John Dunlap - Blue Plaque Restored

John Dunlap Commerative Blue Plaque Restored

 

The John Dunlap Commerative Plaque located on a plinth at the junction of Meetinghouse Street, and Kennedy Street (Aka: Puddle Alley), Strabane was recently restored on the 17 November 2023 by the Rural Tourism Officer of Derry City and Strabane District Council. The restoration was arranged by Rural Tourism Project Officer, Philip McShane.

 

John Dunlap (b.1746/7 d.1812), was was an early American printer, who was born in Meetinghouse Street, Strabane, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland the younger son among probably three sons and four daughters of John Dunlap Snr. (b.1718 d.1783), possibly a saddler, born, Strabane and Sarah Ector (b.1725 d.1780) daughter of James Ector. They married February 1735. John’s grandfather Gabriel Dunlap (b.1696 d. 1770) was the saddler who married Ardstraw 1713 to Barbara Gilmour (b.1696 d.1765).

 

Siblings of John Dunlap Snr & Sarah Ector.

Anne Marie Dunlap (b.1743 d.1816) m. 1764 Johann Peter Raub (b.1743 d.1827)

John Dunlap (b.1746/7 d.1812) m. Elizabeth Hayes Ellison (b.1746 d.1836)

Gabriel Dunlap (b.1748 d.dec.) m. Esther Phoebe Baker (b.1773 d.?)

James Dunlap (b.1750 d.1829)

Robert Dunlap (b.1748 d.1834) m. 1st Rebecca Jones (b.1767 d.1838), 2nd Eleanor Dunlap (b.1715/1769 d.1787), 3rd Sarah Hood (b.1718 / 1778 d.?)

 

Gray’s Printers, 49, Main Street, Strabane, County Tyrone now owned and operated by the National Trust, is suggested to be the place where John Dunlap learned the print trade. However, no records are available to substanciate this claim.

 

As a ten year old boy in 1757, John immigrated to America, where he became an apprentice to his uncle, printer, bookseller, postmaster and later a minister of the Anglican Church, William Dunlap (b.? d.1779) who had earlier emigrated to America. Williams apperars to have been the son of Gabriel Dunlap (b.1696 d.1770) a saddlemaker in Strabane. William himself had been an apprentice to William Bradford (b.1663 d.1752). In 1754 Benjamin Franklin (b.1706 d.1790) sent William to take charge of his print buisness in Lancaster. In 1764 William married Deborah Croker (b.1731 d.1775), a niece of Deborah Reed Franklin (b.c.1708 d.1774), the wife of Benjamin Franklin. William gave up the press in Lancaster early in 1757, before returning to Philadelphia when Franklin appointed him as postmaster of Philadelphia, however in 1764 he was replaced by another of Benjamin Franklin’s relative, Peter Franklin (b.1692 d.1766).

Early in 1756 the printer James Chattin moved his shop in Church Alley to an Office, on Market Street, three doors south of 2nd Street opposite the Jersey Market, however after two and a half years Chattin sold out to William and in June 1758 the first advertisement appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette for William Dunlap. This was to be the location of the Dunlap press for the next 37 years, a press which was to play a historic role in the founding of the United States.

 

Partly as a result, of financial difficulties in 1766 William gave up bookselling, handed over management of his print shop to his nephew John so he could travel to England to be ordained as minister of the Church of England. In 1768, William became rector of the parish of Stratton in Virginia, and officially sold his print business in Philadelphia to John in July 1776.

 

William and his wife Deborah had five children:

Sarah Dunlap (b.1753 d.?)

Francis Franklin Dunlap (b.1756 d.1776) died a chaplain in the 6th Regiment Marines, in British Service.

Deborah Dunlap Robinson (b.1756 d.?) who married in 1784, John Robinson (Jr) of Green Branch in Middlesex County, Virginia,

Benjamin Franklin Dunlap (b.1758 d.1783) died in S. Carolina, a portable pressman in service of Gen. Nathanael Greene.

Fanney Dunlap (b.1760 d.?)

 

William remarried, to a wealthy, childless widow, Mrs. Johanna Greene Rowe, of Gloucester, County, Virginia. William died in 25 Sep 1779 and was buried at Saint Paul's Church Cemetery, Hanover County, Virginia.

 

John Dunlap, after purchasing his uncle’s printing business, paying him off in instalments. During this period John’s close friend Dr. Benjamin Rush (b.1746 d.1813), a Pennsylvania signator of the declaration, recalled that John was so poor that he lived in his print shop, sleeping on the floor under the counter.

On 28 October 1771, Dunlap launched a newspaper, The Pennsylvania Packet and the General Advertiser, to be published every Monday. David Chambers Claypoole (b.1757 d.1849) eventually became Dunlap’s partner in this enterprise, and on 21 September 1784, the PennsylvaniaPacket became the first newspaper of significance in America to be published daily.

Dunlap also established a newspaper in Baltimore, Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette, or, The Baltimore Advertser in 1775.

 

July 1776 was pivotal in the history of the United States and the history of democracy. The American Revolution was little more than a civil war. The Continental Army was outnumbered three to one by the British and their German mercenaries. The British Navy dominated the high seas, cutting off supplies and arms. America was seeking support both domestically and internationally.

On 7 June 1776, Richard Henry Lee (b.1732 d.1794) of Virginia at a meeting in Philadelphia introduced a resolution urging Congress to declare independence from Great Britain. Four days later, John Adams (b.1735 d.1826) repesenting Massachusetts, Roger Sherman (b.1721 d.1793) representing Connecticut, Robert R. Livingston (b.1746 d.1813) representing New York, Thomas Jefferson (b.1743, d.1826) representing Virginia and Benjamin Franklin (b.1706 d.1790) representing Pennsylvania were appointed as a committee to draft a declaration of independence. The committee's draft was read in Congress on 28 June in Philadelphia. On 4 July, Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, containing a list of grievances against the British crown and the reason for the revolution. The document was printed and circulated throughout the colonies in the form of a broadside.

 

Commomly called the ‘Dunlap broadside’. Broadsides are large sheets of paper, printed on one side like a poster, that were popular in the 18th century as a means for rapid distribution of information. They were posted in town halls and other public meeting spaces, and often reprinted in local newspapers.

 

The Continental Congress saw the Declaration of Independence as a powerful tool. The support of nations like France, the Netherlands, and Poland was crucial. Declaring independence made it possible to take the Revolution out of the arena of civil war and put it directly on the international stage as a war for independence. The simplicity and eloquence of the Declaration of Independence immediately gained the attention of the world and has inspired democratic movements ever since. Getting the word out was a priority.

 

The Declaration of Independence was written and approved at a time when British forces were converging on the belligerent colonies, it was a dangerous document for the signers and anyone else having anything to do with it. The signers pledged to each other “our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor” in support of the declaration. Printer, John Dunlap, just 29, made no such pledge, but by setting the document in type, placed himself in harm’s way as much as any delegate.

When the first copies of the Declaration of Independence were sent out across the United States, just three names were on the document, John Hancock (b.1737 d.1793) as President, Charles Thomson as Secretary and John Dunlap.

 

John Dunlap, and David C. Claypoole official printers to the Continental Congress, produced the first printed versions of the American Declaration of Independence in Dunlap’s Philadelphia shop on the night of 4 July 1776. After the Declaration had been adopted by the Congress earlier that day, a committee took the manuscript document, possibly, Thomas Jefferson's "fair copy" of his rough draft, to Dunlap for printing. Also on 5th July, a copy of the printed version of the approved Declaration was inserted into the "rough journal" of the Continental Congress for 4th July. The text was followed by the words "Signed by Order and in Behalf of the Congress, John Hancock, President. Attest, Charles Thomson, Secretary."

 

The Declaration of Independence had 56 signatures. Less well-known is the fact that 4 were born on the island of Ireland, with 5 more were of Irish descent.

Charles Thomson (b.1729 d.1824) born Maghera, County L-Derry.

James Smith (b.1719 d.1806) born Northern Ireland.

George Taylor (b.c.1716 d.1781) born in Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Matthew Thornton (b.1713 d.1803) born in County Limerick

Charles Carroll (b.1737 d.1832) born to a family from County Offaly.

Thomas Lynch, Jr. (b.1749 d.1779) his grandfather was from County Galway.

George Read (b.1733 d.1798) his father was from Dublin.

Edward Rutledge (b.1749 d.1800) his father left Callan, County Kilkenny in 1735.

Thomas McKean (b.1734 d.1817) mother and father from Ballymoney, County Antrim.

 

In 1796, signer, Thomas McKean disputed that the Declaration had been signed on 4th July, pointing out that some signers were not present, including several who were not even elected to Congress until after that date. "No person signed it on that day nor for many days after", he wrote. His claim gained support when the Secret Journals of Congress were published in 1821. The Secret Journals contained two previously unpublished entries about the Declaration.

In 1884, historian Mellen Chamberlain (b.1821 d.1900) argued that these entries indicated that the famous signed version of the Declaration had been created following the 19 July resolution, and had not been signed by Congress until 2nd August. Subsequent research has confirmed that many of the signers had not been present in Congress on 4th July, and that some delegates may have added their signatures even after 2nd August. Legal historian Wilfred Ritz (b.1915. d.1995) concluded in 1986 that about 34 delegates signed the Declaration on July 4, and that the others signed on or after 2nd August.

 

There is no official record of just how many broadsides Dunlap produced on 4th and 5th July in Dunlap’s print shop located near the southeast corner of High (Market) Street and Second Street. The general consensus seems to be 150-200 copies, but it is unclear if there is any evidence to back up this number.

 

26 copies are known to exist, 20 owned by American institutions, 3 by British institutions, and 3 by private individuals.

 

In 1989, a Philadelphia financial analyst bought an old painting (depicting a country scene) at a flea market in Adamstown, Pennsylvania, for $4. He only wanted the frame and when he removed the picture he found an original Dunlap broadside hidden inside. At a Sotheby auction on 4 June 1991 it sold for $4.42 million, not a bad return on a $4 investment. In a later auction of June 2000 it fetched an $8.14 million (£6,803,822) bid from television producer Norman Lear (b.1922) in an online auction.

In July 2021, another copy of the Declaration, unaccounted for nearly 177 years, was discovered in an attic in Scotland and was sold on 1st July for $4,420,000 (£3,210,000), the second highest ever paid at auction for a Declaration, this copperplate engraving on parchment was produced in 1823 by William J. Stone (b.c1800 d.1865).

 

In 1774 Dunlap published a reprint of Thomas Jefferson's ”Summary View of the Rights of British America”.

Dunlap fled Philadelphia as the British closed in on the city during the fall of 1777. Patriots stripped the city of anything the British could use, including the Liberty Bell, before allowing the British on 26 Sept 1777 to march into the city without opposition. Dunlap moved his press to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, safely behind American lines, until the 15,000 occupying British troops evacuated the city on 18 July 1778.

 

During this time Dunlap printed material for the revolutionary Pennsylvania assembly and also in 1777 took over printing the Journals of the Continental Congress from Robert Aitken (b.1734 d.1802), and who was first to publish an English language Bible in the newly formed United States), but lost the contract in 1779 after printing a letter from Thomas Paine (b.1737 d.1809) in his newspaper that leaked news of the secret that French aid had been provided to the Americans.

 

John was the first printer to reestablish business in Philadelphia in July 1778. Dunlap and his partner Claypoole also printed the constitution of the United States in 1787. Written in 1787, ratified in 1788, and in operation since 1789, the United States Constitution is the world's longest surviving written charter of government. It’s first three words, “We the People”, which affirms that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens.

 

Dunlap, in 1774 was one of the founders of the 1st Troop of Philadelphia City Cavalry and during the American Revolutionary War (aka, the U.S. War of Independence) from 1775 to 1783, he saw action as a cornet (the lowest grade of commissioned officer) and also as bodyguard to George Washington (b.1732 d.1799) at the battles of Trenton (26 Dec 1776) and Princeton (13 Jan 1777). It was in this capacity that Dunlap would have witnessed the negotiations for the surrender of New York on 25 November 1783, by fellow Strabane man Sir Guy Carleton aka Lord Dorchester (b.1724 d.1808).

 

In August 1783, Carleton was informed that Great Britain would grant the United States its independence. With Carleton’s exit from New York imminent, he asked to be relieved of his command. With this news, Loyalists began an exodus from the Thirteen Colonies, Carleton doing his best to have them resettled outside of the United States.

At a meeting with George Washington, among others, to arrange for the implementation of those parts of the Treaty of Paris (signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States on 3rd September 1783, officially ending the American Revolutionary War and the conflict between the two countries) relating to the evacuation of New York City, then commanded by Carleton and still occupied by the British Army, many Loyalists and former slaves. Carleton refused to deliver over the human property to the Americans at the time, instead, he proposed a registry so that the owners might eventually be paid for the slaves, who were entitled to their freedom by British proclamation and promises. Sir Guy noted that nothing could be changed in any Articles that were inconsistent with prior policies or national honour, he added that the only mode was to pay for the Negroes, in which case justice was done to all, the former slaves and their masters. Carleton said that if removing them proved to be an infraction of the treaty, then compensation would have to be paid by the British government. To provide for such a contingency, he had a register kept of all Negroes who left, called the ’Book of Negroes’, entering their names, ages, occupations, and names of their former masters. The Americans agreed to this, but as far as can be determined, the Crown never paid compensation. The British transported about 3,000 freedmen and other Loyalists to Nova Scotia for resettlement. As the colony struggled, some of the freedmen later, in early 1790s go to Freetown, Sierra Leone, where the British had set up a new colony, which included the Black Poor from London.

 

Dunlap continued in the First City Troop after the war, rising to the rank of major, and leading Pennsylvania's cavalry militia to help suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794.

The First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry, also known as the First City Troop, is a unit of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. In 1799, as Captain of the Troop, Dunlap wrote, “With pleasure I tell you, that when the Laws and Government of this happy country require defence, the First Troop of Philadelphia Cavalry wants but one hour’s notice to march.”

 

In 1780 John subscribed £4,000 to found the National Bank for the United States to provide supplies for the new country's army. For 3 years from 1789 to 1792 John was also a member of the Common Council of Philadelphia. which was responsible for building and maintaining the city’s infrastructure and enacting legislation.

 

John married Elizabeth (Eliza) Hayes (née Ellison) b.1746 d.1836, a widow from Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, Merseyside, UK on the 3 February 1773 in Pennsylvania. Elizabeth was born on 7 April 1746, her father, Samuel Ellison (b.1734 d.1809) was born in Wike, Harewood, Yorkshire her mother, Elizabeth Bickerdike (b.1725 d.?) was also born in Wike, Harewood, Yorkshire.

 

John & Elizabeth had six daughters and three sons; two of the sons died in infancy.

Sarah (nee Dunlap) Forrest (b.1774 d.1821)

Elizabeth (nee Dunlap) Borrough (b.1776 d.1835)

Mary (nee Dunlap) Bleight (b.1779 d.1868)

John Dunlap (b.1780 d.infant)

Ann Dunlap (b.1782 d.1874)

John Dunlap (b.1783 d.infant)

Catharine (nee Dunlap) Parham (b.1785 d.1812.)

John Ray Dunlap (b.1786 d.1813)

Charlotte (nee Dunlap) Elfreth (b.1791 d.1833)

 

John Dunlap would go on to print currency for Pennsylvania, beginning in 1777, 1778 and 1781 and for Virginia also in 1781. The examples in the addition to the Early American Paper Money Collection were issued by an Act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on 20 March 1777, exactly 246 years ago. The Assembly approved £200,000 to support the army, Dunlap printed bills ranging in denomination from three pence to four shillings, each denomination with a different border.

Arms of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania were first introduced in an official capacity on the front of these bills, a seal made up of three images: a ship, a plough, and three sheaves of wheat. The new ‘arms’ replace the British arms which are found on earlier issues. Not merely decorative, these details helped to combat counterfeiting, which was so common that the back of each bill also features a warning: “To Counterfeit is Death”. Yet another check for legitimacy was the paper’s watermark, which reads: “PENSYL/VANIA”.

 

Revolutionary War Oath of Allegiance, printed by John Dunlap

On 3 June 1777, Pennsylvania enacted a new policy in which all male inhabitants over the age of 18 were required to subscribe to an oath of allegiances before a Justice of the Peace renouncing all allegiances to Great Britain and King George III. The Justices were required to keep a list of all names in a register and submit them annually to the Register of Deeds. The Justice would have received one shilling for every person that they recorded and the Recorder’s Office received five shillings for every hundred names recorded.

 

Betsy Ross Flag

According to oral history, in 1776, three men, George Washington, then the head of the Continental Army, Robert Morris (b.1734 d.1806), perhaps the wealthiest citizen in the Colonies and George Ross (b.1730 d.1779) a respected Philadelphian and also the uncle of Betsy’s late husband, John Ross (b.1752 d.1776) visited Betsy Ross (b.1752 d.1836) in her upholstery shop. Washington showed Betsy a sketch of a flag with thirteen red and white stripes and thirteen six-pointed stars.

Washington asked if Betsy could make a flag from the design. Betsy responded: "I do not know, but I will try." This line was used in the sworn statements of many of Betsy's family members, suggesting that it is a direct quote from Betsy. Betsy suggested changing the stars to five points rather than six. She showed them how to do it with just one snip of her scissors. They all agreed to the suggested design change. On 14 June 1777, Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes as the official national flag.

 

John helped several of his relations to emigrate from Ireland, he was a charitable and fair-minded, and somewhat intemperate person. His major financial success came from real estate speculation during the American Revolution, he bought property confiscated from Loyalists who refused to take Pennsylvania's new loyalty oath. He had amassed a large fortune, held 98,000 acres in Virginia and the adjoining counties of Kentucky and owned land in Utica, Ohio, so by 1795, when he was 48, he was able to retire with a sizable estate.

 

John penned the follow letter to his sister who was married to Robert Rutherford advising his relatives in Strabane on the method and merit of migration. He wrote in 1785:

My dear sister, by Mr. Orr who will deliver you this I have wrote a letter to your husband Mr. Rutherford and one to your son [Billy]. Should you think of sending him to this country, I will either observe your directions in having him taught some business or judge myself what will be the most suitable for him after he has finished the education you mean to give him, which may be had here as well as in Ireland, for the sooner the boys comes here after they have determined the better ...

 

At the same time he wrote to his nephew in Strabane:

Dear Billy, Your agreeable letter of last year came safe to hand: the account you there give of your progress in learning is very pleasing: education is the foundation on which young men must build their prospects of future happiness. if it is agreeable to you, your father and mother that you should come to this country, I will observe their directions in having you taught any business you may wish to learn ...

 

For a time prior to 1787, John and his family lived in the "Declaration House" on the South West corner of Market and Seventh Streets in Philadelphia, where Thomas Jefferson stayed in 1776 while he drafted the Declaration. The family moved in 1797 into a fine mansion he had built in 1790 at Market and Twelfth Streets.

 

John found retirement disagreeable and according to his friend, Dr. Benjamin Rush, he sought refuge in the bottle and became a drunkard in his final years. John died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the age of 65 on 27 November 1812 of apoplexy (unconsciousness or incapacity resulting from a cerebral haemorrhage or stroke) ironically, as he was reading a newspaper. He was buried with military honours in the graveyard of Christ Church Burial Ground, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (where Benjamin Franklin is buried). He was survived by his wife Elizabeth who passed away on 26 March 1836, she was laid to rest with John.

 

Christ Church records show John and Elizabeth Dunlap had six daughters and three sons baptized with the named John, in 1781, 1784 and 1786. It appears only his youngest son, John Ray Dunlap survived to adulthood.

 

A blue plaque was errected on the front of the house where John Dunlap was born, possibly No. 21, Meetinghhouse Street, Strabane. The blue plaque was mounted on the house of the last occupiers Mary, Betty, Patsy & Domnic Shearer (Domnic, was a member of the Clipper Carlton Show Band) which was the middle house of three, two-story terraced houses. To the left was the family of Mary & Barney Mulhern and to the right my Father & Mother, Eddie & Margaret ‘Greta’ Devlin, my family home, No. 19, Meetinghouse Street.

Done