Biography

07/02/1836 - 04/18/1922

William Boyd Dunlap (D46) Beaver and Washington Counties 1891-1894

Early Life:

William Boyd Dunlap, born July 2, 1836, Bridgewater, Beaver County, Pennsylvania; son of Samuel Rutherford and Nancy Hemphill Dunlap; private, public-school education; Darlington Academy; Beaver Academy; Jefferson College (now Washington and Jefferson College), 1858; declined, congressional appointment, West Point, United States Military Academy; attorney; teacher, principal, Covington, Kentucky; clerk, Pennsylvania steam boat; delegate, Reading Constitutional Convention, 1872; delegate at large, nominating caucus, national elector, Democrat National Convention, 1876; delegate at large, nominating caucus, national elector, Democrat National Convention, 1880; unsuccessful candidate, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1878; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1891-1894; business manager, Beaver Daily Star, 1889 - plant was destroyed by fire, 1909; died, April 18, 1922 (aged 85), Bridgewater, Beaver County, Pennsylvania; interment, Beaver Cemetery and Mausoleum, Beaver, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. 

Pennsylvania Politics:

Delegate, Reading Constitutional Convention, 1872. 

Delegate at large, nominating caucus, national elector, Democrat National Convention, Samuel J. Tilden, 1876. 

Delegate at large, nominating caucus, national elector, Democrat National Convention, Winfield Scott Hancock, 1880. 

Unsuccessful candidate, Pennsylvania State Senate, defeated by George Van Eman Lawrence, 1878. 

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 46th district, Beaver and Washington Counties, 1891-1894; committee assignments, Constitutional Reform, Finance, Legislative Apportionment, Municipal Affairs, Public Health and Sanitation, Vice and Immorality.

Legacy: 

Taught future president, Ulysses Grant’s sons, Frederick Dent Grant, Ulysses “Buck” Grant Jr. while in, Covington, Kentucky. 

Brief biography history of Jefferson College classmates:

George Augustus Jenks Pennsylvania Congressman, 1875-1877; was one of the managers appointed, House of Representatives, to conduct the impeachment proceedings against William W. Belknap, ex-Secretary of War, 1876. United States Assistant Secretary of Interior, 1885-1886. United States Solicitor General, President Grover Cleveland’s first term, 1886-1889. 

Chauncey Forward Black, third lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, 1883-1887. 

James Addams Beaver, field commander of Pennsylvania Infantry, wounded four times during the American Civil War, 20th governor of Pennsylvania, 1887-1891; acting president, Pennsylvania State University, 1906-1908.

Cited:

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members D". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

John W. Jordan, Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography, volume I, New York, 1914, Lewis Historical Pub. Company.

Smull’s Legislative Handbook, (1893). Cochran, T.B., (Editor) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 810, 815-817, Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 774.

William Boyd Dunlap (1836-1922) - Find a Grave Memorial