John D. Works

File:John D. Works, 1909.jpg

Works was born in Ohio County, Indiana, and attended public schools there.{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=J. Edward|title=History of the California Supreme Court: The Justices 1850–1900, vol 1|date=1963|publisher=Bender Moss Co|location=San Francisco, CA|pages=156–161|url=http://library.courtinfo.ca.gov/included/docs/SCJC_Vol_1.pdf|access-date=August 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161227124913/http://library.courtinfo.ca.gov/included/docs/SCJC_Vol_1.pdf|archive-date=December 27, 2016|url-status=dead}} During the American Civil War, he served as a member of the 10th Regiment of the Indiana Cavalry. Once discharged, he returned home, read law and in 1868 was admitted to the Indiana bar.{{cite news|title=About the Courts|url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=IJ18730506.1.4&srpos=2&e=------187-en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22John+d.+Works%22------|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Indianapolis Journal|issue=100|publisher=Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program|date=6 May 1873|volume = 2|page=4|quote=John D. Works [was] admitted to practice in the Superior Court}}{{cite news|title=Personal|url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INN18730604-01.1.3&srpos=1&e=------187-en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22John+d.+Works%22------|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Indianapolis News|publisher=Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program|date=4 June 1873|page=3|quote=John D. Works [was] yesterday admitted to practice in the Civil Circuit Court}} In November 1878, he was elected as a representative in the Indiana General Assembly, serving during the 1879 term.{{cite news|title=The Legislature|url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INN18790313-01.1.4&srpos=3&e=------187-en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22John+d.+Works%22------|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Indianapolis News|publisher=Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program|date=13 March 1879|page=4}} In June 1883, he published a book of practice, pleading and forms to match the revised code of Indiana.{{cite news|title=Just published: Practice, Pleading and Forms|url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INN18830618-01.1.4&srpos=1&e=------188-en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22John+d.+Works%22------|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Indianapolis News|publisher=Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program|date=18 June 1883|page=4}}

In 1883, Works's poor health forced a move to San Diego, California, where he became active in the Republican Party, and rose in California politics. In September 1886, he ran on the Republican ticket, and prior to the election was appointed by Governor Robert Waterman as a judge of the San Diego County Superior Court.{{cite news|title=County Tickets|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18860912.2.66.1&srpos=3&e=------188-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+d.+works%22-------1|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Daily Alta California|issue=13528|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=12 September 1886|volume = 41|page=5}}{{cite news|title=State News|url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INN18861013-01.1.1&srpos=32&e=------188-en-20--21--txt-txIN-%22John+d.+Works%22------|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Indianapolis News|publisher=Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program|date=13 October 1886|page=1|quote=John D. Works, a former Vevay lawyer, has been appointed superior judge of San Diego, Cal., by the governor, being already the republican candidate for that position at the next election.}} In September 1887, he resigned to return to private practice, and Governor Waterman appointed Edwin Parker to fill the vacant seat.{{cite news|title=Superior Court: Judge Parker Takes His Seat-Complimentary Resolutions to Judge Works.|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=CM18870920.2.22&srpos=22&e=------188-en--20--21--txt-txIN-%22john+d.+works%22-------1|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Coronado Mercury|issue=109|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=20 September 1887|page=4}}

In 1888, Governor Waterman appointed Works as an associate justice of the California Supreme Court to fill a vacancy after the resignation of Elisha W. McKinstry.{{cite news|title=State Republicans|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU18880801.2.13&srpos=38&e=------188-en--20--21--txt-txIN-%22john+d.+works%22-------1|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Sacramento Daily Union|issue=137|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=1 August 1888|volume = 59|page=2}}{{cite news|title=Young Republicans|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=CM18880807.2.32&srpos=2&e=------188-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+d.+works%22-------1|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Coronado Mercury|issue=70|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=7 August 1888|page=4}}{{cite news|title=Fourth Ward Republicans|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=CM18880809.2.39&srpos=1&e=------188-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+d.+works%22-------1|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Coronado Mercury|issue=72|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=9 August 1888|page=4}} In August 1888, the Republican Party nominated Works and he was elected to the remaining portion of McKinstry's term ending January 5, 1891.{{cite news|title=Local Brevities|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU18881212.2.18&srpos=28&e=------188-en--20--21--txt-txIN-%22john+d.+works%22-------1|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Sacramento Daily Union|issue=97|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=12 December 1888|volume = 60|page=2|quote=Yesterday the Governor issued a certificate of election to John D. Works as Associate Justice for the term expiring January, 1891, vice E. W. McKinstry, resigned.}}{{cite news|title=The Returns|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH18881107.2.2&srpos=37&e=------188-en--20--21--txt-txIN-%22john+d.+works%22-------1|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Los Angeles Herald|issue=36|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=7 November 1888|volume = 31|page=1}} In 1891, after stepping down from the bench, Works became president of the San Diego Sun company, and then returned to private practice with his son in the firm of Works & Works in San Diego.{{cite news|title=Pacific Coast News|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SN18910123.2.5&srpos=2&e=------189-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+d.+works%22----1891---1|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Sausalito News|issue=50|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=23 January 1891|volume = 6|page=1}}{{cite news|title=A Pert Petition|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18931104.2.25&srpos=2&e=------189-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+d.+works%22----1893---1|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=San Francisco Call|issue=157|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=4 November 1893|volume = 74|page=2}}{{cite news|title=Gossip of the Hotels|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18930708.2.48&srpos=1&e=------189-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+d.+works%22----1893---1|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=San Francisco Call|issue=38|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=8 July 1893|volume = 74|page=6|quote=Judge John D. Works, ex-Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California, Is at the Palace Hotel. Judge Works lives In San Diego, where he has a lucrative legal practice and extensive real estate Interests. He has no desire for political or judicial honors, and declined the nomination three years ago as Chief Justice of the State.}}

In January 1896, Works moved to Los Angeles, California.{{cite news|title=Festivities at San Diego|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH18960131.2.34.3&srpos=4&e=------189-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+d.+works%22----1896---1|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Los Angeles Herald|issue=112|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=31 January 1896|volume = 45|page=9}} In 1903, Works served as President of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.{{Cite web |title=LACBA Presidents |url=https://lacba.org/?pg=LACBA-Presidents |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=lacba.org}} On December 7, 1909, he was elected as a member of the Los Angeles City Council, and chosen as its president, but he resigned shortly after on March 22, 1910.

In 1911, Works was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served on the committee on Expenditures in the War Department (Sixty-second United States Congress) and the Committee on Fisheries.{{cite news|title=Latest News|url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=LCT19110112.1.1&srpos=6&e=------191-en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22John+d.+Works%22------|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Hammond Times|issue=174|publisher=Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program|date=12 January 1911|volume = 5|page=1}} In February 1917, he and other Progressive Senators, under the moniker "twelve willful men," blocked by filibuster legislation empowering President Woodrow Wilson to arm merchant vessels prior to the United States entering World War I.{{cite news|title=Extra Session of Congress Seems Probable|url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=RPD19170309.1.1&srpos=15&e=------191-en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22John+d.+Works%22------|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Richmond Palladium (Daily)|issue=100|publisher=Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program|date=9 March 1917|volume = 42|page=1}}{{cite book|last1=Graham|first1=Katherine|title=Katharine Graham's Washington|date=2009|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0307421517|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ukCKZi360lsC&q=%22twelve+willful+men%22+1917&pg=PT424|access-date=September 11, 2017}} Diary entry for March 1, 1917

Works did not seek renomination to his Senate seat in 1916. The Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for U.S. senators to be elected by the people instead of state legislatures, had been adopted in 1913 but allowed senators serving at the time to finish their terms. Works was the last U.S. senator from California to be elected by the Legislature.

After retiring from the Senate he wrote two books: Duty to Man: A Study of Social Conditions and How They May Be Improved (1919) and What's Wrong With the World? (1922).

On June 6, 1928, he died in Los Angeles and his ashes were placed in Inglewood Park Cemetery.{{cite news|title=Former California Solon Dies in L.A.|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SBS19280607.1.4&srpos=1&e=------192-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+d.+works%22----1928---1|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=San Bernardino Sun|issue=99|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=7 June 1928|volume = 62|page=4}}

On November 7, 1868, he married Alice Banta, in Vevay, Indiana, and they had two sons, Thomas L. and Louis R., who became an attorney and practiced with his father, and later the presiding justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Division;{{cite news|title=Judge Lewis of San Diego County Dead After Week's Illness|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SBS19201231.1.1&srpos=9&e=------192-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+d.+works%22-------1|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=San Bernardino Sun|agency=UPI|issue=121|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=31 December 1920|volume = 48|page=1}}{{cite news|title=Justice Finlayson Draws Long Term|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19201230.2.541&srpos=2&e=------192-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+d.+works%22-------1|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Los Angeles Herald|issue=51|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=30 December 1920|page=B13}} as well as five daughters: Josephine (who died as an infant), Ida, Laura, Ethel and Isabel.{{cite news|title=Personal|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SBS18950327.1.3&srpos=8&e=------189-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+d.+works%22----1895---1|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=San Bernardino Sun|issue=23|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=27 March 1895|volume = 2|page=3}}{{cite news|title=L. A. Girl to Marry Tax Expert|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19200427.2.3&srpos=6&e=------192-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22john+d.+works%22-------1|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=Los Angeles Herald|issue=152|publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=27 April 1920|page=A1|quote=Miss Darling, who graduated from the Los Angeles high school almost three years ago, spent the winter of 1917–18 In Washington, when her grandfather was In the senate, and enjoyed a very brilliant social success.}} He is said to have been a member of the Church of Christ, Scientist.[http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/christian-scientist.html The Political Graveyard: Christian Scientist Politicians] at politicalgraveyard.com

{{Reflist}}

• Works, John D. (1919). [https://archive.org/details/mansdutytomanstu00workrich Man's Duty to Man: A Study of Social Conditions and How They May Be Improved]. New York: Neale Publishing Co.
• [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Works,%20John%20D.%20(John%20Downey),%201847-1928 Online books by John D. Works]. Library of the University of Pennsylvania.

{{commons category|John Downey Works}}

{{CongBio|W000743}}

• [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf0779n4gh/ Guide to the John D. Works Papers] at The Bancroft Library
• [http://www.cschs.org/history/california-supreme-court-justices/john-d-works/ John D. Works]. California Supreme Court Historical Society.
• [https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/3300058/works-v-superior-court/?stat_Non-Precedential=on&sort=score+asc&stat_Relating-to+orders=on&court_cadc=on&stat_Precedential=on&stat_Errata=on&page=79 John D. Works v. Superior Court], 130 Cal. 304, 62 P. 507 (Cal. 1900).
• [http://www.courts.ca.gov/12523.htm Past & Present Justices]. California State Courts. Retrieved July 19, 2017.

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{{s-bef|rows=2|before=Office established}}

{{s-ttl|title=President of the Los Angeles City Council|years=1909–1910}}

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{{s-ttl|title=Los Angeles City Council Member|years=1909–1910}}

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{{Succession box| title=U.S. Senator (Class 1) from California | before=Frank P. Flint | after=Hiram Johnson | alongside=George C. Perkins, James D. Phelan | years=1911–1917}}

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{{succession box

|title=Associate Justice the Supreme Court of California

|before= Elisha W. McKinstry

|after=Ralph C. Harrison

|years=1888–1891}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Works, John Downey}}

Category:1847 births

Category:1928 deaths

Category:People from Rising Sun, Indiana

Category:American Christian Scientists

Category:California Republicans

Category:Republican Party United States senators from California

Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of California

Category:Superior court judges in the United States

Category:U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law

Category:19th-century American judges

Category:19th-century American lawyers

Category:20th-century American lawyers

Category:19th-century members of the Indiana General Assembly

Category:Politicians from San Diego

Category:Presidents of the Los Angeles City Council

Category:People of Indiana in the American Civil War

Category:Union army soldiers

Category:Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery

Category:California state court judges

Category:20th-century United States senators