George Knapp was an American journalist and newspaper owner. His career was associated Missouri Republican newspaper office from 1826 till 1883.
Background
George Knapp was born on September 25, 1814 in Montgomery, New York, United States, the son of Edward and Frances (Flood) Knapp. His father was a native of Orange County, New York; his mother, of County Donegal, Ireland. When he was six his parents moved to St. Louis, where the father died in 1823.
Career
Young Knapp at the age of twelve became an apprentice in the business office of the Missouri Republican, then owned by Messrs. Charless and Pachall. The Republican was the successor of the Missouri Gazette, a Jeffersonian paper established in 1808 by Joseph Charless, postmaster at St. Louis. Familiarly known as "Old 1808, " the Republican was the oldest newspaper in English west of the Mississippi River. In 1836 Knapp became part proprietor of its book and job printing department, and in 1837 one of the proprietors of the newspaper in connection with Messrs. Chambers and Harris. He continued as a publisher of the Republican until his death.
In 1846 he went to Mexico as a lieutenant in the St. Louis Grays of the St. Louis Legion, and upon the regiment's return, he became a captain and subsequently lieutenant-colonel. In 1862 he organized and captained a company called the Missouri Republican Guards, composed of his employees. Though of somewhat retiring disposition, he gained through travel, which he greatly enjoyed, such wide knowledge of the laws, customs, and manners of other peoples that he was much sought after in social company. He died September 18, 1883, on the steamship Pennland bound from Antwerp to New York, while returning from a European tour undertaken for the benefit of his failing health. At the time of his death he was the oldest newspaper man in St. Louis and for years afterward his family continued to direct the policies of the Republican.
Achievements
Politics
After 1830 Knapp supported the Whigs until the disintegration of the Whig party in the fifties, when it became Democratic. During the Civil War he upheld the Union cause but was critical of the Lincoln administration, and after the war he continued to support Democratic candidates and policies.
Connections
Knapp was married on December 22, 1840, to Eleanor McCartan, daughter of Thomas McCartan of St. Louis. They had three daughters and nine sons, seven of the children surviving their father.