Background
Born Hortense Sparks in Matagorda County, Texas, Ward grew up in Edna, Texas and attended Nazareth Academy, a convent school.
Born Hortense Sparks in Matagorda County, Texas, Ward grew up in Edna, Texas and attended Nazareth Academy, a convent school.
Ward chose to work behind the scenes rather than in court out of fear that all-male juries might react poorly to a female lawyer
The family moved to Houston in 1903, where Ward worked as a court reporter. In 1915, Ward became the first Texas woman to practice before the United States Supreme Court. Ward was a prominent campaigner for women"s suffrage and women"s rights.
She wrote pamphlets and newspaper articles and personally exhorted elected officials to vote for bills promoting women"s legal rights.
Ward led a successful 1918 campaign to allow women the right to vote in Texas primary elections and, on June 27 of that year, she became the first woman in Harris County, Texas to register to vote. Ward was appointed Special Chief Justice of a special all-female Texas Supreme Court in 1925.
After ten months of searching for suitable male replacements, Governor Pat Neff decided to appoint a special court composed of three women to decide the case. This court, consisting of Ward, Hattie Leah Henenberg, and Ruth Virginia Brazzil, met for five months and ultimately ruled in favor of Woodmen of the World.
Ward died in Houston in 1944.
All of the court"s male justices recused themselves from a case involving the Woodmen of the World fraternal organization, and, since nearly every member of the Texas Bar was a member of that organization and received insurance benefits from it, no male judges or attorneys could be found to hear the case.