Henry Schell Hagert

Henry Schell Hagert (/ˈheɪɡərt/; May 2, 1826 – December 18, 1885) was a United States lawyer, writer, and poet.[1]

Formative years

Hagert was born on May 2, 1826 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1842, he graduated from Central High School.

Admitted to the bar on May 8, 1847, he soon became solicitor for the board of guardians of the poor. After the consolidation of the city in 1854, he was appointed assistant city solicitor, as which he drafted many important city ordinances. He served as prosecuting attorney in the commonwealth versus Frank Kelly (for the murder of Octavius Catto). He confronted a witness for changing his answer on the stand [2] and the jury acquitted Frank Kelly.

Hagert then served as assistant district attorney in 1856–1857, 1868–1871, and 1875–1878, and as district attorney in 1878–1881. He was especially distinguished as a nisi prius lawyer. He also served as solicitor for the Board of Guardians of the Poor. [1]

He was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1875.[3]

He was great-great grandfather to Thornton Hagert, musicologist of Vernacular Music Research.

In early life he contributed prose and poetry to periodicals. After his death, a volume of his poems, with a memoir by Charles Augustus Lagen, was printed privately (see below).

Local Notes

Both Hagert Street and Schell street in Philadelphia are named in recognition of his ancestry.

The Friends of Hagert Street Playground host local events in Kensington.[4]

Death and interment

He died in Philadelphia, where he was interred in Laurel Hill Cemetery.

Works
  • Henry S. Hagert, Henry S. Hagert Memorial: Poems and Verses, with sketch of his life (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1886).

References
  1. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1892). "Hagert, Henry Schell" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
  2. Kelly, Frank; Griffin, H. H. The trial of Frank Kelly for the assassination (!) & murder of Octavius V. Catto, on October 10, 1871 . Wellesley College Library. Philadelphia, Daily tribune co.
  3. "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  4. "Kensington: Friends of Hagert Street Playground Make a Difference". 2014-06-16. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
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