John Winter Blood, a prominent member of the Wichita bar, was born in Toronto, Woodson county, Kansas, Aug. 16, 1877, being the adopted son of Edward D. Blood and wife. His own father was Robert Winter and his mother's maiden name was Susan Ruth Nixon. The latter died when her son John was born, and he was adopted while yet an infant by Edward D. Blood and wife, distant relatives, who were to him the same as parents and whose name became his. He was reared on a farm near Toronto and was educated in a country school, the State Normal School at Emporia and the University of Kansas. He graduated in an academic course at the Kansas State Normal School in 1902; finished a professional course there in 1904; and in 1906 was graduated in the law department of the University of Kansas. Meanwhile, during his late youth and early manhood he taught several terms of school, two of which he taught in the country when seventeen and eighteen years of age. In 1902 he became principal of the public schools at Buffalo, Kan., and it was thus that he obtained the means with which to finish his education. After he graduated in law he spent a few months in the Northwest and then returned to Kansas, locating at Wichita, where he at once actively engaged in the practice of law. Since locating in that city he has been a member of the law firm of McGill, Blood & McCormick, his partners being George McGill and Ross McCormick. Mr. McGill is the present county attorney of Sedgwick county.

Mr. Blood is a Republican in politics. In 1907 he conducted the campaign of the Independent League which resulted in the election of J. H. Graham to the mayoralty and the closing of all the open saloons in Wichita. As secretary of the Republican county central committee in 1908 he managed the Republican campaign of that year for the election of county and state officials. On Dec. 1, 1908, he was appointed by Gov. E. W. Hoch election commissioner and served as such until May, 1909. In 1910 he was appointed assistant supervisor of the Federal census for the city of Wichita, concluding his work in this capacity on July 1 of that year. Mr. Blood is a member of the Sedgwick County Bar Association, and fraternally is a member of the Masonic order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Knights of Pythias. He is also a member of the Wichita Chamber of Commerce and the Riverside Club, and in church faith and membership he is a Congregationalist.

The Blood family is of English descent, having been established in Massachusetts in 1680. Members of the family have fought in the Revolutionary war, the War of 1812, the Mexican and Civil wars. Edward D. Blood, who served in the Union army during the Civil war, was born at Ellsworth, Me. He came to Kansas shortly after the close of the war and helped to construct the Union Pacific railroad. He purchased a farm in Woodson county in 1868, located on it in 1875, and died there in 1904. His wife was a Miss Martha Ragleman before her marriage and was born in Pennsylvania. She died in 1902. On Nov. 28, 1911, Mr. Blood married Miss Ina C. Cole, the daughter of Ludovic R. Cole, for many years general manager of the Bell telephone properties in southwest Kansas. Mrs. Blood is a member of the Congregational church.