How Is Oct-Alva Dunlap Connected to Dunlap, Illinois?

Updated

Oct-Alva Dunlap is identified on Clan Dunlop's site as the founder of Dunlap, Illinois: he was born on October 26, 1805, at Canajoharie in Montgomery County, New York, and the village of Dunlap was laid out on June 11, 1871. The connection is therefore both genealogical and civic — he descends from the Scottish Dunlop line and lends the name to the Illinois village.

The documented facts

Detail Information
Full name Oct-Alva Dunlap
Birth date October 26, 1805
Birthplace Canajoharie, Montgomery County, New York
Descent Seven generations from James, 13th of that Ilk
Village founding Dunlap, Illinois, laid out June 11, 1871
Source Clan Dunlop (clandunlop.com), "Oct-Alva Dunlap-Founder of Dunlap, Illinois"

Why the "seven generations" detail matters

The site frames Oct-Alva's line back to James, 13th of that Ilk — the chief of the name in the Scottish numbering. "Of that Ilk" is a Scottish designation meaning the person who holds the estate from which the family takes its name, so tracing descent from the 13th chief places Oct-Alva within the main chiefly line rather than a collateral branch. For anyone researching the family, that is the link that connects the American village founder to the East Ayrshire origins described elsewhere on the site.

What the site does and does not say

The page gives a birth date and place, the descent, and the 1871 layout date, and points readers to a fuller biography ("see biography here!"). It does not, in the excerpt available, describe how Oct-Alva traveled from New York to Illinois, what role he played in the layout of the village, or the source documents behind the dates. Treat those as open questions to pursue through the linked biography and the genealogy resources the site lists.

Where to go next

  • Biography page — linked from the Oct-Alva section for the extended account.
  • Genealogy section — the site notes multiple books available for genealogists, some online, plus an Ancestry.com tree.
  • History of the Name and Village of Dunlop pages — for the Scottish background behind the surname that the Illinois village carries.

If your goal is to confirm a family connection to Oct-Alva, start with the biography and the genealogy books rather than the summary paragraph, since the summary establishes the founding link but not a full descendant list.