26 Facts About Hannah Kempfer

Hannah Jensen Kempfer was a Norwegian-American schoolteacher, farmer, and politician.

Hannah Kempfer was a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1923 to 1930 and from 1933 to 1942, representing District 50 that covered Otter Tail County.

Hannah Kempfer's family settled in Minnesota and squatted a piece of railroad land where she grew up in poverty.

Hannah Kempfer became a teacher at a small rural schoolhouse.

Hannah Kempfer was one of the four women first elected to the Minnesota legislature in 1922 after women's suffrage.

Hannah Kempfer introduced legislation to protect the Showy Lady's slipper, Minnesota's state flower.

Hannah Kempfer's father was a sailor and her mother an unwed stewardess.

Hannah Kempfer's mother left her in Stavanger, Norway, where she was taken to an orphanage.

Hannah Kempfer was taken in by the family of a milkman.

Hannah Kempfer attended both Fergus Falls High School and Park Region Luther College in Fergus Falls.

Hannah Kempfer began serving hot lunches there and her school became known as "Hot Soup School".

Hannah Kempfer taught from 1898 to 1908 and paid off her debts, buying the land her family had been living on.

Hannah Kempfer worked as a correspondent for the Fergus Falls newspaper Wheelock's Weekly.

Hannah Kempfer married Charles Taylor Kempfer, a farmer, on May 23,1903 and moved to his parents' farm.

Hannah Kempfer was active in her community, helping to form a farm improvement club and organizing church socials and quilting bees.

In 1922, Hannah Kempfer filed to run for the seat in Minnesota House of Representative's 50th District.

Hannah Kempfer ran as an independent, even refusing an endorsement from the Nonpartisan League.

Hannah Kempfer became friends with Paige, who assisted her financially.

Hannah Kempfer was the first woman elected to the Legislature from rural Minnesota, hailing from Erhard.

Hannah Kempfer was the first woman to serve as the honorary speaker in the Minnesota House of Representatives after being so appointed on January 28,1925.

Hannah Kempfer chaired the Committee on Game and Fish and in 1927 supported a measure that introduced Minnesota's first fishing license fee.

Hannah Kempfer was criticized for her support of the unpopular measure.

Hannah Kempfer spearheaded a drive to prohibit the use of steel traps on publicly owned lands.

Hannah Kempfer fell and fractured her hip on July 14,1943, at her home in Erhard.

Hannah Kempfer died at the Fergus Falls hospital on September 27,1943 due to complications from a tumor which was too close to her aorta to be removed via operation.

Hannah Kempfer is interred at Tonseth Lutheran Church Cemetery in Friberg Township.