Robert P. Dunlap Explained

Robert P. Dunlap
Order:Member of U.S. House of Representatives
from Maine's 2nd district
Term Start:March 4, 1843
Term End:March 3, 1847
Successor:Asa Clapp
Order2:11th Governor of Maine
Term Start2:January 1, 1834
Term End2:January 3, 1838
Successor2:Edward Kent
Term Start3:1831
Term End3:1833
Order4:Member of the
Executive Council of Maine
Order5:7th President of the Maine Senate
Term Start5:1827
Term End5:1828
Term Start6:1824
Term End6:1828
Birth Date:17 August 1794
Birth Place:Brunswick, Massachusetts
(now Maine)
Death Place:Brunswick, Maine
Alma Mater:Bowdoin College

Robert Pinckney Dunlap (August 17, 1794 – October 20, 1859) was the 11th Governor of Maine and a U.S. Representative from Maine.

Biography

Born in Brunswick (in modern-day Maine, then a part of Massachusetts), Dunlap was educated by private tutors. He graduated from Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, in 1815. His father, John Dunlap, was born in Dracut, Massachusetts in 1738 and was as a Massachusetts Bay Colonial Militia Captain who served during the French and Indian War, while his grandfather, Rev. Robert Dunlap, was born in 1715 in County Antrim, Ireland and was a Presbyterian minister trained at the University of Edinburgh.[1] He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1818, and commenced practice in Brunswick.

Dunlap served as a member of the Maine House of Representatives from 1821 to 1823.He served as president of the board of overseers of Bowdoin College from 1821 until his death.He served as member of the state militia, and was delegated to receive General Lafayette when he visited Maine in 1824.

Dunlap served in the State Senate 1824-1828 and 1831–1833, including three years as Senate President, in 1827, 1828, and 1831. He is, as of 2020, the only person to serve non-consecutive terms as Senate President.[2] In between his Senate terms, he was a member of the Executive Council of Maine. He served four one-year terms as Governor of Maine from 1834 to 1838.

Dunlap was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1847).

He served as chairman of the Committee on Public Expenditures (Twenty-ninth Congress).He served as collector of customs in Portland, Maine, in 1848-49, and postmaster of Brunswick in 1853-57.

Death and burial

Dunlap died in Brunswick, Maine, October 20, 1859. He was interred in Pine Grove Cemetery.

References

  1. News: The Ulster-Scots and New England: Scotch-Irish foundations in the New World. 29. Ulster-Scots Agency. July 20, 2019.
  2. Web site: 1827 Robert Dunlap. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20040127033148/http://www.maine.gov/legis/senate/history/past/prespast/1827rd.htm. 2004-01-27.