David Wagner (December 31, 1826 – August 4, 1902) was a justice of the

Supreme Court of Missouri The Supreme Court of Missouri is the highest court in the state of Missouri. It was established in 1820 and is located at 207 West High Street in Jefferson City, Missouri. Missouri voters have approved changes in the state's constitution to give ...

from 1865 to 1877. Born in

Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Luzerne County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is Northeastern Pennsylvania's second-largest county by total area. As of ...

, Wagner came to Missouri in 1842 and was admitted to the bar in 1848.L. C. Krauthoff, ''The Supreme Court of Missouri'', in Horace Williams Fuller, ed., '' The Green Bag'' (1891), Vol. 3, p. 180-81. He practiced law until 1862, when he was elected to the

Missouri Senate The Missouri Senate is the upper chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 34 members, representing districts with an average population of 174,000. Its members serve four-year terms, with half the seats being up for election every two yea ...

,"Missouri Items", ''Henry County Democrat'' (August 14, 1902), p. 6. and during his short tenure there "became a leading member of that body". In 1864 he resigned his seat to accept the office of judge of the circuit court, and in 1865, in turn, resigned from that position to become a judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri. He was re-elected in 1868, and without opposition in 1870, but was defeated for reelection in 1876. He then practiced law in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

until 1880, when he retired to a suburban home near

Canton, Missouri Canton is a city in Lewis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,774 at the 2020 census. Canton is the home of Culver-Stockton College, a small liberal arts college affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It al ...

. He occasionally advised as consulting counsel, but no longer in active practice. In 1870, Wagner published a revision of the statutes of the State, and in 1872 a supplement thereto. These publications were "admirably and systematically arranged", and until the official revision of 1879, ''Wagner's Statutes'' were "almost universally cited". Wagner died in 1902,"Missouri State News: Recent Deaths", ''Ironton County Register'' (August 14, 1902), p. 6. after a long illness, survived by his wife and four sons.

References

Judges of the Supreme Court of Missouri Missouri state senators 1826 births 1902 deaths 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American judges {{US-state-judge-stub