John Sharpenstein HAGER, Congress, CA (1818-1890)

HAGER, John Sharpenstein, a Senator from California; born near Morristown, in German Valley, Morris County, N.J., March 12, 1818; completed preparatory studies and graduated from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in 1836; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1840 and practiced in Morristown, N.J.; moved to California in 1849 and engaged in mining; practiced law in San Francisco; member of the State constitutional convention in 1849; member, State senate 1852-1854, 1865-1871; elected State district judge for the district of San Francisco in 1855 and served until l86l; elected a regent of the University of California in 1871; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Eugene Casserly and served from December 23, 1873, to March 3, 1875; was not a candidate for renomination; member of the State constitutional convention in 1879; collector of customs of the port of San Francisco 1885-1889; died in San Francisco on March 19, 1890; interment in Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, Mo.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Stewart, George R. “John Sharpenstein Hager [1818-1890]: Forty-Niner in the Social Register.” In The Lives of Eighteen from Princeton, edited by Willard Thorpe, pp. 232-42. 1946. Reprint. Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1968.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present