John Hemphill

John Hemphill (December 18, 1803 – January 4, 1862) was an American politician and jurist who served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas from 1841 to 1846 and of the Supreme Court of Texas until 1858, and a United States senator from Texas from 1859 to 1861. A member of the Democratic Party, he was one of the signatories of the Confederate States Constitution.

Early life and education Hemphill's father was a Presbyterian minister, Reverend John Hemphill, who emigrated to the United States from County Londonderry, Ireland. Several years later in 1838, Hemphill moved his practice to Texas after it became an independent republic. Realizing that it was strongly influenced by Spanish law, he learned Spanish and studied its laws to be successful in this new environment.

Judicial career A friend of Sam Houston, Hemphill was appointed and served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas from 1841 to 1846 and of the Supreme Court of Texas from 1846 to 1858, serving as the top jurist in the Republic and then the State of Texas. During this period, Texas was an independent republic and then a state in the United States before the Civil War.

He was called the "John Marshall of Texas" for the role he played in the development of Texan law from the republic's early years, "laying the foundation of its judiciary system". He lived with his slave Sabina for more than a decade and had two daughters with her. He arranged for their education, sending them in the late 1850s to the newly founded Wilberforce University in Ohio, considered a "training ground" for abolitionists before the Civil War. John Hemphill was a cousin of Charles Hare Hemphill, Lord Hemphill through his father. His nephew was John J. Hemphill and his great-great-nephew was Robert Witherspoon Hemphill.

Legacy The city of Hemphill, Texas, and Hemphill County, Texas, are named after him.