Stephen Hempstead

  General Notes:

Stephen Hempstead and Nathan Hale were friends in 1776. Hale was hung as a spy by the British at 21 years of age.

Stephen Hempstead called THE PATRIOT was also born in the Hempstead House and Stephen served in Batles of Cambridge, Bunker Hill and Roxbury; marched to New York in a company commanded by Nathan Hale; was a close friend of Nathan Hale and went with him into the British Lines. Stephen Hempstead was probably the last friendly person Hale ever saw. Stephen was with Washington on his retreat from Long Island and served at Fort Trumball, New London, Sept. 6, 1781, where he was wounded.

Nathan Hale was hanged in New York by the British for being a spy on Sept. 22, 1776. Under Gen. George Washington's direct orders, Hale had disguised himself as a Dutch schoolmaster and made his way into New York, only to be captured by the British. His last words before dying have become immortal. They were: "I only regret I have but one life to lose for my country."

Stephen Hempstead .....As a young man he fought in the Revolutionary War, earning the nickname
"Fighting Stephen". He was twice wounded and his home was burned by British troops. As a veteran he received a lifetime pension of thirty-six dollars per year. He married Mary Lewis of New London in 1777, They had seven sons and three daughters.
The second son, Edward Hempstead came to the Louisiana Territory in 1804, settling in St. Louis where he was appointed deputy attorney general for the District of St. Charles and St. Louis.

From 1813 to 1831 Hempstead kept a detailed diary in which he recorded the events of his life and the lives of his children and neighbors, a narrative that was in effect a register of the residents of the entire county in the early days. From this multi-volume work we learn of many operations of daily farm life in Missouri. He mentions sheep killed by wolves, harvesting pummpkins, netting flax, the death of a cow from eating lead at Christian Wilt's lead factory. Butchering hogs, the death of a newborn lamb and other routine events.

Deeply religious, Hempstead never missed an opportunity to attend worship service, wherever and whenever they were held. He was instrumental in bringing St. Louis ministers of the Presbyterian faith and in forming the first Presbyterian Church in the St. Louis area. Bonhomme, whose pastor the Reverend Salman Giddings, arrived in 1816 and was made welcome in the Hempstead household. Hempstead made frequent visits to St. Louis to solicit funds for the building of a meetinghouse in the city and noted in March 1817 the first Presbyterian baptism in St. Louis.

The Hempstead farm afforded a large burying ground where internments were many and frequent. One funeral was that of Edward Hempstead who died following a fall from his house. The Reverend Mr. Giddings preached the funeral oration. On the following day it was back to threshing and "chopped weeds". When Hempstead's wife became ill, the rather grisly aspects of her care were detailed. First she was given sulphur water as a cure; then short of brfeath, she was blistered and given laudaman; and after a dose of mercury she died in September 1830. Blistering was a favorite remedy for almost any ailment; one Lewis, a slave underwent several blisterings and twenty-four bleedings before beginning to improve.

Needy families could count on Hempstead for help.

Stephen Hempstead is a Patriot with the Daughters of American Revolution.
His Ancestor # A054604
Born: 6 May 1754 New London, CT
Died: 3 Oct 1832 St.Louis, MO, b

Buried at Bellafontaine Cemetery. Said cemetery was part of Hempstead Farm at one time.

Stephen married Mary Lewis Hempstead on 4 Sep 1777 at her father's house at the Harbor.