Archibald Dunlap Research Log Post 2

Last week I documented six children born to Archibald and Elizabeth Dunlap in Augusta County, Virginia. I closed my blog post wondering if Archibald and Elizabeth married in the early 1790’s. This is an estimate on my part, and base it on the birth of their oldest child about 1795.

Personal property tax lists place Dunlap’s in Augusta County in 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, and 1794. Regrettably I don’t have access to later personal property tax lists.

           June 18, 1790 Personal Property Tax List B

             Joseph Dunlap     1 white tithe   3 horses

April 4, 1791 Personal Property Tax List A

             Robert Dunlap      1 white tithe   1 horse

April 6, 1791 Personal Property Tax List A

            John Dunlap          1 white tithe   4 horses

          April 7, 1791 Personal Property Tax List A

            Archibald Dunlap   1 white tithe    0 horse

          June 3, 1791 Personal Property Tax List B

            Joseph Dunlap      1 white tithe  3 horses     

May 14, 1792 Personal Property Tax List A

             Robert Dunlap      1 white tithe    1 horse

June 4, 1792 Personal Property Tax List A

             Robert Dunlap      1 white tithe   1 horse

             John Dunlap         1 white tithe  4 horses

             Archibald Dunlap  1 white tithe  0 horse

  

          April 28, 1792 Personal Property Tax List B

             Joseph Dunlap     1 white tithe    2 horses

March 16, 1793 Personal Property Tax List A

             Robert Dunlap      1 white tithe  2 horses

             John Dunlap         1 white tithe  4 horses

             Archibald Dunlap  1 white tithe   0 horse

          May 17, 1793 Personal Property Tax List A

             Robert Dunlap      1 white tithe   1 horse

          April 3, 1793 Personal Property Tax List B

             Joseph Dunlap     1 white tithe   5 horses

             Archibald Dunlap  1 white tithe   1 horse

I didn’t anticipate two Archibald Dunlap’s residing in the county. Hopefully, I’ll be able to distinguish one from the other.  

May 21, 1794 Personal Property Tax List A

             Jno Rob’t & Archibald Dunlap    3 white tithes   7 horses

             Robert Dunlap       1 white tithe  4 horses

What significance can I attach to John, Robert and Archibald Dunlap when I found the three listed together in the same entry on the May 1794 tax list? No doubt there's a relationship. Could they be brothers, father and sons, uncle and nephews, or cousins?

          March 26, 1794 Personal Property Tax List B

             Joseph Dunlap     1 white tithe    3 horses

          April 30, 1794 Personal Property Tax List B

             James Dunlap      1 white tithe    0 horse

After I found John, Robert and Archibald Dunlap on the May personal property tax lists, I recalled another instance when I saw the three connected. The 1885 ‘Historical Atlas of Augusta County, Virginia’ included a biographical section containing an article titled “The Kerr and Dunlap Families” on page 45. Three Kerr brothers arrived in America in 1763. One of the brothers, Robert, first resided in Pennsylvania before settling in Augusta County, Virginia. Robert Kerr’s daughter, Margaret, married Robert Dunlap in 1792. The biographer tells of John Dunlap’s three sons, John, Archibald and Robert of Augusta County, Virginia.  

I transcribed the section pertaining to the Dunlap family:

           “John Dunlap and his wife Nancy whose maiden

 name was Colvin, resided in Campbeltown, Ar-

 gyleshire, Scotland. They were the parents of

 five sons and two daughters, with all of whom

 they emigrated in the year 1775 to America, and

 settled in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Two of

 the sons settled in Tennessee and Kentucky.

 Three of them, John, Archibald and Robert settled

 on the head waters of Middle river, in Riverheads

 township, Augusta County, Virginia. John lived

 with Robert, and died unmarried, aged eighty.

 Robert married Margaret Kerr, who resided in

 same neighborhood at Summerdean. The children

 of Robert and Margaret were: Elizabeth,

 who married Levi L. Stevenson, of Staunton, Vir-

 ginia; Isabella, who married Robert Sterrett, of

 Rockbridge County, Virginia; John, who married

 Isabella North, of Staunton, Virginia and Isabella

 Blain, of eastern Virginia; he removed to Atchi-

 son County, Missouri; Nancy, who married James

A.    G. Youell, of Rockbridge County, Virginia;

Bailey, born in 1800, who married Sallie Baylor,

daughter of George Baylor; settled at Mount

Pleasant, near Spring Hill, on Middle river, on a

farm once owned by Moffat; Jane, married David

Kerr, of Summerdean, Virginia, grandson of

Robert and Elizabeth Kerr; Robert died at the

age of twenty-three, unmarried; Madison married

Martha McKee, of Rockbridge County, and settled

on Kerr’s creek in said county; William, the

youngest, married Mary J. Crawford, daughter of

Robert Crawford; his second wife was Mrs.

Amanda Blair, daughter of Dr. John McChesney.

William resides at the homestead of his father,

Robert Dunlap, who was born 1765 in Campbel-

town, Argyleshire, Scotland.”

The article provided a much-needed boost to my research. Joseph A. Waddell, who authored the article, was a lawyer, politician, newspaperman and author. I suspect a family member provided the information published in the atlas. I’ll see if I can document Mr. Waddell’s writings.

Historical Atlas of Augusta County, Virginia

Maps from Original Surveys,

By Jed. Hotchkiss, Top. Eng.

Its Annals,

By Joseph A. Waddell

Physiography

By Jed. Hotchkiss, C. & M. E.

1885