John HEMPHILL

1803 - 1862  (58 years)

• Name	John HEMPHILL  [1]
  Born	18 Dec 1803	Blackstock, Chester, SC, USA   [2]
  Gender	Male
  Died	4 Jan 1862	Richmond City, VA, USA   [2]
  Buried	Texas State Cemetery, Austin, Travis, TX, USA   [2]
  Person ID	I5526	Boyd
  Last Modified	29 Sep 2010

  
  

  Father	Rev. John HEMPHILL, D. D.,   b. 1761, , Derry, Ireland ,   d. 20 May 1832  (Age 71 years)
  Mother	Jane [Jeanette] LIND,   b. Abt 1767, , , PA, USA ,   d. 13 Oct 1809  (Age ~ 42 years)
  Family ID	F3961	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 18 Dec 1803 - Blackstock, Chester, SC, USA Died - 4 Jan 1862 - Richmond City, VA, USA Buried - - Texas State Cemetery, Austin, Travis, TX, USA  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  John Hemphill (1803-1862) John Hemphill Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas, 1840 Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas, 1841-1845 Chief Justice, Texas Supreme Court, 1845-1858 John Hemphill, the son of a Presbyterian minister, was born December 18, 1803 in Blackstock, South Carolina. He graduated second in his class at Jefferson College (now Washington and Jefferson) in Carmonsburg, Pennsylvania in 1825. He taught school briefly before undertaking the study of law. In 1829 he began a private legal practice in Sumter County, South Carolina. In 1836 he fought in the Second Seminole War, earning the rank of second lieutenant. Hemphill relocated to Texas in 1838, practicing law in Washington-on-the-Brazos. Two years later, he was elected judge of the Fourth Judicial District by the Congress of the Republic, automatically making him an associate justice of the supreme court. On December 5, 1840, he was elected the Republic's fourth chief justice. He would hold this position both in the Republic and under statehood, until 1858. He was a member of the Congress of 1845, a proponent of statehood, and a framer of the 1845 Texas constitution. Hemphill was present at the Council House Fight in San Antonio, where Texan-Comanche tensions erupted violently on March 19, 1840. Sixty-five Comanches, including twelve war chiefs, had gathered to negotiate a peace treaty with Texas. But the chiefs, who had failed to bring with them thirteen Anglo prisoners, were taken hostage on the condition that they release them. A fight ensued when they tried to escape, and thirty-three Comanches including women and children were killed in a bloody massacre. Thirty-two others, many of them wounded, were taken prisoner. The Comanches answered the atrocity with revenge raids, and Hemphill went on to fight in several subsequent campaigns against the Comanches. His military activities also included serving as adjutant general of the Republic and taking part in the Somervell expedition of 1842 to invade Mexico. Hemphill was known for the literary quality of his written opinions during his eighteen years on the bench. He was fluent in Spanish and extremely knowledgeable in Spanish and Mexican law. Marital rights, divorce, and homestead and other exemptions were among his chief judicial interests, and he was considered a champion of children's and women's rights. He is credited with shaping Texas community property and homestead laws. In 1858 Hemphill left the bench to become a U.S. Senator, filling the seat vacated by Sam Houston. There he gave a speech advocating the legality of secession, was one of fourteen senators recommending secession of the Southern states, became a member of the Provisional Confederate Congress, and was terminated from his senate seat. Never married, Hemphill died in Richmond, Virginia, on January 4, 1862, and his body was returned to Texas for burial in the State Cemetery in Austin.

  
  

• Sources

  [S392] The Centennial History of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, 1803 – 1903, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, ((Walker, Evans & Cogswell Co. Charleston, SC) 1905), p 161. [S605] Justices of Texas 1836 - 1986.