Years active 1908-1946 Rank Lieutenant | Political party Republican Allegiance United States of America | |
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Full Name John Meier Sternhagen Born March 21, 1888 Mount Vernon, New York Occupation Lawyer, Board Member, Judge Spouse(s) Gertrude Hussey (1927-1954; his death Children Frances Sternhagen (b. 1930) Parent(s) Herman (1845-1925), Christina (1854) Died 1954, Washington, D.C., United States | ||
Judge John Meier Sternhagen was a member of the US Board of Tax Appeals and a judge of the Tax Court of the United States, from July 16, 1924 until June 1, 1946. He is the father of actress Frances Sternhagen.
Judge Sternhagen was born on March 21, 1888 in Mount Vernon, New York, the youngest of five children. His parents were Herman Sr. (1845-1925), a German-American immigrant, and Christina Sternhagen, a native of New York. Sternhagen's siblings included Amelia (b. 1879), Louisa (b. 1882), Ella Cornelia (b. 1883) and Herman Jr. (b. 1885).
Sternhagen lived in Mount Vernon with his family for the entirety of his adolescence. In 1908, at age 20, he started working as a clerk at 229th Street, Columbus Avenue as well as on 10th and 11th Avenue. John then became a secretary at 425th Street on 4th Avenue in 1914 when he was 26.
By 1918, at age 30, Sternhagen was working as a secretary on 0 North, Kith Avenue, around the time that John was drafted in World War I. He was employed as 2nd Lieutenant of the Air Service Division stationed in Washington DC. John never saw combat, but served honorably from October 25, 1918 until he was honorably discharged on January 30, 1919.
On his return from war service, Sternhagen settled back in his home at 6 North Street, 15th Avenue in Mount Vernon. After four years, John moved himself to Chicago, Illinois, where he began working as a Republican Tax lawyer for hire, working at 106th South La Salle Street in 1923, coinciding with the death of President Warren G. Harding and the ascension of Calvin Coolidge, a small government conservative Republican.
President Coolidge pushed forward, with the guidance of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, passed the Revenue Act of 1924, cutting overall taxes and establishing the US Board of Tax Appeals. Coolidge selected 12 initial members of the board, most of them fellow Republicans, and one of them being Sternhagen. Following Coolidge's appointment and Congress's confirmation, John took the oath of office with his fellow board members in the office of Under Secretary Garrard B. Wilson on July 16, 1924.
Three years into his service, Sternhagen met and married Gertrude Hussey (b. 1894, d. 1977), a socialite and former war nurse during World War I. They married on April 29, 1927 in Manhattan, New York and moved to Washington DC in 1928. John sold his stock options and bought a house on O Street. On January 13, 1930, their only daughter, Frances "Frannie" Sternhagen, was born in DC. The family became involved in many different facets of local political relations, including a long-time friendship with future Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, and his family.
John Sternhagen continued to serve on the Board until, in 1942, it was converted into the Tax Court of the United States, thus making Sternhagen an official federal judge. It was around this time that his health began to deteriorate and his mind began to fail. He officially retired from the Tax Court on June 1, 1946.
Judge John Meier Sternhagen died in 1954 in Washington DC at the age of 66. He was survived by his wife Gertrude and his daughter Frances.