John Sharpenstein Hager (March 12, 1818March 19, 1890) was an American politician from the state of California. He served in the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

from 1873 to 1875.

Life

Hager was born near

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a town and the county seat of Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...

, on March 12, 1818. He completed preparatory studies and graduated from the College of New Jersey (later named Princeton University) in 1836. Hager studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1840, practicing in Morristown. In 1849, Hager moved to California and engaged in mining during the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

. He practiced law in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and was a member of the

1849 California Constitutional Convention The California Constitutional Conventions were two separate constitutional conventions that took place in California during the nineteenth century which led to the creation of the modern Constitution of California. The first, known as the 1849 ...

. Hager served in the California Senate from 1852 to 1854, before being elected as a state district judge for the district of San Francisco in 1855. Hagar remained a district judge until 1861. In 1865, Hager returned to the state senate, serving until 1871, when he was elected a

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

Hager was elected as an

Anti-Monopoly ''Anti-Monopoly'' is a board game made by San Francisco State University Professor Ralph Anspach in response to ''Monopoly''. The idea of an anti-monopoly board game dates to 1903 and the original Monopoly created by Lizzie Magie. Background ...

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Eugene Casserly and served from December 23, 1873, to March 4, 1875. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1874. In 1879, Hager was a member of the state constitutional convention. He was collector of customs of the port of San Francisco from 1885 to 1889. Hager died in San Francisco on March 19, 1890, one week after his 72nd birthday, and was interred at Bellefontaine Cemetery 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, ...

References

* 1818 births 1890 deaths People from Morristown, New Jersey Princeton University alumni Democratic Party United States senators from California Democratic Party California state senators 19th-century American politicians {{California-CASenate-stub