An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The
Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893, page 319
	
	
	DR. JOHN M. SEMPLE, Superintendent of the Eastern Washington Hospital for
the Insane, at Medical Lake, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1857, a son of
Andrew and Catherine (Matthews) Semple, natives also of that country. The
parents came to America in 1868, locating in Utica, New York, where the father
was engaged as a printer, in 1882 they removed to Kansas, and are still
residents of that State.
	John M., the fifth of nine children, attended private schools in Scotland
until coming to this country with his parents, after which he was a pupil in the
public schools of Utica, New York. In 1872 he began learning telegraphy, and
soon became an operator in the former city, also attending school at night. In
1880 he went to Albany, where he secured employment in the Mutual Union Office,
on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, as chief operator, remaining there until the
spring of 1882. He began the study of medicine in 1882, as a private student of
Professor Hailes, and the following year was appointed Clinical Assistant and
Apothecary of the Utica Asylum. In the fall of 1884 he resumed the study of
medicine at Bellevue, New York, from which college he was graduated in 1886. In
the latter year he received the appointment in the State Asylum for Insane
Criminals at Auburn; was House Physician and Surgeon one year in the King County
General Asylum; next re-appointed at the Asylum in Auburn; and in December,
1889, came to Spokane, Washington. Dr. Semple was engaged in a general practice
one year, and then, at the opening of the Eastern Washington Asylum, was
appointed to his present position. Under his charge the death rate has been but
three per cent, and the recovery of patients thirty per cent, which is a high
average for such institutions. The Doctor was a delegate from this State to the
meeting of the American Medico-Psychological Society at Washington, District of
Columbia, May 3, 1892.
	He was married in 1890, to Miss Almira Bennett Clary, a native of Auburn,
New York, and a daughter of John L. Clary. To this union has been born one son,
John Clary. Mrs. Semple is a member of the Episcopal Church. Socially, the
Doctor is an active member of the Masonic order. Dr. Semple is well qualified
for his position as the head of such an institution, as his study and practice
since beginning his profession has been in a great degree of mental diseases,
and he has been among such patients in the most extensive institutions in the
land. The Eastern Washington Hospital for the Insane under Dr. Semple's charge,
is not only well kept and excellently disciplined, but is noted for its
cleanliness.
	
	
Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in September 2003 by Jeffrey L. Elmer
	
	
	
	
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Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
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