1900 > Michigan > VAN BUREN > KEELER TWP Series: T623 Roll: 745 Page: 210
Dunchamb(sic) Charles head Sep 1869 31 m 9 Michigan UN UN
- Maria wife Feb 1873 m 9 4 children 1 living Michigan, New jersey, New York
-Charles M son May 1894 6 Michigan

1930 keeler, Van Buren, Michigan first street
Duncombe Charles head 61 m 24 Michigan, Canada, New York merchaant general store
- Maria wife 57 m 20 Michigan, New York, New York

see below for discussion of Charles Ducombe likely father of this person.
History of Berrien and Van Buren Counties, Michigan : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers. Philadelphia: D.W. Ensign & Co., 1880, 678 pgs.

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Charles Duncombe.- Reared as a farmer and following that occupation until he was nearly forty years of age, then turning his attention to merchandising with as much deftness and capacity as if the had long been trained to the business, Charles Duncombe, of Keeler, has shown his adaptability to circumstances to be of an extent and character that would win him success and credit in almost any line of endeavor that he might choose to turn his hand to. Hid is rather an unusual case, as farmers are not generally well adapted to general merchandising, their usual pursuit not involving the fine points of this line of trade and unfitting them for its more graceful requirements. But Mr. Duncombe is as much at home behind the counter as he ever was behind the plow, and he can turn a mercantile transaction as neatly and as cleverly as he ever did a furrow. This shows his versatile and readiness for any station or duty, and he has given many proofs of them in his mercantile career in other ways.
Of the six children born to his parents Charles Duncombe was the fourth in order of birth. He is a son of Charles and Frances S. (Knight) Duncombe, the story of whose lives is given at some length in the sketch of Albert O. Duncombe, which will be found in this volume. Like his brother Albert O., Charles was born in Van Buren county, Michigan, and reared and largely educated on his native heath. He attended the district school near his home until he completed its courses, then engaged in farming on shares for this father. This he continued until the death of the father, when he inherited one hundred and sixty acres of fine land in Hamilton township, and began cultivating it entirely on his own account. He remained on this farm and devoted himself wholly to its development and improvement until 1907. And he has ever since superintended it cultivation and kept it up to the standard of excellence to which he raised it. It is devoted to general farming.
In 1907 Mr. Duncombe entered the employ of his older brother Albert as a clerk and assistant manager of the large department store the brother owns and carries on in Keeler. He has been a potent factor in helping to win wide popularity the emporium enjoys and build it up to the high place it has in the confidence and regard of the business world and the general public. He is what the old Romans called the suaviter in modo, fortiter in re-- genial and courteous in manner but strong or resolute in deed--and the two qualifications for business combined in him have given him great influence with the purchasing public, and pronounced success as a business man in the department of trade with which he is connected.
Mr. Duncombe was married in April 2, 1891, in Keeler township, to Miss Maria McMillan, who was born in this county on February 14, 1873, the first of the five children, all daughters, of John and Salome (Reece) McMillan, all of whom are living. The others are: Ada, who is the wife of A. W. Gustine, formerly a merchant in Keeler, now a farmer in the same township; Buna, who is the wife of H. A. Whelcher, also a Keeler township farmer; Nellie, who is the wife of D. F. Gregory, a scion of the old Gregory family so long prominent in this locality, and, like her sisters, a resident of Keeler township; and Zora, who is the wife of M. J. Teed, a butcher living and doing business in Benton Harbor. Mr. and Mrs. Gustine have three children. Mr. and Mrs. Welcher have two sons, and Mr. and Mrs. Gregory have one daughter.
Four children, three sons and one daughter, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Duncombe, but only one of them is living, their son Charles McMillan. From the age at which entered school until the present time his eduction has been carefully looked after. He completed the eighth grade of the elementary and grammar school at Hamilton, passed one year at the high school in Decatur, and was graduated from the Hartford high school in the class of 1910. At this time (1911) he is a student in the school of Professor Ferris in Big Rapids, which is considered one of the best of the kind in the state, and there he is pursuing a course in the commercial and business department to fit himself to follow in the footsteps of his father, his uncle and his grandfather as a merchant.
John McMillan, the father of Mrs. Duncombe, is a native of the state of New York, and in earlier life was a blacksmith. He was a soldier in defense of the Union during the Civil war, and made an excellent record in the army. He has served as treasurer of Keeler township and is now township clerk. His political faith is pledged and his political services are given to the Republican party, and he is ardently devoted to its principles. Fraternally he is a Freemason and belongs to the lodge of the order in Keeler, where he and his wife are living. The latter was born in New York state, and she, too, takes an earnest interest in the fraternal life of the community as a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. No citizens of Van Buren county are more highly or more generally esteemed.
Mr. Duncombe is a Republican of the most devoted loyalty to his party. He cast his first presidential vote for President Benjamin Harrison, and has kept himself steadfastly under the Republican banner ever since. He served several years as school director while living in Hamilton township and is now township treasurer of Keeler township. He is deeply and intelligently interested in the cause of public education, regarding it as a bulwark of American liberty, a valuable means of preparation for the duties of citizenship and a great force in democratizing our people and helping to make them homogeneous in their social and political activities.
Mrs. Duncombe is a true partner of her husband's joys, sorrows and ambitions. She shares in all his aspirations, takes part in all his work for the good of the community, and aids in making their home one of the choice domestic shrines of the township, and one of the most popular and agreeable centers of social culture, beneficent energy and genuine hospitality. Van Buren county has no better or more useful citizens than Mr. and Mrs. Duncombe, no better representative of what is best in its citizenship, no more zealous promoters of its welfare in every way, and, to its credit be it said, no heads of a household within its borders who are more highly esteemed or more thoroughly appreciated. 25