Esther Hobart Morris
- Bronze
- Joel Turner
“Esther Hobart Morris” is a part of the Capitol Avenue Bronze public art collection . . donated to the City of Cheyenne by private individuals, organizations or companies. For more information about the Capitol Avenue Bronze Project, visit Deselms Fine Art at https://deselmsfineart.com
Esther Hobart Morris is another Wyoming “first” in United States history. She was the first woman in the United States to serve as a justice of the peace.
Esther Hobart McQuigg was born in the village of Spencer, Tioga County, New York, on August 8, 1812. She married Artemus Slack, an engineer for the railroad, in 1841. In May 1843 just short of her 31st birthday, her husband died. Angry with the New York laws prohibiting women from owning property, she moved to Illinois, where her late husband had acquired property. She married John Morris in 1846 in Ottawa, Illinois.
In 1868 Esther's husband John moved to South Pass City in Dakota Territory, soon to become Wyoming Territory. Esther ventured west to join John in 1869, first traveling by train to a way station on the newly completed Transcontinental Railroad at Bryan, 15 miles from present-day Green River. From there, she continued north by stagecoach to South Pass City.
District Court Judge John W. Kingman appointed Esther as justice of the peace in 1870. It took some "prodding" but she subsequently completed an application for the post and submitted a required $500 bond. The Sweetwater County Board of Commissioners in a vote of two to one approved her application on February 14, 1870. Her momentous appointment followed the resignation of Justice R. S. Barr, who quit in protest of the territorial legislature's passage of the women's suffrage amendment in December, 1869.
Judge Morris ruled on 27 cases during her more than eight months in office, including nine criminal cases. None were overturned according to records at the Wyoming State Archives, although a few cases were appealed but upheld by the appellate court. She held her justice of the peace post until the term that she had been appointed to fill expired on December 6, 1870. She sought reelection but failed to muster a nomination from either the Republican or Democratic parties.
Esther Hobart Morris died in Cheyenne on April 2, 1902, at age 87. She is buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Cheyenne, where a simple stone monument adorned only with her name marks her grave site.
- Current Location: 2301 Capitol Avenue - 2301 Capitol Ave Cheyenne, WY 82001 (google map)
- Collections: Capitol Avenue Bronzes