Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Hager, John Sharpenstien

HAGER, John Sharpenstien, senator, b. in Morris county, N. J., 12 March, 1818. He was graduated at Princeton in 1836, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1840. He settled in Morristown, N. J., practising his profession until 1849, when he went to California. He served in the state senate in 1852-'4, and again in 1867-'73. In 1855 he was elected state district judge for the district of San Francisco, and served six years. In 1871 he became a regent of the University of California, which he had been active in establishing. He was elected to the U. S. senate as an anti-monopoly Democrat, and served from 9 Feb., 1874, till 3 March, 1875, filling the unexpired term of Eugene Casserly, resigned. He has since been a member of the convention that framed the present constitution of California, and was president of the convention that adopted a new charter for San Francisco under that constitution. He was appointed in 1885 collector of the port of San Francisco, which office he still (1887) holds.