Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
HEMPSTEAD, Stephen
HEMPSTEAD, Stephen. (New London, CT, Oct. 1, 1812-Dubuque, IA, Feb. 16, 1883). Governor of Iowa. Hempstead, Dubuque's first attorney, was elected with General Warner LEWIS to represent the northern portion of Iowa Territory in the Legislative Council which met in Burlington in 1838. Elected president of the council twice, Hempstead was one of the Dubuque County delegates to the Iowa constitutional convention of 1848. He was one of three appointed to revise the laws of the state that became the code of Iowa in 1851.
Hempstead was elected governor in 1850, serving four years before his reelection. In 1855 he was elected a Dubuque County judge, a position he held twelve years. Hempstead is remembered in Dubuque with the naming of STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD HIGH SCHOOL.