James W. Hempstid, a successful physician of Burrton, Kan., was born in Franklin, Ind., Jan. 26, 1861. He is a son of Henry and Mahala (Williams) Hempstid, the former born in Ohio. Henry Hempstid moved from his native state to Indiana, thence to Illinois, and from that state to Texarkana, Ark., where he resided until his death in 1892. His avocation was that of a farmer. The heroic men of fifty years ago, whether Federal or Confederate, will survive in our history as typical sons of America. One of these was Henry Hempstid, who served four years in the Union army during the Civil war. He was a Democrat politics and his church faith was expressed by membership with the Christian denomination.

Dr. Hempstid received his education in the common schools of Illinois and of Cowley and Butler counties, Kansas. He began his independent business career when sixteen years of age, as a clerk in a drug store in Douglass, Kan., where he remained from 1877 until 1885, the last two years of that period being during vacations, however, for in 1883 he entered the American Medical College of St. Louis as a student and was graduated in 1885. He first located in Comanche county, Kansas, for the practice of his profession, but after two years there removed to Seward county, where he remained until 1890. In that year he located in Burrton, where he has since remained, a period of twenty-two years, and he has built up a very large and remunerative practice, much of which is secured from country patrons and extends over a large territory. During all of that period he has also owned an interest in the drug store of Cole & Hempstid, in Burrton. He gives his political allegiance to the Democratic party and has served as a member of the city council of Burrton.

In 1886 Dr. Hempstid was united in marriage with Miss Laura A. Harris, daughter of Jacob S. Harris, a West Virginian by birth who came to Kansas in 1870 and there engaged in farming until his death in 1904. Dr. and Mrs. Hempstid have a son, Ire E. Hempstid, who is at the present time (1911) a student in the medical department of the St. Louis University. Mrs. Hempstid is a member of the Presbyterian church.