Hamilton Ward Sr. (July 3, 1829– December 28, 1898) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a judge on the Supreme Court of New York, the attorney general of New York, and a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

Education

He attended the common schools and was privately tutored. He studied law in Elmira, New York, was admitted to the bar.

Early career

He commenced legal practice in Philipsville in 1851. Beginning in 1858 Ward was regularly selected as a delegate to New York's Republican state conventions, and he attended almost every one until 1890. He was district attorney of Allegany County from 1856 to 1859 and again from 1862 to 1865. He was appointed in 1862 by the governor of New York as commissioner to raise and equip troops for the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

United States House of Representatives

Ward was elected as a

to the 39th, 40th and

41st United States Congress The 41st United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 186 ...

es, serving from March 4, 1865 to March 3, 1871. While a Representative, he was Chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims (Fortieth Congress). In 1868, Ward was on the seven-person committee tasked with authoring the articles of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson after Johnson was impeached. Ward was not a candidate for renomination to the House in 1870.

Post-congressional career in New York State politics

Ward was attorney general of New York from 1880 to 1881, elected in 1879. Ward was a delegate to the

New York State Constitutional Convention The Constitution of the State of New York establishes the structure of the government of the State of New York, and enumerates the basic rights of the citizens of New York. Like most state constitutions in the United States, New York's constituti ...

of 1890, and was appointed (and subsequently elected) a justice of the New York Supreme Court and served from 1891 to 1895, and in the Appellate Division from 1895 until his death in 1898.

Personal life

Ward's son Hamilton Ward Jr. would go on to serve as attorney general of New York himself (1929–1930). Ward was buried at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Belmont.

References

Sources

Obituary
in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' on December 29, 1898

External links

Additional biographic material
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Hamilton Sr. 1829 births 1898 deaths People from Salisbury, Herkimer County, New York People from Wellsville, New York County district attorneys in New York (state) New York State Attorneys General New York Supreme Court Justices Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American judges Impeachment of Andrew Johnson