Cuppy, William B.

CUPPY

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 9/16/2019 at 16:28:18

William B. Cuppy

(From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, p.635)
WILLIAM B. CUPPY. This truly Western gentleman was born in the great State of Iowa when it was yet a Territory, and came to Pottawattamie County before there were any settlers, except on the old stage route. The Sioux Indians were then camped in Levins' Grove, near where our subject now lives. William CUPPY, the great-grandfather of our subject, came from Spain, but was of Irish and French descent. He was the founder of the family name in America, which was changed from COPPS to CUPPY. Adam CUPPY, the father of our subject, was born in Shelby County, Kentucky. He served in the war of 1812, and was present at HULL's surrender at Detroit. He went to Illinois when a young man, and there married Christiana SHAFFER, daughter of John SHAFFER, a soldier of the war of 1812. He was a farmer of Cass County, Illinois. Soon after marriage, in 1837, Mr. CUPPY, came to Iowa, and stopped at Burlington during the fall and winter following. Here the subject of this sketch was born, and when but twenty-four hours old was the hero of an Indian outbreak. Some men had brought ten gallons of whisky across the Mississippi River in a canoe and sold it to the Indians. They became very wild and commenced burning the houses of the whites, and drove them to the Indian agent's headquarters for shelter. Mrs. CUPPY was lying in a slab shanty with her young child, and the Indians set fire to it; but the squaws were friendly to her, and rushed in and carried her out on her bed. The Indians, taking up the child to kill it, discovered it was a boy, and exclaimed: "it is a buck; don't kill it;" and so the boy was left to tell the story to another generation.

Soon after this his father moved to Ottumwa, Iowa, and there served the Government as Indian Agent five years. The Sacs, Foxes and Iowas were under his agency, and here young William became familiar with Indian life. In 1850 Mr. Adam CUPPY moved to Mississippi County, remaining one year, and in 1851 went to Shelby County, where he lived until 1865. That county was organized at his house, the settlers coming together for a shooting match, and the poorest shots were obliged to take the offices, as no one desired them--quite a contrast to the present day. The first case was tried at Shelbyville by Judge RIDDLE, under the trees, the jury retiring to a hollow in the grove to deliberate. One of the lawyers who tried the case, "Jim" BRETTOR, procured a two-gallon jug of whisky, and treated the jury until some of them could not answer to the call of the sheriff. Mr. CUPPY was the father of seven children: Mary C., Emeline, William B., Lucy J., Charles, Grenville M. and Emily. Mr. and Mrs. CUPPY were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The father was a fine specimen of a frontiersman and a Western pioneer; he was six feet in height, weighed 200 pounds, and was of robust health and character, and became accustomed to all the vicissitudes and trials of a pioneer life in the great West. He was a noted hunter of that period, and became a substantial farmer, owning 600 acres of land at CUPPY's GROVE. His hospitality was of the true Kentucky type, and he was never known to charge a man a dime who sought shelter or food at his house. In the winter of 1856-'57, which is recorded as the winter of great storms, several families took shelter under his roof and shared his hospitality, as their provisions were exhausted and the weather too severe for them to get to any town for supplies, and they remained with him until spring.

William B., the son of the above and the subject of this sketch, was born in 1838, and as there were no schools in Iowa at that early day, he received but a limited education, except what he acquired by observation and practical experience. But having a quick and ready mind he became a well informed man, and in the rough school of the Iowa pioneer he learned manliness and stability of character, which has enabled him to turn his attention to any matter which he needed to carry through and succeed. He was married at the age of twenty-one years, to Susan A. LONG, daughter of James M. and Sophia (DEER) LONG. The father was an old and prominent resident of Harlan, Iowa, and both families were of old American pioneer stock, from Indiana, and originally from Kentucky. They were the parents of five children: Susannah, Sarah G., Mary F., Mahala J. and Eddie W.

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. CUPPY resided on the old homestead at CUPPY's GROVE for ten years, and in 1870 came to their present farm of nearly 1,000 acres, 750 being in one body. In politics Mr. CUPPY is a stanch Democrat and free-trader, and several times has made speeches in defense of his opinions, in which, with his vigorous use of the old-fashioned, pioneer English, he freely and pointedly expresses his views. When young, like his father before him, he was a great hunter, and among these peerless hunters, the Indians, learned all their skillful tactics with shot-gun and rifle. The country was then full of game, elk and deer abounding, and in the early settlements the buffalo were not driven to the prairies of Kansas by the inroads of the settlers. The face of the country was undulating and covered with grass, and in the spring was a mass of beautiful and many-colored flowers, and Mr. CUPPY describes it as being one of the loveliest sights the eye of man ever rested upon. The old pioneers of Iowa were noted for their kindness and hospitality, and also for their strict honesty. The neighbors within a radius of thirty and fifty miles visited each other and rendered mutual aid and encouragement. Their latch-string was always out. Mr. CUPPY is now a man of fifty-three years of age, but his eye is still undimmed with age, and he is an erect and well-built man, with an easy and polite manner. His hair is tinged with silver, but many years of an honorable and useful life are before him. He is one of the deservedly popular men of Pottawattamie County, known far and wide for his genial manner, kind heart and large hospitality.