Socrates Maupin was born in Albemarle County, Virginia on 12 November 1808. He graduated from Washington College in 1828 and received his medical diploma from the University of Virginia two years later. After spending an additional three years at Virginia, Maupin earned an M.A. degree. He accepted the chair of ancient languages at Hampden-Sydney College where he spent just two years before relocating to Richmond where he established his own classical and mathematical school. At the request of Dr. Augustus L. Warner, Maupin joined the original faculty of the Medical Department of Hampden-Sydney College as professor of chemistry and pharmacy medica. He became Dean of the medical department when Warner died in 1847.

In 1853, Maupin accepted the professorship of chemistry and materia medica at the University of Virginia. The following year he became dean of the faculty and served until 1870. His leadership and diligence brought the University of Virginia through the difficult years of the Civil War. Maupin married Sallie Hays Traverse Washington and was the father of six children. In October of 1871 Maupin sustained a fatal head injury from a fall he sustained from a runway carriage. He died on 19 October and was buried in the University of Virginia cemetery.