Dunlap, Robert P.

(1794-1859) a U.S. Representative, was born in Brunswick on August 17, 1794, was educated by private tutors and was graduated from Bowdoin College in 1815.

He studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1818 and commenced practice in Brunswick. A member of the Maine House of Representatives 1821-1823, he also served as president of the board of overseers of Bowdoin College from 1821 until his death.

Dunlap was a member of the State militia, and was delegated to receive General Lafayette when he visited in Maine in 1824. Serving in the Maine State Senate 1824-1828 and 1831-1833, he was its president for four years. An Executive Councilor (1829-1833), he was Governor of Maine from 1834 to 1838.

Elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1843-March 3, 1847), he was chairman of the Committee on Public Expenditures (Twenty-ninth Congress), collector of customs in Portland in 1848 and 1849, and postmaster of Brunswick 1853-1857.

Dunlap died in Brunswick October 20, 1859, with interment in Pine Grove Cemetery.

Additional resources

Chase, Henry, ed. Representative Men of Maine.

*Death of Ex-Governor Dunlap,” Eastern Argus, Portland, October 21, 1859; October 22, 1859, October 25, 1859.

*Gold, David M.  “Robert Pinckney Dunlap,” American National Biography.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, Vol. 7, pp. 91-93.

*King, M.F.  “Gov. Robert Pinckney Dunlap,” Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder, Bangor, 1887, pp. 69-76, 174-181.

*Mahan, Bruce E.  “Robert Pinckney Dunlap,” Dictionary of American Biography.  New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1933, Vol. 5, pp. 515-516.

Congressional Biographies: Robert P. Dunlap

———————-

*Cited in Friends of the Blaine House at http://blainehouse.org/governors(accessed April 25, 2011) (accessed April 25, 2011)