View source for Adam Gerard Mappa

{{Short description|Dutch type-founder, Patriot and colonel}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox military person
|honorific_prefix = 
|name             = Adam Gerard Mappa
|honorific_suffix = 
|image            = TourAbbayedeWatten.jpg
|image_upright    = 
|alt              = 
|caption          = La Tour de l'Abbaye Notre-Dame du Mont
|native_name      = 
|native_name_lang = 
|birth_name       = 
|other_name       = 
|nickname         = 
|birth_date       = {{birth date|df=yes|1754|11|25}}
|birth_place      = [[Tournai]]
|death_date       ={{death date and age|df=yes|1828|04|15|1754|11|25}}
|death_place      =  Barneveld, New York
|placeofburial    = 
|placeofburial_label = 
|placeofburial_coordinates = <!--{{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}}-->
|allegiance       = Netherlands
|branch           = Militia
|branch_label     = <!--"Branch" or "Service"-->
|serviceyears     = 
|serviceyears_label = 
|rank             = Colonel
|rank_label       = 
|servicenumber    = 
|unit             = 
|commands         = 
|battles          = Democratizing the vroedschap of Utrecht
|battles_label    = 
|awards           = 
|memorials        = 
|alma_mater       = 
|spouse           = <!--Add spouse if reliably sourced-->
|children         = 
|relations        = 
|laterwork        = Agent for the Holland Land Company in New York
|signature        = 
|signature_size   = 
|signature_alt    = 
|website          = <!--{{URL|example.com}}-->
|module           = 
}}

'''Adam Gerard Mappa''' ([[Tournai]],<ref name="Kernkamp P.M">Kernkamp, P.M. (2005) "Tussen Reformatie en Revolutie. De familie Paspoort te Delft". In: "De Nederlandsche Leeuw" jg. 122 nr. 1.</ref> 25 November 1754 – [[Barneveld, New York]], 15 April 1828) was a Dutch [[Type foundry|type-founder]], [[Patriots (Dutch Republic)|Patriot]] and active colonel in a local [[militia]] (in Dutch [[exercitiegenootschap]]). In 1794 he became the agent for the [[Holland Land Company]] in [[New York (state)]] and three years later supervisor in the recently set up village of [[Barneveld, New York|Barneveld]].

==Life==
Around 1786 Adam Gerard Mappa became the commander of a flying army unit, consisting of 300 men and 200 horses, that played a role in democratizing the [[vroedschap]] of Utrecht.<ref>Schama, S. (1977) Patriots and Liberators. Revolution in the Netherlands 1780–1830, p. 118.</ref> One of the people he cooperated with was [[Quint Ondaatje]].<ref name="archive.org">[https://archive.org/stream/francisadrianvan00vand/francisadrianvan00vand_djvu.txt an autobiography, together with extracts from his correspondence; (1903)]</ref> From the end of August 1787 under his leadership, the flying army was involved in removing all the [[Orangism (Netherlands)|Orangists]] from the [[vroedschap]]s in Delft, [[Gorkum]], [[Montfoort]] and [[Vlaardingen]].<ref>Roosendaal, J. (2003) Bataven! Nederlandse vluchtelingen in Frankrijk 1787–1795, p. 41.</ref> (The removals found place under the threat of a Prussian ultimatum and before the raid). The purge in Delft not only brought [[Wybo Fijnje]], the editor of a patriot newspaper and the auto-didact [[Gerrit Paape]] to power in the city, but delivered to the Patriots one of the biggest arsenals and magazines in the Republic.<ref>Schama, S. (1977) Patriots and Liberators. Revolution in the Netherlands 1780–1830, p. 111, 118.</ref> His army went to defend [[Woerden]] in the east of the province of [[Holland]], but had no chance to win against 20,000 well trained Prussian soldiers.  Mappa made a brave show of defending [[Naarden]] but once again with the peculiarly Dutch show for legality, receiving orders from the now counter-revolutionised States of Holland, capitulated on the 27th.<ref>Schama, S. (1977) Patriots and Liberators. Revolution in the Netherlands 1780–1830, p. 130.</ref> On 9 October 1787, the patriots were forced to hand in their unit weapons in Amsterdam and Mappa fled like so many others to northern France.

With a few friends, like [[Johan Valckenaer]] and [[Herman Willem Daendels]] he rented an uninhabited castle in [[Watten, Nord|Watten]]. This community, growing its own vegetables, playing [[cue sports|billiards]] and discussing the revolution has been described by Gerrit Paape.<ref>Roosendaal, J. (2003) Bataven! Nederlandse vluchtelingen in Frankrijk 1787–1795, p. 64, 172–173.</ref> On the eve of a condemnation, Antje Mappa-Paspoort (a great friend of [[Emilie Luzac]]), travelled hurriedly and secretly to Delft, when her husband decided to emigrate to the US, and it is said on the advice of [[Thomas Jefferson]] he took his [[type foundry]] with him.<ref name="Kernkamp P.M"/>

On 1 December 1789, he arrived with his wife and children to New York and they were granted accommodation with [[John Adams]] on [[Richmond Hill (Manhattan)|Richmond Hill]].  Mappa became the New York City's very first type-manufacturer (on 22 Greenwich Street, [[Manhattan]]) but, even though he could produce Oriental letters, the business was not a success.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cg.scs.carleton.ca/~luc/ext18.html |title=Foundries from the 18th century |accessdate=2007-08-29 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070829185530/http://cg.scs.carleton.ca/~luc/ext18.html |archivedate=29 August 2007 |df=dmy-all }}.,</ref> In 1794, he took over from [[Gerrit Boon]] an appointment as agent of the [[Holland Land Company]] in [[Trenton, New York|Trenton]]. His best friend [[François Adriaan van der Kemp]], whom Mappa once called a hermit,<ref>Roosendaal, J. (2003) Bataven! Nederlandse vluchtelingen in Frankrijk 1787–1795, p. 62.</ref> came to live in the town's surroundings on a farm.  Mappa had a new house, built around 1810 and paid by the Company,<ref>Ligtenberg, L. (1999) De nieuwe wereld van Peter Stuyvesant. Nederlandse voetsporen in de Verenigde Staten, p. 105.</ref> in the [[Georgian architecture|Georgian style]], and "[[Mappa Hall]]" still exists.<ref name="archive.org"/> In 1818 he bought 34,000 unsold acres from the Holland Land Company.  Mappa Hall was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1982.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>

Mappa corresponded with [[Pieter Vreede]] and [[Johan Luzac]] and at the end of his life he hit financial difficulties, not being able the pay his debts to the Holland Land Company.<!--<ref>Archief Holland Land Company, GAA 333, inv. nr. 58?</ref>-->

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Fairchild, Helen L. (1903) [https://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t4rj4m64t ''Francis Adrian van der Kemp, 1752-1829''] NY: G.P. Putnam's sons.
* Fijnje-Luzac, E. Myne beslommerde boedel; brieven in ballingschap 1787–1788. Ed. Jacques J.M. Baartmans 2003.

==External links==
* https://web.archive.org/web/20060916231424/http://www.library.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=973

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mappa, Adam}}
[[Category:1754 births]]
[[Category:1828 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Tournai]]
[[Category:Dutch printers]]
[[Category:Dutch military commanders]]
[[Category:People from Delft]]
[[Category:Dutch emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:People from Trenton, New York]]