GEORGE W. HUPP. Now retired after a long and successful career, Mr. Hupp represents the earlier business activities of what is now the city of Elwood. He became a merchant in the center of Madison County fifty years ago, when the place was known as Quincy and was only a small rural trading point, Twenty-five years passed before the discovery of natural gas and the consequent boom which raised this town to the rank of one of the leading industrial centers of eastern Indiana. Through all this time Mr. Hupp was actively identified with the mercantile enterprise and continued a business man for some ten or fifteen years afterwards. His has been an honorable, active and prosperous career, and few citizens of Madison County so well deserve recognition for their achievements as Mr. George W. Hupp.
Born in Shenandoah County, Virginia, near Newmarket, December 3, 1834, Mr. Hupp is now approaching his eightieth year, and in his own long life is typical of the hardy and long-lived stock which has been characteristic of his family on both sides for generations. The family belongs to the thrifty German stock which settled in Virginia during the eighteenth century, The paternal grandfather of George W. Hupp was Balsar Hupp, who was a farmer by occupation and spent his life in Shenandoah County. On the mother’s side the grandfather was Jacob Kipps, the original spelling of which name was Gipps, The day of his funeral was the day set apart for him to make out his pension papers as a Mexican war veteran. His wife was Elizabeth (Virkle) Kipps. Both were of German descent and natives of Virginia, and he followed the occupation of farmer, The youngest sister of George W. Hupp now resides on the old Kipps farm in Shenandoah County, Virginia, Jacob Kipps and his oldest son were soldiers in the war of 1812. All his brothers and sisters, except two, preceded him to the grave, and he attained the age of more than four-score years. There were nine children in the Kipps family.
Samuel D. and Mary (Kipps) Hupp, the parents of George W., were born in Virginia, and their eleven children Were as follows: Sallie, who died at the age of eighty-eight, and was the wife of Mr. Knupp; Joseph, who lives near Newmarket at the age of eighty-four; Andrew, deceased; Elizabeth, deceased, who was the wife of Mr. Schaefer; George W. of Elwood; Harry, whose death was the first to break the home circle; Samuel, deceased; Catherine, who. is single and resides near Mount Jackson, Virginia; Michael, who also lives near Mount Jackson; Jacob, who lives on the old home farm near Newmarket, and Mary, wife of William Olinger, a resident near Newmarket, The father of this family was reared in Shenandoah County, where he was born May 16, 1804, spent his active years as a farmer and died there May 22, 1884, at the age of eighty years and six days, At the time of his death he had thirty- three grandchildren, His wife died four years later at the age of seventy-eight, Both were members of the Lutheran church.
George W. Hupp was reared on the old home farm in Shenandoah County, up to the age of eighteen years, and as a boy he attended the old field school, as the common schools were popularly called in Virginia. At the age of eighteen he began learning the tinsmith’s trade at Newmarket, where he was employed by Jacob Summers, and served a full apprenticeship of three years. After that he was actively engaged in his trade for a period of twenty-eight years.
In 1895 Mr. Hupp came west and located at Middletown, Indiana, and on May 26, 1862, came td Elwood, which has been his place of residence now for more than half a century, He followed his trade at Elwood for a number of years, and finally engaged in business for himself, For thirty years he was one of the prospering and enterprising merchants, and from a beginning in which he had a small stock, he added stoves, building material, and general hardware, and built up an establishment which was a credit to the entire section of the County, On retiring from the hardware business, Mr. Hupp opened an insurance office, and did business in that line for eleven years. Since then he has lived retired, During his long and successful career he has accumulated much property, invested chiefly in residence property, numbering some twenty-two in Elwood, and his time and attention are now engaged in looking after this estate, He was in debt when he first came to Elwood, the result of a worthless partner.
On May 10, 1867, Mr. Hupp married Miss Isabel Stokes, daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth Stokes. Mrs. Stokes was born in Butler County, Ohio, where her parents were natives, and came in 1862 to Indiana, locating at Elwood, where they both died. The eight children comprising the family of Mr. Hupp and wife are named: Charles C., William A., Lola, Samuel S., Joab, Frederick, Alley and Maude, Charles, Joab and Frederick died in infancy, and William, who married a Miss Shaw and had two children, Fred and Drula, died in 1906, Samuel died unmarried, October 27, 1911, Mr. and Mrs. Hupp are active members of the Methodist church, in which he has many positions officially, and he is affiliated with Quincy Lodge No, 200, I. 0, 0, F. He was one of the first councilmen of the corporation of Elwood, Indiana, holding that office for two terms, and he was the first landlord of R. L. Leeson & Sons, the old merchants of Elwood, Mr. Hupp is a Democrat in politics and cast his first vote for President Buchanan.