John Duncanson (minister)

John Duncanson (ca. 1530–1601) was a Scottish minister, one of few Roman Catholic clergymen who willingly converted to the new Protestant doctrines at the Reformation.[1] He was reputed to have lived to be nearly 100 years old, but this is unlikely, as the earliest surviving mention of him was as the President of St Leonard's College, St Andrews in 1556,[2] around the time that he accepted the reformed faith. He held this position until 1566.[3] He was the minister at Stirling in 1560.[1]

He was the King's Minister, tutor and chaplain to King James VI from 1567 through 1580, and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1574 and 1576.

On 26 October 1591 Duncanson was appointed to a commission to try, examine, and if required torture people suspected of witchcraft. The others appointees were Sir John Cockburn of Ormiston, David MacGill of Nesbit, Robert Bruce, William Litill, then Provost of Edinburgh, and John Arnot.[4]

Duncanson married Janet Watson. Their eldest son was James Duncanson (ca. 1564–1624), Minister at Alloa, Clackmannanshire, who married Helen Livingston, a descendant of King Robert the Bruce III.[5] After the death of Watson Duncanson married Margaret Kenzow. His daughter Marion married Minister Alexander Hume.[6]

Duncanson's descendants in North America from the four daughters of James Duncanson and Helen Livingston are numerous and include former CIA Director James Woolsey and Congressman James Morgan.

References
  1. Remington, Gordon L. (1997). "Duncanson Wives of Four New Netherland Settlers: Glen, Teller, Powell, and Loockermans". The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. 128: 1–10. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  2. Lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland: From the Reformation to the Revolution Settlement : with Notes and Appendices from the Author's Papers ; in Two Volumes, Volume 2, 1860, page 346
  3. The College of St. Leonard: Being Documents with Translations, Notes and Historical Introductions. University of St. Andrews, 1905, page 58
  4. David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1585-1592, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1881), p. 680.
  5. Burke, Adrian Benjamin. The Livingston Ancestry of the Duncanson Sisters of New Netherlands, 2014
  6. Dunbar, Linda J. Reforming the Scottish Church: John Winram (c. 1492–1582) and the Example of Fife, 2017, pgs. 211-212



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