Joseph Lipop, coach ornamenter, was a native of Rome, Italy, who was living in Alexandria by 1811. He worked for French minister plenipotentiary Louis Barbé Charles Sérurier and was also employed by the Alexandria coachmaking firm of Evan P. Taylor before moving to Washington, D.C. By 1817 he had settled in Shenandoah County, where he lived until at least 1833 (Alexandria Gazette & Daily Advertiser, 7 Sept. 1819; T. Michael Miller, comp., Artisans and Merchants of Alexandria, Virginia 1780–1820 [1991–92], 2:173; DNA: RG 29, CS, Shenandoah Co., 1820, 1830; John Walter Wayland, A History of Shenandoah County, Virginia, 2d ed. [1969; repr. 1980], 282).

A supplementary act of congress relative to aliens was not actually passed until 30 July 1813 (U.S. Statutes at Large description begins Richard Peters, ed., The Public Statutes at Large of the United States … 1789 to March 3, 1845, 1845–67, 8 vols. description ends , 3:53).