John was born in Philadelphia, PA to an unknown couple. He was adopted by a family named Humpert from St. Vincent's in Philadelphia,PA. At about the age of 4, the family moved to Omaha, NE and then out to Utah.

According to John's autobiography, his father disappeared (whether he died or left is uncertain) and his mother remarried. His step-father was very strict and John tried to run away several times. At the age of 11 John is found living with Edward & Nellie (Robertson) LeMay. This was as a result of a "flip of a dollar" with another person Edward worked with.

John later took the name LeMay but left Humpert as his middle name.

In his early teens, he was enrolled at the Shattuck Military Academy in Fairbault, MN. At the age of 16, he became a printer's apprentice and worked for several years during vacation time in Duluth MN, learning a great deal about the printing trade.

John moved to South Dakota in 1896, and came to Northville in 1900, whereupon he purchased the Northville Journal, becoming its editor and publisher.

On the 1st of May, 1902, he married Miss Mary Elsom, a Northville native, and daughter of Joseph Elsom.

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Bio from "History of South Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904), p 1060. 

JOHN H. LEMAY, editor and publisher of the Northville Journal, at Northville, Spink county, is a native of the city of Philadelphia, where he was born on the 27th of January, 1870, being a son of Edward F. and Nellie (Robertson) LeMay, the former of whom was born in France and the latter in Scotland and both of whom have now passed away. The father of the subject came to America as a young man, and established his home in Philadelphia, while he became a prominent contractor in the construction of railways and bridges. The subject secured his early educational discipline in the fair old "City of Brotherly Love," and thereafter completed a course of study in the Shattuck Military Academy, at Faribault, Minnesota. At the age of sixteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship at the printer's trade, working during vacations for several years in Duluth, that state, gaining an excellent knowledge of the details and mysteries of the "art preservative of all arts," and thereafter he was engaged in the work of his trade in divers sections of the union, having come to South Dakota in 1896, while in April, 1900, he settled in Northville and purchased the Northville Journal, of which he has since been editor and publisher. The Journal is a five-column quarto and is issued on Thursday of each week, while both editorially and in matter of letter-press it is an attractive publication, while it-so fully covers matters of local interest that it is a welcome visitor in the majority of the best homes in this section. In politics, Mr. LeMay is a stanch advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and his paper is the medium through which he wields the greatest influence in local affairs of a public nature, while he is thoroughly progressive in his attitude and always ready to lend his aid and influence in the furthering of worthy enterprises for the general good. He is a member of the South Dakota Press Association. He has attained to the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite Masonry, being a member of the consistory at Aberdeen, and is also a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, as well as of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He enjoys unqualified esteem in business and social circles and is one of the popular young men, of Spink county. 

On the 1st of May, 1902, Mr. LeMay was married to Miss Mary Elsom, who was born and reared in Northville, being a daughter of Joseph Elsom, concerning whom a specific sketch appears on another page of this work. On February 8, 1904, a son was born to this union.