James Nordin Dunbar, a lawyer of Columbus, was born in Schuyler county, Illinois, Dec. 23, 1866, a son of Warder and Louisa (Nordin) Dunbar. His father was born in Kentucky, coming from an old and highly respected Kentucky family. His mother was born in Ohio. These parents were married in Illinois, from which state they removed, in 1869, to Kansas, settling in Cherokee county, where they both died. Mr. Dunbar's father was a farmer, and was reared on the farm, there learning the lessons of perseverance and effort, which have enabled him to push to the fore in life. Permitted to obtain only a common school education, which he supplemented by a course in a commercial college, he taught school one term, and then decided to study law. He read law at Columbus and Helena, and was admitted to the bar in 1892, since which date Mr. Dunbar has been actively engaged in the practice of law, also carrying on farming, residing on a farm near the city of Columbus. In politics, Mr. Dunbar has been an active worker in the Democratic party. As the Democratic candidate he was elected county attorney for Cherokee county, in 1900, and for two years, or one term, rendered acceptable service in that office. Later he served one and a half years as assistant attorney-general for Cherokee county. He is the arbiter of his own fortune, the architect of his own success in life, and deserves much praise for having risen in his profession to a representative position, and for having overcome the obstacles that have fallen in his course toward success. His father died when he was young, and with discouraging circumstances of his youth confronting him Mr. Dunbar faced these conditions with a commendable determination to succeed, and thus he forged his way on and upward.

He was married in 1893 to Miss Dradie McPhail, and unto the marriage the following children were born: Noel, Claire, Owen, Quinten, and Opal.