ALBERT J. SHUPE.
Self-made men are so numerous in America that we have ceased to wonder at them. They are men whose courage and indomitable will power have been so great that for them difficulty and hardship simply did not exist. But most of such men have had the counsel and encouragement and love of their parents, even though they may not have had their financial help. His must have been a stout heart indeed, who, left without either father or mother at the tender age of eleven, could, by his industry, lay the foundation of a career which now places him in an enviable position among his fellowmen. And this notwithstanding the fact that early individual freedom was somewhat hampered by his being "bound out," a custom now obsolete. From a little apprentice lad, Albert J. Shupe, of Audubon county, has become one of its most prominent landowners, and lives in a beautiful home on a valuable tract of land consisting of two hundred acres.
Mr. Shupe was born on November 10, 1861, in Warren county, Iowa, being the son of Henry M. and Sophia (DeLong) Shupe, the latter being the first wife. Henry Shupe was a native of Pennsylvania, lived for a while in Ohio, and then located in Warren county, near Lacone, where he bought prairie land, built his home and lived until his death, in 1872. He became a farmer and stock raiser in this county in 1854. His death occurred when he was thirty-five years of age. His first wife died in 1865, having borne him four sons. These were Madison, a farmer in Alberta, Canada; Hyram R., a butcher in Pocahontas county, Iowa, for twenty years, also a retired farmer; Albert J., the subject of this biography; and Arthur D., a farmer in South Dakota. His second wife was Levina Cooper. Children born of the second marriage were Lemme, who has been for a numbr of years engaged in agriculture in South Dakota; Annie, the wife of Levi Griffin, of Oklahoma; Homer, also of this state, and a child who died in infancy.
When Albert was a lad of four, his mother was taken away, and when only eleven his father died, and he lived for a few years with his grandfather, Jacob Shtipe. Until the age of twenty he was "bound out," and therefore the education which he coveted was denied him, although nature, which became his daily close companion, taught him many things. His schooling consisted of a few terms in the country school, but he made the most of those advantages. For five years, beginning on September 10, 1882, he rented land one mile north and one mile west of Audubon, and at the end of that time bought eighty acres in Douglas township, where he has lived ever since.
A splendid modern nine-room house has replaced the old house that stood on the site when he purchased it, this being built in 1912. Eleven years prior to that, he built a fine barn, remodeling it in 1914. It is now thirty-six by eighty feet with twenty-foot post. His home is complete in all of its equipments, having hot and cold water, turnace heat and gas, and is one of the attractive residences of the neighborhood. Altogether, over ten thousand dollars worth of improvements have made this farm one of the finest in the county. He now owns two hundred acres in sections 25 and 36 and has a tract of land in Alberta, Canada.
Besides his enterprise in agriculture, Mr. Shupe has attained success as a stock raiser, having on his place from forty to fifty head of Shorthorn cattle a year, seventy-five to one hundred head of Poland China hogs, besides fifteen draft horses of Percheron and Belgian breed.
Mr. Shupe has been twice married, his first wife being Lydia Mills, of Warren county, Iowa, who died in 1896, leaving two children, Roy, living at home, and Icle, who died at the age of eleven years. The second marriage of Mr. Shupe occurred on October 9, 1900, his wife being Christina Brandt, a widow, daughter of Bolser Thompson, of Sharon township Their children are William, Arnold, Gladys and Harold.
That the man whose name forms the caption of this sketch is held in honor bv his fellow countrymen is shown by the fact that they have made him a trustee of Douglas township, and he has served in this capacity for several years. He was also school director for two years, and has been keenly interested in placing the schools of his county on a high plane of excellence. In politics, Mr. Shupe is a Democrat.
Mrs. Shupe is almost as well known as her husband. What he has done for the schools and for the neighborhood in general, she has done for the church, being much interested in the work of the Lutheran denomination. She takes a very active part in all movements for human betterment, and is a great help to her husband, not limiting her energies to the duties of a household, although these are never neglected. Both of these residents have become a part of the life of the community in which their lot is cast, and both have made it a better place in which to live.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 606-608.
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