Alva L. Hager

Alva Lysander Hager (October 29, 1850 – January 29, 1923) was a three-term Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 9th congressional district in the 1890s.

Biography

Born near Jamestown, New York, Hager moved in 1859 to Iowa with his parents, who settled near Cottonville, in Jackson County. He moved to Jones County in 1863. He attended the public schools of Monticello and Anamosa. He graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1875. He was admitted to the bar in 1875 and commenced practice in Greenfield, in southwestern Iowa. He served as member of the Iowa Senate in 1891. He served as chairman of the Iowa Republican State convention in 1892.

In 1892, the U.S. House seat for Iowa's 9th congressional district was open because incumbent Democrat Thomas Bowman did not seek a second term. Hager won the Republican nomination and the general election. After serving in the 53rd United States Congress, he was re-elected twice, serving in the Fifty-fourth, and Fifty-fifth Congresses.

In August 1898, Hager was defeated by Smith McPherson in the race for the Republican nomination for Hager's seat. There were four serious candidates for the nomination. For several days, no candidate received the required number of votes, but McPherson prevailed on the 618th ballot, after Hager threw his support to him.^[1] In all, Hager served from March 4, 1893 to March 3, 1899.

After leaving Congress, Hager resumed the practice of law. He moved to Des Moines in 1901 and continued the practice of his profession. He engaged in banking from 1911 to 1918. He died in Des Moines on January 29, 1923. He was interred in Harbach Funeral Home vault.

References

• Alva L. Hager at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa 1st W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum 2nd Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack 3rd Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young 4th Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King 5th Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thruston Le Compte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King 6th A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy 7th Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle 8th McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven 9th Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey 10th Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist 11th Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell AL Hastings and Leffler Terr Chapman A. Dodge

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.