Hortense Sparks Ward (1872-1944) An influential women’s suffrage
supporter and the first woman admitted to the Texas state bar
was Hortense Sparks Ward. While a stenographer and court
reporter, Ward became interested in law. In 1910 she
successfully passed the bar exam in Texas. Ward then practiced
law with her second husband in the civil law firm of Ward and
Ward. In 1915 they were both admitted to practice before the
Supreme Court. Ward championed women’s rights lobbying in Texas
and wrote numerous newspaper articles and pamphlets. Other
issues she lobbied for were a fifty-four hour workweek for
women, a women’s division of the state department of labor, and
a domestic relations court. She practiced law until the death of
her husband in 1939, and she died in 1944. - Article is
excerpted from a NWHM Summer 2004 Newsletter - PHOTO: Texas
State Library & Archives Commission