Hempstead & Washburne

City: Galena

County: Jo Daviess

State: Illinois

Hempstead & Washburne was a law partnership between Charles S. Hempstead and Elihu B. Washburne. In the fall of 1840, Hempstead proposed that Elihu B. Washburne, a new attorney in Galena, Illinois, take a desk in his law office and board with his family in exchange for assistance in writing legal briefs and other documents. Washburne agreed, and in 1845, they formed a partnership that continued for several years after Washburne was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1852.

E. B. Washburne, Historical Sketch of Charles S. Hempstead (Galena, IL: Gazette Book and Job Printing, 1875), 17; John Y. Simon, "Washburne, Elihu Benjamin," American National Biography, ed. by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 22:750.