Carlisle, Pennsylvania, native Stephen Duncan moved to Natchez, Mississippi, shortly after graduation from Dickinson Medical College in 1808.
He amassed a fortune in cotton and sugar plantations, along with over 1,000 slaves, in Mississippi and later in northern Louisiana. He was president of the Bank of Mississippi (1825-1831), and served as a delegate to the Mississippi Constitutional convention in 1832. Not a confederate sympathizer, Dr. Duncan abandoned Mississippi for New York in 1863 where he died in 1867. Stephen Duncan, Jr., assumed responsibility for his father's agricultural interests and after the Civil War, expanded the family holdings by acquiring land through foreclosures and bankruptcy sales.
From the description of Duncan family papers, 1826-1881. (University of Texas Libraries). WorldCat record id: 35868575
