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FIRST Woman to pass the Bar
Exam in Texas |
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Parents
Siblings
Married
Albert Malsch (1864 - 1915) on January 5, 1891 in
Jackson County, Texas.
Married 2nd:
William Henry Ward (1879 - 1939) on August 12, 1909 in
Houston, Harris County, Texas - buried Hollywood Cemetery,
Houston, Harris County, Texas |
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Pictures on the wall in the rear of the court are oil paintings of the First Supreme Court of Texas, Justices Wheeler, Hemphill and Lipscomb. Carved
on the bench and touched with gold is the old Latin maxim, "Sicut
Patribus, sit Deus Nobis," Dallas Morning News, January 10, 1925 Image number 1975/70-5363, Courtesy of Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Another Woman On High Court Bench Austin Bureau, The Dallas News. Austin, Texas, Jan. 7.--Miss Ruth Brazzil of Galveston Wednesday was appointed special Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas by Gov. Neff to take the place of Miss Nellie Robertson of Granbury, Hood County, disqualified. Miss Robertson, who had accepted the appointment, has notified the Governor she finds she is disqualified because she can not meet the constitutional requirements of having practiced law seven years in Texas or held the office of District Judge. She has practiced law six years and nine months. Mrs. Edith Wilmans of Dallas also resigned a few days ago as a member of the special court for the same reason. The special court as it now stands, which will meet in Austin Thursday to consider the case of Johnson vs. Darr, is composed of Mrs. Hortense Ward of Houston, special Chief Justice; Miss Hattie Henenberg of Dallas and Miss Brazzil, special Associate Justices.
Dallas Morning News, January 8, 1925 |
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HOUSTON, Dec. 5.--Mrs. Hortense Ward, Texas' first woman lawyer and widow of Harris County Judge W. H. Ward, died in a Houston hospital today after an illness of two weeks. She was 72. Daughter of the late Marie Louise and Fred Sparks, Mrs. Ward was born in Matagorda County and reared in Edna. She was admitted to the state bar a year before her marriage to Judge Ward in 1909. She retired from active practice after his death in March, 1939. Among her survivors are Mrs. Milam Kleas, a sister, of Port Arthur and George L. Sparks, a brother, of Tucumcari, N. M.
Lubbock Morning Avalanche, December 6,
1944 |
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Former County Judge W. H. Ward, 60, who served four years, from December 1912, and who staged a political comeback to occupy the same position again from 1933 to 1936, inclusive, died at 6:10 p. m. Wednesday at Memorial Hospital. Funeral services will be at 10 a. m. Friday from the drawing room of Geo. H. Lewis & Co., with Rev. Harry G. Knowles officiating. Temple Masonic Lodge will officiate at the burial in Hollywood Cemetery. William Henry Ward, native of Houston County, came into the political limelight in Harris County in 1912, when, as an attorney of 33, he made a successful whirlwind campaign against a field of opponents. He was destined to face a similar type of campaign nearly a quarter of a century later by the youthful Roy Hofheinz, who assumed the county judgeship January 1, 1937. Two of Judge Ward's bitterest opponents of former years became his warm friends in later years. They were County Auditor H. L. Washburn and former County Judge Chester H. Bryan. Big issues of Judge Ward's first tenure of office as county judge were sudden redistricting of county precincts and a proposed change in the fiscal system of the county government. County Auditor Washburn was making a fight to put his own ideas of county financing into effect. Political enmity between Washburn and Ward reached fever heat. Bryan came into the picture and on these issues defeated Judge Ward. They, too, became political enemies. U. of T. Graduate Son of a Georgian who became a merchant in Houston County, Judge Ward came to Houston as a boy and attended he public schools. At the University of Texas he received his law degree in 1902. He practiced law in Houston. In 1909 he married to Mrs. Hortense Malsch, one of the then few women attorneys of Texas. A year later the Wards were admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. Mrs. Ward was the first Southern Woman to be accorded this privilege, it was stated at the time. For a brief time Judge Ward served as county judge. Elected county judge, he took office December 1, 1912. He served until December 1, 1916, when he gave way to Judge Bryan. In the years following Judge Ward practiced law under the firm name of Ward & Ward. His partner was his wife. Pushed Road Work In both his first and his second administrations, much county road work was done. He interested himself in the $1,000,000 road program of the first administration and gave his best efforts to helping direct a $4,000,000 program in his second administration. Judge Ward's side interests were his lodge and national guard affiliations. At one time he served as secretary of the Scottish Rite bodies and was a member of Temple Blue Lodge and of Arabia Temple. He also was a member of the Elks Lodge and of the Modern Woodmen of America, Texas Camp No. 11932. He was a captain of the Texas National Guard. Survivors include the wife, Mrs. Hortense Ward; his mother, Mrs. S. B. Ward; a sister, Mrs. Gertrude Ward, both of Los Angeles; two stepdaughters, Mrs. John H. Crooker and Mrs. P. L. Buvens. Pallbearers will be P. L. Buvens, P. H. Buvens, John H. Crooker, Cyril Edgar, Stanton Hinkley and Bryan Sparks.
Houston Chronicle, March 30, 1939,
pages 1 & 2 |
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The death of Frank Sparks occurred yesterday morning at his home in Houston Heights, Courtland street. The remains were prepared by Sid Westheimer for shipment to Edna, Texas, where funeral services will be held this afternoon. Deceased, with his family, consisting of a wife and ten children, moved to Houston from Edna some months ago. He was 63 years of age. Houston Post, December 11, 1904 Fred Sparks was born July 4, 1839 and died December 10, 1904 and was buried at Memory Gardens in Edna, Jackson County, Texas. Fred married Marie Louise LaBauve on December 30, 1869 in Jackson County, Texas. She was born June 10, 1854 in Louisiana and died October 14, 1932 with burial at Hollywood Cemetery in Houston. Fred and Louisa were living in the Ashby community of Matagorda County in 1870 and their first child, Hortense, was born on July 20, 1872. Hortense would later become the first woman to pass the Texas State Bar Exam. She was the first Texas woman admitted to practice before the U. S. Supreme Court in 1915. In 1924, she was appointed as a special chief justice, heading the first all-woman high court in the United States. for more information on Hortense, see Justices of Texas 1836 - 1986 Fred was Worshipful Master of Trespalacios Masonic Lodge No 411 A. F. & A. M. in 1877. The family continued to live in Matagorda County until 1883 when they moved to Edna, Jackson County, Texas. His children were: Hortense, Julia, George L., Nellie E., Tenya M., Eleanor, Theresa, Ella, Fred R., Earle and Bryan Sparks. Mr. Sparks was a 1st Sergeant in Company L, 8th Cavalry Regiment known as Terry's Texas Rangers.
Gathered from various sources |
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Funeral services for Miss Nellie E. Sparks, who died at the home of her sister, Mrs. W. H. Ward, 310 Pacific, Monday morning, were held at 10 a. m. Tuesday in the drawing room of the Settegast-Kopt Company, 2017 Milam, with Father M. J. Daly officiating. Burial was in Hollywood Cemetery. Miss Sparks is survived by her mother, Mrs. L. M. Sparks of Houston; four sisters, Mrs. W. H. Ward, Miss Teresa Sparks and Mrs. C. D. Udell, all of Houston, and Mrs. J. R. Kleas of Port Arthur; two brothers, Bryan Sparks of Houston and George L. Sparks of Tucumcari, N. M. Pallbearers were M. R. Kleas, Judge W. H. Ward, John H. Crooker, P. L. Buvens, C. J. Edgar and C. B. Udell.
Houston Chronicle, August 30, 1932
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News came from San Antonio Tuesday of th death of Mr. Fred Sparks at the Baylor Hospital. Mrs. Sparks will be remembered as miss Minnie Grasshoff a former Shiner girl, who has many friends here. Several autos of relatives had planned to motor up for the funeral but the forbidding weather of Wedneseday morning prevented. Shiner Gazette, December 17, 1925 Former Resident of Edna is Dead Mr. and Mrs. G. M. Killingsworth of Ganado, passed through Edna Monday en route to San Antonio, where they were called by the death of Fred Sparks, who died Sunday night following an operation for appendicitis. Fred was born in Edna, where the Sparks family resided for many years. He was next to the youngest child of a large family of children. He was not grown when the family moved from Edna to Houston over 25 years ago. To the bereaved ones the Herald extends heartfelt sympathy.
Victoria Advocate, December 23, 1925 |
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Copyright 2018-
Present by Carol Sue Gibbs |
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| Created Aug. 1, 2018 |
Updated Aug. 3, 2018 |
