Publisher's Synopsis
He was able to perform his duties in a quiet, unostentatious way, endearing himself to many friends by his homely walk and conversation. He recalled with great regard the following names of Abdie Parish: Russell of Parkhill; Christie of Lindores; Pitcairn of Kinnaird; Lady Maitland of Lindores House; Wilson of Inchrye Abbey; Murray of Aytoun and Buist of Braeside and many others of the parish. For sixty-three years the Reverend Dr. John Duncan served as minister of Abdie Parish and served also as chaplain of the Abdie Curling Club of which he was a keen curler for fifty-eight years. During the last year of his life, the venerable minister became the Father of the Church of Scotland. He was ordained in 1839, five years before the Disruption and when not performing his ministerial duties could be found in his garden next to the manse where he tended his flowers and many varieties of roses of which he was quite fond of. Duncan was a noted horticulturalist of the area and a long-standing member of the North of Fife Horticultural Society. In 1843 he married Margaret Walker Bisset, the only daughter of William Bisset, Esq., and they had five children who were all born at the manse of Abdie Parish. The Duncan's were married for fifty-nine years and celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1893. In his long service in the ministry, he witnessed many changes that he has seen and lived to reminisce about in his later years. One such account occurred upon his arrival at the old manse where he spent his first night in June of 1839. At the time the old manse was in a state of total disrepair. "'The first night that I slept in the old manse I was repeatedly awakened by a strange rattling noise. The appearance of my bedroom added to the eeriness for across the door inside was a strong iron bar. In the morning, I determined to find out the cause of my disturbance, and, as often happens, the explanation was very simple. There was an attic upstairs, and in the door leading to it, my predecessor had cut out a big hole to let his cat out and in by. This hole was covered by a piece of wood hung upon a nail, and the wind blowing through caused the constant rattle that had given me a very restless night. But for my investigations, I might have believed the house was haunted." Reverend Duncan devoted himself to the care of his parish for sixty-three years with a fatherly regard for the interests of all and played an important role in Abdie Parish. This then is the narrative of the life and times of the Reverend Dr. John Duncan.
