Judge Hamilton Ward was born in Salisbury, Herkimer County, July 3, 1829. In 1849 he entered the law office of A. & W. P. Konkle of Elmira, as a student and applied himself with such assiduity that he was admitted to the bar in 1851. In September, 1851, he settled in Belmont and soon took a prominent position in the Allegany bar. In 1856 he was elected district attorney and again elected in 1862. In 1864 he was elected to congress, and was twice re-elected, serving six years continuously, during a very important period in the administration of the government. In congress he was a member of the committee on claims, of the committee on reconstruction and of the committee appointed to impeach President Johnson. For a few years subsequent to 1871 he devoted himself entirely to the practice of law and was considered as one of the most successful lawyers of the state. In 1879 he was elected attorney general of the state, and May, 1891, he was appointed to fill the vacancy on the bench of the Supreme Court made by the death of Judge Thomas Corlett. In the fall of 1891 he was elected justice of the Supreme Court, which high office he now holds, discharging its duties with ability of a high order. While in practice he was connected with many of the important cases in Western New York, among them that of The People vs. Hendryx for the murder of his wife. He was the successful attorney in the Angelica and Caneadea railroad bond cases, in the great Whitney divorce case and in other hotly contested causes. While attorney general he was assigned by the governor to prosecute Barney Hughes for the murder of W. J. Hadley, a distinguished criminal lawyer of Albany. The case attracted state-wide attention. and Mr. Ward’s summing up was very highly commended. As a member of the capitol commission he caused to be abrogated a contract for the purchase of granite at a saving to the state of $200,000. He was appointed by Gov. Hill a member of the commission to revise the constitution, and was one of those who opposed the final action of the commission, which resulted in its rejection by the legislature. ("Allegany County and Its People: A Centennial Memorial HISTORY OF ALLEGANY COUNTY,NY"; John S. Minard; W.A.Fergusson & Co., Alfred,NY, 1896)
Hon. Hamilton Ward was born in Salisbury, Herkimer county, July 3, 1829. He entered the law office of A. & W. P. Konkle, of Elmira, as a student in 1849, and in July, 1851, was admitted to the bar at Cooperstown, N.Y. In the following September he removed to Belmont. He was chosen district attorney of Allegany county in 1856 and re-elected in 1862. In 1864, he was elected to Congress, and re-elected in 1866 and 1868, serving six years without intermission, and acting during that period as a member of the Committee on Clains, of the Committee on Reconstruction and of the committee appointed to impeach President Johnson. Since 1871 he has been entirely engaged in the practice of his profession, and is justly regarded as one of the most successful lawyers in the State of New York. ("HISTORY OF ALLEGANY COUNTY,NY"; 1806-1879 F.W. Beers & Co.,NY; Geo. MacNamara, Printer, 36 Vesey St., NY 1879)