State Web Site

Higher Office(s) Served: Senator

Military Service: National Guard

War(s) Served:  Civil War

GEORGE LAIRD SHOUP, was born in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, on June 15, 1836. His education was limited to the Slate Lick and Freeport public school system. In 1852, he moved to Galesburg, Illinois and farmed with his father. Six years later, he migrated to Colorado and joined the gold rush craze in 1859. During the Civil War, he enlisted in an independent company of scouts, was commissioned a second lieutenant, led a brigade in the Battle of Sand Creek, and rose to the rank of colonel by the time he was discharged. After taking a temporary leave from the military in 1864, Shoup entered politics as member of the Colorado Constitutional Convention. Shoup settled in Idaho and aided in the founding of the city of Salmon. He served as a member of the Idaho Territorial House of Representatives in 1874 and 1878, was one of the supervisors of Lemhi County, and served as a member of the Republican National Committee from 1880 to 1884, and again from 1888 to 1892. He also served as the U.S. Commissioner for Idaho at the World's Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans in 1884 and 1885, spending $35,000 of his own money, to advertise Idaho's products. After Shoup was appointed territorial governor in April 1889, he ordered a state constitutional convention. On July 3, 1890, Idaho became a state, and Shoup, whose real aspirations were in the U.S Senate, agreed to run for governor. He was elected the state's first governor on October 1, 1890. However, on December 18, 1890, he was elected to represent Idaho in the U.S. Senate. He served in the senate until March 1901. Governor George L. Shoup died on December 21, 1904, and was buried at the Masonic Cemetery in Boise, Idaho.

Sources:

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

Idaho State Historical Society Gubernatorial Manuscript and Archive Collections:

• George L. Shoup letter, 1883. MS2/1440.
• George Laird Shoup letter: Bonanza, Idaho, to A.M. Shoup, Freeport, Penn. 1883. MS2/0250.
• George Laird Shoup receipt, 1871. MS2/0943.
• Shoup, George Laird papers, 1862-1901. MS0085.

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 1, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

University of Idaho