John Hemphill (1803-1862) was the first significant Chief Justice of Texas. He served both as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas and later, after Texas was incorporated into the Union, as the Chief Justice of the Texas State Supreme Court.

Years in South Carolina

John Hemphill, born on December 18, 1803, in Chester District, South Carolina, near the small town of Blackstock, was the fifth child of John and Jane (Lind) Hemphill. His father immigrated to the United States from Londonderry County, Northern Ireland, in 1783. He attended Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, and, upon graduating, relocated to South Carolina, where he became a licensed minister of the Associate Reformed Church. Hemphill's mother, also of Scotch-Irish descent, was a native of Pennsylvania and the daughter of an Associate Reformed Church minister. She was related to Robert Fulton, the inventor. After his mother's death when Hemphill was still...