Joseph H. Light, the oldest medical practitioner in Chanute in point of service and one of the most successful of that city, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, April 4, 1845. He is a son of Abraham S. and Syrena (Turner) Light, both of whom were born in Cincinnati. The father taught school in Ohio a number of years before his removal to Scott county, Indiana, in 1856. The remainder of his career was spent as a farmer. In 1869 he came to Kansas and settled on a farm near Erie, Neosho county, where he resided until his death. Abraham S. Light was a son of Jacob Light, one of the earliest settlers of Cincinnati, who removed from that city to Richmond, Ohio, and laid out that town. There he resided until his death.

Dr. Light was educated at Hanover College, Hanover, Ind., and completed his course there in 1862. There also he entered the Union army, though yet in his teens, enlisting in Company C, One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Indiana infantry, and being mustered into service May 27, 1863. Later he became a member of Company C, One Hundred and Forty-fifth infantry, with which he served until the close of the war. The study of medicine, which he began in Nashville, Tenn., he continued in Louisville, Ky., and at the New York Homeopathic Medical College. In 1869 he came to Kansas and began the practice of his profession, but later returned to Cincinnati, Ohio, and there was graduated at the Homeopathic School of Medicine in 1886. He returned to his former field of practice, Neosho county, Kansas, and has there been engaged continuously since 1869, except during the period of study at Cincinnati and the two years, of 1881 and 1882, during which he practiced in Albuquerque, N. M. Since the fall of 1882 he has been located in Chanute, where he has enjoyed an extensive and remunerative practice and has acquired valuable property. He is a member of a number of medical fraternities, including the Neosho County Medical Society, the Kansas State Medical Society, the Southwestern Medical Association and the American Medical Association. In politics Dr. Light is a Republican and was the first mayor of Chanute, after it was incorporated as a city of the second class, in which office he served a second term.

In 1871 Dr. Light married Miss Lizzie Valette, who died in 1873, leaving a son, Ralph A., who is now a physician at Chanute and served as a surgeon during the Spanish-American war. The second wife of Dr. Light was Miss Adelaide Burns, whom he wedded in 1875, and who died in 1892. Of this union was born a son, Von Light, who died in January, 1911. In 1894 Dr. Light married his present wife, who was a Miss Genette Ray. Fraternally Dr. Light is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Both through his prominence in the professional life of Chanute and through his many acts for the general good and public welfare he has won a firm place in the esteem of his fellow citizens and is recognized as one of the most worthy and respected pioneers of that city.