George Walter Mapp was born on 25 May 1873 to parents, Dr. John E. Mapp and Margaret Benson (LeCato) Mapp. In 1891, he received a degree of licentiate from William & Mary. This qualified him to teach at the college while studying for a bachelor of arts degree. Upon graduation, he taught at Hagsett Military Academy in Danville, Kentucky. While at Hagsett, he attended classes at Centre College, Kentucky, graduating with a law degree in 1897. Following graduation Mapp practiced law on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. He entered into several partnerships, the first alongside his cousin Otho F. Mears. Upon its dissolution, he formed a partnership with his brother J. Brooks Mapp, which included an associate, Mr. Herbert Barnes. Mapp served in the Virginia State Senate from 1911 to 1923 representing the thirty- seventh district, which encompassed Accomac, Northampton, and Princess Anne counties. As a Democratic politician, he was a leader in the temperance movement and fought for women's suffrage. Mapp ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1918 and for governor in 1925 and 1929. In his later years, he served as the chairman of the State Commission of Fisheries and on the Board of Visitors at the College of William & Mary. George Walter Mapp married Miss Georgia Richardson Quinby on 10 November 1900. She died within a year. On 9 November 1910, he remarried Miss Mildred Townsend Aydelotte. The couple had two children. Mapp died in 1941.