Terry Wilson Ward (September 24, 1885 – June 10, 1929) was an American attorney who served as an associate justice of the
Supreme Court of California from December 19, 1922, to January 8, 1923, which is the shortest term of any California justice.
Biography
Ward was born in Merced, California, to Eliza M. Scott and Russell Henry Ward, an attorney who named his son after California Chief Justice
David S. Terry
David Smith Terry (March 8, 1823 – August 14, 1889) was an American politician and jurist who served as the fourth chief justice of the Supreme Court of California; he was an author of the state's 1879 Constitution.
Terry won a duel aga ...
.
Ward was educated in the public schools, and graduated from
Merced High School
Merced High School is located in Merced, California, United States. It is a part of the Merced Union High School District.
The current enrollment is over 1,800 students in grades 9 through 12. The school is currently under Principal Marcus Knott ...
.
He attended
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...
for two years, and in 1909 was admitted to the
California Bar
The State Bar of California is California's official attorney licensing agency. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, prescribing appropriate disciplin ...
.
Ward entered into private practice in San Francisco with James F. Peck.
After a time, he moved his office to Merced for a period of ten years. In 1918, he was appointed by the court to defend a charge of first degree murder in case of a husband killing his mother-in-law. In early 1921, he returned to San Francisco, and by April found work with the State Corporation Commission.
He was assigned to a series of offices, including Los Angeles, then Sacramento, and by late 1922 back to San Francisco.
Ward came to serve on the court due to a shuffling of the positions of several justices. In July 1921,
Charles A. Shurtleff was appointed to replace
Warren Olney, Jr., who had resigned. Shurtleff served the remainder of Olney's term, which lasted a little over one year until the next election. In the November 1922 election, Shurtleff ran for a full term against
Emmett Seawell but lost. There was a "write in" campaign to fill the remaining stub of Shurtleff's term.
Ward received the most write in votes to succeed Shurtleff for the short interim term running from the election of November 7, 1922, to January 8, 1923. Seawell was elected at the same election for a twelve year term to follow Ward's two week term.
After stepping down from the bench on January 7, 1923, he formed a law firm in San Francisco with Fred Berry, with whom he practiced until March 1924.
However, ill health from tuberculosis required him to cease his practice. He regained his strength sufficiently to travel to Europe in 1926 and 1927.
He had a relapse of his condition and died on June 10, 1929, in
Los Gatos, California.
Personal life
In 1916, he married Blanche Evelyn Ahlers (April 24, 1889 – December 2, 1961) of San Francisco, a 1911 literature graduate of the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, whom he had met vacationing in
Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Hal ...
.
The couple had no children.
References
External links
Terry W. Ward California Supreme Court Historical Society. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
California State Courts. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
See also
*
List of justices of the Supreme Court of California
The Supreme Court of California is the highest judicial body in the state and sits at the apex of the judiciary of California. Its membership consists of the Chief Justice of California and six associate justices who are nominated by the Govern ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Terry W.
1885 births
1929 deaths
20th-century American lawyers
20th-century American judges
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Justices of the Supreme Court of California
Stanford Law School alumni
Lawyers from San Francisco
People from Merced, California
Tuberculosis deaths in California
19th-century American lawyers