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Building History

Joseph Dunlap (born 09/22/1816 in NH-d. 03/03/1893 in Seattle, WA) and his wife Catherine Gordon Henderson (born 11/17/1822 in Ireland-d. 12/15/1891 in IA) and their family settled in the Seattle area in 1869, having come by covered wagon from Fontanelle, IA. They established a farm and waystation for other travelers in south Seattle, in what is now the Rainier Beach neighborhood. Initially, however, the area right around their property was known as "Dunlap." Historian David Wilma said of the Dunlap Family homestead: "The first homesteader in the area was Joseph Dunlap (d.1893) who built a cabin at South Henderson Street and 50th Avenue S. Dunlap brought his family from Iowa by wagon (reportedly drawn by one white horse and one mule) over the Oregon Trail in September 1869. On Beacon Hill, he instructed his son, George to climb a tree and report what he saw. George described a flat valley with several creeks flowing into a large lake. Another account has Dunlap finding the canyon between the Duwamish River valley and Lake Washington while deer hunting. Between the Dunlap claim and the lake was a low swampy area called Dunlap Slough. Dunlap built a corral for farmers driving stock to Seattle along the old Native American trail and his log cabin became a frame home with two stories." (See David Wilma, Historylink.org, "Seattle Neighborhoods: Rainier Beach--Thumbnail History," published 03/21/2001, accessed 10/04/2022.)

Dunlap was active as a farmer and as a real estate developer in the area around his homestead. He died of apoplexy at the age of 77. Catherine passed away two years earlier at about the age of 69. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Ancestry.com. Washington, U.S., Death Records, 1883-1960 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008, accessed 10/04/2022.) Joseph and Catherine married in IA in 1843 and had two children, Mary Liania Dunlap Hulbert (born 04/30/1848 in IL-d. 01/16/1926 in WA) and George Washington Dunlap, Sr., (born 02/19/1855 in IA-d. 01/18/1910 in Los Angeles County, CA).

The Washington Territorial Census of 1889 indicated that Joseph, Catherine and George all lived and worked on the family farm. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Washington State Archives; Olympia, Washington; Washington Territorial Census Rolls, 1857-1892, accessed 10/04/2022.)

PCAD id: 8234