David is the son of Hugh Humphrey and Elizabeth Lovell according to both "The Forsythe-Humphrey Story", and "A Book of Memories". He was born on March 16, 1856, in Vermont, McDonough County, Illinois. According to his tombstone and the Illinois Statewide Death Index, he died on January 21, 1924 at home. His daughter states in "The Forsythe-Humphrey Story" that he died at his home in Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois, not in Kankakee County, Illinois as the Illinois Statewide Death Index states. He is buried in Linwood Cemetery, Galesburg, Illinois.
Unpublished books written by his daughter incorrectly puts his marriage date in both 1870 and 1879, and his death date as January 2, 1924, but these are either scan errors, or are typographical errors, which seems likely since she typed all her works on an old manual typewriter when she was in her seventies.
Phoebe Jane Compton was the daughter of Jonathan Jesse Compton and Julia Ann Taylor. She was born on May 3, 1857, in Avon, Fulton County, Illinois. She is found living in Union Township, Avon, Fulton County, Illinois with her family in the 1870 Federal Illinois Census at the age of 13. She died on October 25, 1938 at the Soldier's Widow's and Daughter's Home, in Wilmington, Illinois not in Kankakee County, Illinois as the Illinois Statewide Death Index indicates. She is buried alongside her husband.
According to the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, David married Phoebe on February 21, 1878, in Avon, Fulton County, Illinois. They are found in the 1880, Maquon, Knox County, Illinois, Federal Census, he was 24 and she was 23. David is also mentioned as living there in his father’s obituary of 2 Feb 1890.

They had 3 children:
c1. Artie Randolph (25 Apr 1879 - 2 Jul 1959, Washington D.C.) m. 26 Feb 1900, Galesburg, IL, Margaret "Maggie" Cunneen ( - Apr 1967) - They adopted a daughter, Marion Francis Humphrey who married Ronnie Fulton.

c2. Herschel Wayne (4 Oct 1886 - 26 Apr 1962, Fox River Grove, IL) m. 11 Apr 1909, Enid, OK, Pearl Evaline Risley - son Herschel Henry "Hap" Humphrey (20 Sep 1910 - 16 Jul 2003) m. 8 Jan 1942, Eleanor Kathleen Elvin (they had a daughter Constance Suzanne Elizabeth Humphrey (3 Sep 1943 - ) m. 7 Oct 1991, Charles Frederik Reinier de Vogel (Mar 16, 1948 - ))

c3. Minnie Elizabeth Humphrey (26 Dec 1894 - 12 Nov 1990) m. 25 Jun 1917, William Henry Forsythe

David attended a country school in McDonough County, Illinois. When he was twelve years old, his father moved the family to Cass County, Missouri, and then when he was eighteen, to Prairie City, Illinois. There he learned the barber trade. David moved to Avon, Illinois where he opened his first Barber Shop. It is there he met his wife. David later moved his barber shop to Maquon, Illinois, and then to old Brown's Hotel and the old Union Hotel in Galesburg, Illinois. Carl Sandburg worked for David as a porter, and mentions this last shop in his book 'Always The Young Strangers'. When they moved to Galesburg, they bought a home at 424 S. Prairie St [65,66].
Jennie was a milliner by trade, and owned and operated milliner stores in both Maquon and Galesburg, Illinois. She made hats from bolts of straw, hat wire, ribbon, satin, and flowers or fruit, or from a yard of felt and blocked them into shape. She loved to paint in pastels, and always had an easel setup in her home. After her husband died, she went to live at the Soldiers' Widows and Daughters' Home in Wilmington, Illinois, where she continued to live until her death.
In addition to raising their children, they raised a ‘foster’ daughter, LaVina Jennings, from the age of 7 years until she married.
Sometime after her husband died, Jennie remarried, but to whom is unknown. They moved to Washington. Apparantly she ran away and was found hiding under the porch. Her son Wayne brought her back to Illinois, and set her up in the Soldier's Widow's and Daughter's Home, in Wilmington, Illinois were she spent the remainder of her days. Near the end she suffered from Alzheimer's disease.