Almon Mason Clapp (September 14, 1811 – April 9, 1899) was an American printer and politician, and the first person to hold the title

Public Printer of the United States The Public Printer of the United States was the head of the United States Government Publishing Office (GPO). Pursuant to , this officer was nominated by the President of the United States and approved by the United States Senate. In December 20 ...

, from 1876 to 1877.

Biography

Clapp was born in Killingly, Connecticut in 1811, a descendant of immigrant Thomas Clapp of Dorchester, England and a cousin of Roger Clapp who arrived in America on the 1630 voyage of the ''

Mary and John ''Mary and John'' was a 400-ton ship that is known to have sailed between England and the American colonies four times from 1607 to 1633. She was during the later voyages captained by Robert Davies and owned by Roger Ludlow (1590–1664), one of th ...

''.The Clapp Memorial: Record of the Clapp Family in America, Ebenezer Clapp, David Clapp & Son, Boston, 1876
/ref> His family moved to

Livingston County, New York Livingston County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 61,834. Its county seat is Geneseo. The county is named after Robert R. Livingston, who helped draft the Declaration of Independence and ...

in 1818, and at age 14 he became a printer's apprentice in Genesee, New York. He moved to

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

in 1828, and after finishing his education engaging in commerce for a few years, founded the ''Aurora Standard'' in 1835. In 1838, he became editor and part owner of the ''Buffalo Commercial Advertiser'', where he remained until he founded the ''

Buffalo Express The ''Buffalo Courier-Express'' was a morning newspaper in Buffalo, New York. It ceased publication on September 19, 1982. History The ''Courier-Express'' was created in 1926 by a merger of the ''Buffalo Daily Courier'' and the ''Buffalo Morning ...

'' in 1846. He served in the State Assembly in 1853 as a Whig, but by 1856 he was a leader at the Pittsburgh convention of the new

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...

.(10 April 1889)
Death List of a Day - Almon M. Clapp
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''(6 April 1899)
Mr. A.M. Clapp Stricken
'' Evening Star''(1 October 1877)
Change of Ownership and Management of the National Republican -- Mr. Lynch's New Paper
''

'' He was the party's nominee for

Secretary of State of New York The secretary of state of New York is a cabinet officer in the government of the U.S. state of New York who leads the Department of State (NYSDOS). The current secretary of state of New York is Robert J. Rodriguez, a Democrat. Duties The secr ...

in the 1857 election, losing to

Gideon J. Tucker Gideon John Tucker (February 10, 1826 – July 1899) was an American lawyer, newspaper editor and politician. In 1866, as Surrogate of New York County, he wrote in a decision on a legal malpractice claim against a deceased lawyer's estate: "No ma ...

. In 1861, President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...

appointed Clapp to be

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

of Buffalo. He was reappointed in 1865 and served until President

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a De ...

removed him in June 1866. In 1869 the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

elected him to be Congressional Printer, and he sold the ''Express''. When the title

was created in 1876, he continued as printer in that title for another year. In 1877, he bought the ''

National Republican The National Republican Party, also known as the Anti-Jacksonian Party or simply Republicans, was a political party in the United States that evolved from a conservative-leaning faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that supported John ...

'' newspaper in Washington, D.C., which was a pro-Republican paper, and owned it until 1880.The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. I
pp. 359-60 (1898) Clapp died at his home in Washington in April 1899. He is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clapp, Almon M. 1811 births 1899 deaths 19th-century American newspaper editors 19th-century American newspaper founders 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) Editors of New York (state) newspapers People from Killingly, Connecticut Burials at Forest Lawn Cemetery (Buffalo) Members of the New York State Assembly New York (state) Republicans New York (state) Whigs United States Government Publishing Office