Robert Pinckney Dunlap was born August 17, 1794 in Brunswick, Maine, the youngest son of Captain John and Mrs. Mary Tappan Dunlap.
Raised in well-to-do circumstances, he graduated from Bowdoin College in 1815 and afterward maintained close ties with that college as a member of the Board of Overseers for thirty-eight years and President of the Board for sixteen.
A lawyer by profession, Dunlap was admitted to the bar in 1818 and opened up a practice in Brunswick before representing that town in the State Legislature in 1821 and 1822.
A member of the State Senate from 1824-1828 and 1820-1833 he is the only member of that body ever to have served two, non-consecutive terms as its President.
In 1829 he served as a member of the Governor’s Council and from 1833 until 1837 he served four consecutive terms as Governor of the State of Maine; defeating by substantial margins such men as Daniel Goodenow, Peleg Sprague, William King and Edward Kent.
Dunlap retired to private life following his four terms as Governor but reentered politics in 1843 to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for two terms.
In 1848 and 1849 he served as Collector of the Port of Portland and from 1853 to 1857 as the Postmaster of Brunswick.
In addition to his interests in law and politics Robert Dunlap was an ardent Mason becoming General Grand High Priest of the General Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the United States.
A man of imposing stature and aristocratic manners, Dunlap was attributed with unsurpassed skills as a presiding officer by all contemporary sources.
He passed away on October 20, 1859, after returning from visiting two of his sons in Illinois, probably from pneumonia.