George Bruce Upton was born in Eastport, in the District of Maine, the second of the two sons of Daniel Putnam and Hannah (Bruce) Upton. He was descended from John Upton who seems to have been in Salisbury, Massachussets, as early as 1639, and later owned land in Salem. George's father died in 1805, and his mother moved to Billerica, Massachussets, where she lived with her brother.
He received ordinary education at school.
After an apprenticeship of about three years with several retail merchants in Boston, George, in 1821, became confidential clerk in the dry goods firm of Baker & Barrett on Nantucket Island. When the senior member retired in 1825, Upton formed a partnership with Barrett. In addition to retail business, the firm engaged in sperm whaling, shipbuilding, and the manufacture of candles on a large scale.
Upton became active, also, in public affairs, serving as representative in the Massachusetts legislature in 1837 and 1841, and as senator from Nantucket and Dukes County in the state Senate in 1839, 1840, and 1843. In 1844 he was a delegate to the Whig convention that nominated Henry Clay for the presidency.
Foreseeing the decline of business in Nantucket, in 1845 Upton moved to Manchester, N. H. , where he acted as agent for a print works then being established. In 1846, however, he went to Boston, where he became a merchant and capitalist. From 1846 to 1854 he was treasurer of the Michigan Central Railroad, and was associated with other important business and financial organizations.
On his own account, he engaged in shipping, and managed some famous clippers. Again he became active in public affairs, serving as a member of the executive council in 1853 and in the state constitutional convention of the same year. He died in Boston.
Upton was best known for the position he took on the question of commerce in time of war, and for his interest in the welfare of seamen. In protest against the ratification of the Clarendon-Johnson Treaty in connection with the Alabama claims, he made representations to the United States government relative to the capture of his vessel Nora. Regarding these Lord John Russell made disparaging remarks. Whereupon Upton in a public letter, dated March 23, 1870, charged the British people with being responsible for Confederate commerce raiders, and with having operated them. Through these charges, he attracted international attention. In the interest of seamen he promoted the Sailors' Snug Harbor, at Quincy, Massachussets, and in an article, "Shipwreck and Life-Saving, " published in Old and New, a Boston periodical, in May 1874, he made some radical suggestions about life-saving equipment on ships.
On May 2, 1826, Upton married Ann Coffin Hussey in Nantucket, by whom he had eight children.
