Hemphill, Henry, 1830-1914

Henry Hemphill was born on February 11, 1830, in Wilmington, Delaware.

He was an American malacologist, a biologist who studies mollusks. A mason and bricklayer by profession, he worked as a bricklayer in San Diego in 1865, after making gold prospecting trips in the western states. He started to collect mollusks as early as 1861. He collected extensively along the coast of California, as well as during trips to Florida and British Columbia. He published catalogues of shells for sale from the 1870s to 1890. He retired to Oakland around 1909.

In 1852, he married Martha Elizabeth Prescott (1833–1860). He died on July 25, 1914, in Oakland, Alameda, California as a result of contact with arsenic.