Daniel Duff married Nancy Ann Allison in North Carolina, but a short time later, the couple moved to the Wallin Ridge section of Lee County, Virginia, where many of their children were born. He became a minister of the Primitive Baptist Church before he came to Kentucky.

Nancy Ann Allison was born of Welsh parentage at Guilford County, North Carolina, in 1776. As is usually the case with the distaff side of a family, not much is known about her. We do know, however, that she was a faithful, caring wife and mother.

Prior to 1818, this couple had moved to the head of the North Fork of the Kentucky River, in what is now Letcher County. According to family history, it was upon the suggestion of Elder Jesse Bowling that they settled on Grapevine Creek in old Clay County (now Perry County).

Nancy Allison Duff died in 1849 and is buried in the John Bach Cemetery at Quicksand, Breathitt County. After her death, Daniel went to live with his daughter, Drucilla Duff Gilbert, in Carter County. A short time later, he married Ellen Roe.

Daniel and Nancy Ann Duff's children follow:

Rachael Duff married Joshua Oliver. Most of the Olivers, and many of the families of Breathitt, Perry, Morgan, and Menifee Counties are descendants (or parallel families) of this couple.

Henry C. Duff married Mary Nancy Davidson, the daughter of Samuel Davidson. Samuel was one of the participants in the infamous Cattle War. Henry C. served in the Kentucky Legislature, was the first sheriff of Perry County, and served as a teacher and postmaster in the Grapevine section of Perry County. He moved to Missouri and was killed there by a roving band of irregulars during the Civil War.

John A. Duff was appointed by the Kentucky Legislature as the first surveyor of Perry County. He also served Perry County as one of its first county judges. He married Mary Polly Combs, the daughter of Elijah "General Lige" Combs. John lived out his life in Perry County, and most of the Duffs of that county are descended from him.

John's daughter, Sarah, married Daniel Davidson, the youngest son of Samuel, by his first wife. Most of the Perry County Davidsons and their offspring descend from John A. Duff through this marriage.

Mary Polly Duff married Martin Shepherd and moved to Missouri. He must have died before 1850, for in that year, she and her children were living in the household with Henry C. Duff.

Her sister, Martha Duff, married William Bowen. Family history has it that this family moved to Iowa.

Deborah Duff married William Boling (Bowling), son of Reverend Jesse Boling, who was a good friend of Daniel Duff. All of their children were born in Perry County, in the vicinity of the Middle Fork River, at or near the Breathitt/Perry County line. Most of them eventually moved to Arkansas.

Shadrach Duff, son of Daniel and Nancy, is mentioned in an interview by the Rev. John J. Dickey, conducted in May 1898 with Matilda Duff Lewis. She states, "Shadrach Duff, my brother, was killed by an explosion of a keg of gunpowder when a young man..."

From Perry County: A History, we learn that Shadrach married Lucinda Combs, daughter of Elijah "General Lige" Combs, a sister to his brother's (John) wife.

Colson Duff was born in old Clay County (now Perry County), Daniel's first child born in Kentucky. He married Elizabeth Gilbert, the daughter of Thomas Gilbert. Colson owned a large tract of land on Grapevine Creek in Perry County; 1,500 acres. During the Civil War, a group of men came by his home and robbed him. He escaped to Owsley County, built a farmstead, and lived there until his death on March 18, 1911.

Drucilla Duff married William Gilbert, the son of Thomas and Susannah Gilbert. She was a sister to Elizabeth, her brother's (Colson) wife. William Gilbert moved from Perry County to Carter County, Kentucky, where he was the keeper of the "poor house," before moving to Illinois after the Civil War. Their descendants are many and live in all sections of the country.

Alexander Duff married Catherine "Matilda" Noble in 1842 in Breathitt County. In the 1860 Breathitt County Census, he was listed as a 40-year-old cabinetmaker. Alexander is the ancestor of many of the Duffs in Breathitt and Lee counties.

Margaret Duff was born in Perry County in 1823, three years after that county was formed from Clay and Floyd. She married John Hays and moved to Wolfe County. John, the son of Nancy Angel and John Hays, Jr., was born in 1820. He first moved to Wolfe County to be near several of his brothers, who lived there in the 1860s, 1870s, and 1880s. By 1880, he and Margaret Duff Hays had moved to Menifee County.

Matilda Duff, Daniel and Nancy's youngest child, was born in Perry County in 1825. She married John "Baldy" Lewis, who was born in 1815. It is from her interview with Rev. John J. Dickey that we know as much as we do about the history of Daniel and Nancy's origins and movements to Eastern Kentucky. She and John raised their family in what is now Leslie County.

Each of Daniel and Nancy Ann Duff's children are listed above in chronological order. Their younger children were all born on Grapevine Creek in Perry County. The offspring of this couple numbers into the thousands, by the time we get to the ninth and tenth generations of Revolutionary War soldier, Shadrach Duff.