Growing up on the Henry County farm, he worked and played and went to the country public school along with the other boys of his age. As he grew older there grew up in his mind a desire for a better education than was offered by the local schools, so he went to the Mary Potter School at Oxford, N. C., and spent four years at that well known institution. He was studying with a purpose, for he had made up his mind to study medicine. Accordingly he entered Leonard Medical College at Raleigh, from which he won his M.D. degree in 1913. Let no one imagine, however, that this end was attained without a struggle. At different times he worked in the mines, in the Pullman service, at hotels and in drug stores, in order to help himself through school.
On completion of his course, he began the practice in McDowell County, W. Va. Later he moved to North Fork, where he has built a splendid practice. He enters heartily into the professional, business and social life of his people.
He is a Republican and is active in the councils of his party. He belongs to the Presbyterian church, in which he is an elder. Among the secret and benevolent orders he holds membership in the Odd Fellows and the Masons. He is a member of the Flat Top Medical Association, the W. Va. State Medical Society and the National Medical Association. Apart from his medical books his preferred reading is history. He believes that permanent progress will follow unity of action, cooperation, the practice of common brotherhood and better education. He has property interests at North Fork, where he owns a beautiful modern home, and at Bluefield.
On September 2, 1914, Dr. Hereford married Miss Goldy Faucett, of Durham, N. C. She was educated at Durham, and at Estey Seminary, Shaw University, and was before her marriage an accomplished teacher. They have three children: James E., Jr., Henry C. and Clarence W. Hereford.