Umatilla County OR Archives Biographies.....Hemphill, James M. June 6, 1832 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Carlene Still crstill@oregontrail.net July 31, 2006, 11:57 pm

Author: Colonel William Parsons

Page 367, 368

JAMES M. HEMPHILL
	A man who has borne the heat and burden of the pioneer life and 
wrought with a faithfulness and continuity that have placed him in a prominent 
position, the subject of this sketch is one whom we delight to place in these 
abiding chronicles of Umatilla county.  As a real estate holder, a wool grower 
and substantial citizen he deserves mention among the leaders of this part of 
the state. 
	He was born in New Hampshire on June 6, 1832, and taken when an infant 
to Deerfield, New York, where he grew to manhood, receiving a good education 
in the public schools and later a partial academic course.  He assisted his 
father on his farm until he was twenty-one years of age, and then tilled the 
soil for wages for a period, after which he came to California via the 
Isthmus, immediately going into the mines upon his arrival there.  He mined in 
Calaveras county until 1859 with only fair success, and then came to Portland, 
where he remained for six months, carrying the mail from that city to 
LaFayette, Oregon.  In the spring of 1860 was his first advent into this 
county, and he spent the first year in prospecting.  After this he went to 
freighting from The Dalles to mining points in Idaho, and in 1865 bought the 
improvements on a squatter’s right and homesteaded a quarter-section, later 
took a pre-emption of one hundred and twenty acres.  This formed the nucleus 
of his fine estate, which now aggregates two thousand acres of good land.  He 
has embellished it with good sheds and barns for the handling of his large 
bands of sheep, which now number about five thousand head; in addition to 
these he owns some fifty horses and about a score or more of cattle.
	He was married, near Stockton, California, in January, 1865, to Miss 
Elizabeth Ramsbottom, born near Manchester, England.  To them have been born 
two boys, Alfred C. and Carl M., who assist their father in operating his 
estate and stock.  Mrs. Hemphill’s parents started across the ocean with her, 
but died with the fever, the mother dying in New York harbor and buried in New 
York City, and the father shortly after arriving in New York.  Mr. Hemphill is 
now enjoying the golden years of his life, while he oversees his fine domain 
and is surrounded with the love and comorts and honor that are justly the 
rewards of an honorable and industrious career.



Additional Comments:
An Illustrated History of Umatilla County by Colonel William Parsons and of 
Morrow County by W. S. Shiach with a brief outline of the early history of the 
State of Oregon.  W. H. Lever, Publisher  1902.


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