Virgil Hooker Grinstead as a young man.

Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Taggart.  Used by permission

Virgil Hooker Grinstead was born in July of 1848 on the Kentucky farm owned by his parents, Phillip Wade and Angela (Jones) Grinstead. He was one of fourteen children, thirteen of whom lived to adulthood. The early part of his adult life was dedicated to teaching. In 1871 he passed the Kentucky bar. Shortly thereafter Grinstead and his first wife, Laura Temple Shirley, left their home in Kentucky and moved to Elk City, Kansas where he practiced law. After only a few years in Elk City the couple moved again, at the request of Laura. Her already poor health had taken a turn for the worse, and it was her wish to die in Kentucky. After the death of his wife Grinstead returned to Kansas, where he helped found the counties of Larned and Lane. After aproximately two years as a widower, Grinstead met the woman who would become his second wife, Minnie Grinstead. The Grinsteads were married after a short courtship at the Johnson family home. From Walnut the couple moved to Larned, where their first child, Darline, was born. The family soon moved to Liberal, where the Judge continued his career as a lawyer, eventually becoming a probate judge in Liberal. During his wife's political career V.H. Grisntead served as an attorney for the Rock Island Railroad. Later in her administration Grinstead would join his wife in Topeka. In May of 1924 Judge Grinstead Grinstead suffered a stroke while working in hist Liberal office. He was not to recover, leaving Minnie to put the two Grinstead children, both in their middle teens, through college.