| Charles S. Hempstead | |
| Office: | 1st Mayor of Galena |
| Term Start: | May 24, 1841 |
| Term End: | 1845 |
| Party: | Democratic-Republican |
| Birth Date: | 10 September 1794 |
| Birth Place: | Hebron, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Galena, Illinois, U.S. |
| Restingplace: | Greenwood Cemetery, Galena, Illinois |
Charles Smith Hempstead (September 10, 1794 – December 10, 1874) was a businessman, lawyer, and mayor from the U.S. state of Illinois. He is credited for serving as the first mayor of the city of Galena in Jo Daviess County.[1] He was a promoter of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad and was the younger brother of Missouri Territory House Representative Edward Hempstead.[2]
Charles was born in Hebron, Connecticut, on September 10, 1794 to American Revolutionary War veteran Stephen Hempstead Sr. and Marry Lewis. In 1809 at the age of 15 he left his school at the New London Academy in Forest, Virginia for St. Louis. After his arrival he would study law for many years under his elder brother Edward Hempstead, until 1812 when Edward was elected as a Representative from the Missouri Territory.[3] He would pass away in 1817 from a horse accident.
In the 1820s and 1830s Charles traveled throughout Illinois and the Missouri Territory before settling in Galena. In January, 1834 he married Eliza Barnes and they had two children.[4] By April 26, 1841 Galena was granted its charter. During that same period on May 24, a mayoral election was held by the board of trustees in which three candidates ran: Charles, H. H. Gear, and Daniel Wann. The results showed a turnout of 356 voters, of which Charles received 185, resulting in him becoming Galena's first mayor. He would serve until 1845.[5]
Before his mayoral term, in 1840 Charles became an attorney partner with Harvard Law School graduate Elihu B. Washburne up until Washburne was elected to serve as a congressman for Illinois in 1852.[6]
When the American Civil War broke out Charles was given the position of Assistant Paymaster of the Army by President Abraham Lincoln in 1861. He would work under Paymaster-General of the United States Army Timothy Andrews and Benjamin Brice until the wars end. In addition, let it be known that despite Charles support for the Northern Union, he had a mixed view on slavery and may have taken the position as a business venture instead of a moral service.[7]
Charles spent the rest of his days in Galena as a prominent lawyer and member of the Early Settler's Association until his death on December 10, 1874 at age 80. His law and business partner Elihu B. Washburne had this to say about his passing in a letter from January 15, 1875. "I have felt it to be fitting that a tribute should be paid to the memory of a man who was a connecting link with the age gone by, and whose career was so interwoven not only with the history of our immediate locality, but with the earlier settlement of the west and northwest."[8]
Charles left an everlasting effect in Galena and Jo Daviess County, his original home and office still stands near the city's downtown and the Galena River at 611 South Bench Street. His wife Eliza passed away on August 21, 1880 at the age of 81. The couple among other local historical figures are a prominent part of the Galena Historical Society's annual cemetery walk since 1994.[9]