Volume 15 , Issue 10

Rockbridge County, Virginia - Family Biographies

This week we are picking a few of our ancestry surnames that we have found in The History of Rockbridge County, Virginia, published, written by Oren F. Morton, in the early 1900's. One of those surnames is "Dunlap."

Dunlap

Alexander Dunlap was the first settler on the Calfpasture and first owner of the site of Goshen. Alexander died in 1744, leaving four children: John, Robert, Alexander and Elizabeth.

In 1776 John Dunlap visited Ohio on a prospecting tour, and acquired 7,000 acres in Ross county, the smaller of the two tracts including the old Shawnee town of Chillicothe. He also secured 1436 acres in Kentucky, but was furthermore the largest landholder in Rockbridge. He was married to Ann Clark, who was related to General George Rogers Clark, the "Hannibal of the West," and his brother, Colonel William Clark of the famous Lewis and Clark expedition. Both these celebrities made visits to the Dunlaps. The family home was a large three-story brick mansion, built soon after the Revolution and on the site of the Victoria furnace near Goshen. The house was torn down many years ago, though. The only member of this Dunlap family to stay in Rockbridge was James.

Robert Dunlap was the second son of the pioneer family, and fought at Point Pleasant and was an ensign in the battle of Guilford, where he was killed. It is said he refused to obey an order to retreat. He owned Aspen Grove and one other plantation in Rockbridge. His widow married James Coursey. Of the seven children of Robert Dunlap, Alexander settled in Monroe and Robert and John in Augusta. Anne and Margaret went with their husbands to Kentucky and Missouri, respectively. Only William and Agnes remained in this county, but the children of William went to Missouri. Robert, Jr., organized the first temperance society in the Valley of Virginia. William, Jr., a son of William, was one of the first men to explore Kansas. A grandson of William, Jr., was Boutwell Dunlap, of San Francisco, a lawyer and history and formerly consul of Argentina. He was the author of a valuable contribution to American history: "Augusta County in the History of the United States." Among the progeny in the female line, in the Dunlap family, were the Reverend W. M. Morrison, the missionary to Africa, whose exposure of the atrocities on the congo roused the government of the United States and Europe to take action against the king of the Belgians.

Alexander Dunlap, Jr., went in early life to Kentucky, and later to Brown county, Ohio, where he built one of the very first houses of worship in that state of the Disciples communion.

The four Dunlaps, Samuel, David, Robert and John, who purchased land in the Borden Tract were believed to have been related to Alexander of the Calfpasture. They were thought to have moved to the Carolinas.

John Dunlap came from Campbelltown, Scotland, in 1775, and settled at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Robert, one of his seven children, was born just before the family came to America, and located near Middlebrook in Augusta. Madison Dunlap's son came to Kerr's Creek about 1830. John Dunlap was grandfather to Major-General John D. Stevenson, of the United States army. He was great grandfather to Brigadier-General Robert N. Getty, of the same army, and to John R. S. Sterrett, the Greek scholar and archaeologist.

Few families in the South can surpass the Dunlaps of Rockbridge in exhibiting so many members who have been large landowners, or have been conspicuous in public, professional, or military life. The Dunlaps dispute with one other Rockbridge connection the honor of furnishing the most ministers to the Southern Presbyterian Church.

Gay

William Gay, who fought at the siege of Londonderry, had at least six children who came to the Calfpasture. These were William, John, James, Robert, Samuel and Eleanor. Robert and Samuel did not long remain in this locality. Eleanor married William Kincaid. William Gay, who owned 900 acres on what was wrongly called Guy's Run, died in 1755. His wife, who was Margaret Walkup, afterward married William Hamilton. James Gay, son of the pioneer James, and his brothers-in-law were the first to introduce cattle of an improved breed into Kentucky. The Gays of Kentucky were derived from the Rockbridge families. They were among the largest landholders in the Bluegrass region and were connected with scores of the historic families of that state. Henry Gay, who married Jane Henderson, was a brother tot he pioneer Gays, or at least a near relative, and he lived a while not he Calfpasture. His son, John H., born in 1787, became a millionaire merchant of St. Louis. Edward J. Gay, son of John H., was the largest sugar planter in Louisiana, and left an estate worth $12-million.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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