Born August 31, 1863 in Callaway County, Missouri, Maupin's family supported the northern cause and moved to the Illinois during the American Civil War where his father joined the Union Army.
[1] During the next ten years Maupin acted as a typographical tourist traveling around the continent writing and publishing articles in places as far as Winnipeg, Canada and Caracas, Venezuela.
After living the tramp lifestyle Maupin settled for the first time and published his own newspaper the Meteor in Holt, Missouri just across the river from Falls City, Nebraska.
After all of his years of working as a newspaper man Maurpin began getting involved with community politics and in 1918 served as director of the Bureau of Publicity under the Nebraska Conservation and Welfare Commission.
However, his public service work would never be enough to fulfill his life and after his term expired Maupin returned to newspapering, editing the Clay County Sun until his death in 1948.