Will M. Maupin

Born 1863-08-31 Calloway Co., MO (USA)

Died 1948

Maupin was a storied Nebraska newspaperman whose 60 plus year career took him to over 20 different Nebraska newspapers. He was an interesting character. After he left high school and learned something of the printers trade, through the early 1880s he worked as a tramp printer, or "typographical tourist" as he liked to say, wandering north to Winnepeg in Canada and south to Caracas, Venezuela. He had a widely read column, "Limnings" in the Omaha World Herald in the 1890s. He sometimes worked for multiple newspapers at the same time, holding on to his post as columnist at the Omaha World Herald for some time, while working for other papers. He was introduced to William Jennings Bryan in the late 1880s, and worked on Bryan's newspaper, The Commoner from 1901 to 1913. He enthusiastically supported Bryan in all three of his presidential campaigns. He helped found the Nebraska Federation of Labor in 1909 and served as its first President. He ran for public office on a number of occasions but was never elected.

See also journalist Richard L. Metcalfe.

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Places Lived

Omaha
Lincoln
Clay Center

Author Of

Nonfiction
Poetry
Journalism

Keywords

Nebraska--History; Newspaper Columns;

Bibliography

Limnings. 1898.
Whether Common or Not: A Little Book of Sketches and Verse. 1903.
"Kiddies Six": A Modest Little Volume of Verse. 1911.
Nebraska Facts. 1918.
Sunny Side Up: Poems. 1926.

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