John Hemphill was born in 1871, in Nova Scotia, to Captain Daniel Hemphill and Isabella Robertson. He was raised in Georgetown, Prince Edward Island. At age 17, John left the Island and sailed the Atlantic coast from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Boston, Massachusetts, for several years. John later worked in shipbuilding for Daniel Gordon, ran a grocery store in Cardigan, and constructed wooden sleighs and carts in Georgetown. On 2 May 1907, John married his first wife, Mary Ann Stevens of Georgetown, and together they had six children. John moved to Covehead in 1939 after Mary Ann's death and began to carve wooden replicas of the vessels he had sailed. Nothing is known about his second wife. With his third marriage in 1943, John moved to St. Peter's. He died in December 1967.