Duncan Spears Casper

Who was Duncan Spears Casper?

Duncan Spears Casper was an early Mormon pioneer and one of the first settlers of Holladay, Utah, the United States.

Casper was born December 8, 1824, in Bellville, Ohio, the son of William and Avarilla Durbin Casper. His mother joined the Campbellites when he was eight years old, and a year later, after Mormon missionaries came through their area, his older brother William Wallace joined the Mormons. Casper's parents joined two years later and in 1837 they moved the family to Missouri, where they purchased a home.

Mobs drove the Latter Day Saints from Missouri, and Casper's parents had to leave their home behind. They rented a farm near Fairfield, Illinois, then moved on to Carthage, Illinois. In 1841 they moved to Nauvoo, where Duncan was finally baptized at age 16.

In May 1845, 20-year-old Casper married 24-year-old Matilda Allison, a fellow Ohioan and a descendant of Thomas Miner. The next year, Casper and all of his brothers left Nauvoo for Missouri as mobs were preparing to drive the Latter Day Saints from Illinois. His parents stayed behind with the two unmarried children because someone had stolen his father's horses. That summer, his father fell ill and died at age 62. Casper returned to Nauvoo and brought his mother and two siblings back to Missouri, where they stayed for nine years.