to a youth in a pioneer community such as herding cattle and sheep in the nearby mountains, and cutting and dragging in firewood for the heating of the home through the long, rigorous rig-orous winters. "His life was not without fun, either, for he has many times told of having his hands swollen and sore from catching behind the bat without the benefit of catchers gloves such as baseball players enjoy en-joy today. "When he was 12 to 14 years of age, his father, who was a stone mason in Scotland before emigrating to this country, gathered stone from the mountains and with the help of his boys, all of whom learned the stone mason trade, constructed con-structed a large rambling home which in later years became his much loved home. "On August 21, 1880, when he was 20 years of age and she barely 17, Grandfather Duncan was married mar-ried to Olive Jane Rice in the old S.L. Endowment House, and they moved into the new home that the family had built, and there they spent the rest of their lives in as happy and complete a married life as two people ever enjoyed together. "It was there that they, in then-full then-full generosity and love, cared for the old people on both sides of the family when old age made such care necessary, and it was there that they cared for several foster children and raised them to maturity with the same loving kindness that They stayed together there, enjoying enjoy-ing the coolness and seclusion of the old home until, on his 94th birthday, June 29, 1954, he passed away in his sleep in a quiet : and peaceful manner, thus ending the earthly reign of a patriarch who leaves a vast posterity of 30 gran-dhildren, gran-dhildren, 112 great-grandchildren and 20 great-great-grandchildren." Arch and Olive had six children of their own, Alvin, Austin, Archie, Margaret, Pearl and Aft on. In addition, addi-tion, they reared several foster children, including grandson Eric Hogan. Their posterity, given in Eric's summary above, was calculated in 1954. By now, 36 years later, the count must be astronomical. Some of the memories still vivid in Eric's mind are: Riding in a buggy to visit Arch's friend, an Indian named Wilcox, in Little Valley, between Centerville and Farrnington. The annual trip by bobsled to the Bountiful State Bank during the Christmas holidays to get the next year's calendar. Summer evening trips to the old A&W Root beer stand which stood in the center of the intersection of . Main and Fourth North in Bountiful, Boun-tiful, for a cold, frosty mug of rootbeer. The weekly black and white silent movies in the old Soldiers' Memorial Hall in the 1920's, featuring featur-ing such stars as Hoot Gibson, Tom Mix, Harold Lloyd, Mary Pickford, Doug Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, Valen-tino, Pola Negri and others. In 1923 Arch bought a Chevrolet touring car, and while learning to drive it he discovered that, unlike his horses, it failed to stop at the command, "Whoa!" Next, he told of Arch's terrier "Spot," a dog who seemed to understand every word Arch spoke to him. One time Arch, who "rolled his own," left his can of Prince Albert at the bam. He said, "Spot, I left my tobacco can down at the bam." Spot took off for the bam, retrieved the can and laid it at Arch's Ar-ch's feet Besides doing stone masonry, Arch worked his four acres growing all types of fruit and vegetables. Water was not plentiful and was carefully used. All of the produce that was not sold or eaten during the season was canned or dried for the next winter. Grandmother made her own soap. Eric had the task of harvesting the wild asparagus which grew on the creekbanks. Eric said his grandmother was a true saint, but while grandpa was not a saint, he was totally honest, totally moral and totally generous. They lived under very humble circumstances. Water in the home was brought in by a cold water tap in the pantry. The toilet was a two-holer two-holer in the yard. Refrigeration for many years was a bucket lowered into the well. The illumination was from a single light bulb hanging from a dropcord in the center of each room. Eric was six months old when his mother died. His father had eight children, and it was impossible for him to take care of baby Eric, along with seven other children, so he farmed Eric out to Grandmother and Grandfather Duncan. Later, when circumstances permitted, Eric's father came to reclaim him, but the grandparents refused to give him up. Thus, his life with the Duncans. Dun-cans. President Clara Goudy announced announc-ed that Centerville's Historic Sites Committee has been awarded a $2,400 grant, to be matched by local labor, to aid in researching the old homes in the city. |