Orie Solomon Ware

Orie Solomon Ware (May 11, 1882 – December 16, 1974) was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky and a long-serving Democratic lawyer, prosecutor, and judge. He was born in Peach Grove, Pendleton County, Kentucky, on May 11, 1882. During his youth his family moved within northern Kentucky, and he attended the public schools of Covington, Kentucky, which became the center of his professional life. Seeking further education, he enrolled at the private academy of Professor George W. Dunlap in Independence, Kentucky, from which he graduated in 1899.

Ware pursued legal studies at the law department of the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio, earning an LL.B. degree in 1903. That same year he was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Covington, Kentucky. In addition to his legal work, he became involved in local financial affairs and engaged in banking, serving as a director of the First National Bank and Trust Co., a role that reflected his growing prominence in Covington’s civic and business community.

From the early years of his career, Ware was active in Democratic Party politics. He served as a delegate to all Democratic State conventions in Kentucky from 1910 to 1939, participating in the organization and direction of party affairs over nearly three decades. His political reliability and local standing led to his appointment as postmaster of Covington, a federal position he held from September 1, 1914, to July 1, 1921. This appointment placed him at the center of an important local federal office during a period that included World War I and its aftermath.

After leaving the postmastership, Ware returned to full-time legal work and soon entered public prosecution. He was elected commonwealth’s attorney of the sixteenth judicial circuit of Kentucky, serving from January 1, 1922, to February 1, 1927. In this capacity he was responsible for prosecuting criminal cases on behalf of the state, and he gained further recognition as a trial lawyer and public official. He resigned from this office in early 1927 as he prepared to assume national legislative responsibilities.

Ware was elected as a Democrat to the Seventieth Congress and served as a U.S. Representative from Kentucky from March 4, 1927, to March 3, 1929. Representing a northern Kentucky district, he served one term in the House of Representatives during the administration of President Calvin Coolidge and the beginning of Herbert Hoover’s rise to national prominence. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1928 to the Seventy-first Congress, choosing instead to resume his legal career in Kentucky rather than pursue a prolonged tenure in national office.

Following his service in Congress, Ware returned to Covington and resumed the practice of law. Over the ensuing decades he remained a respected figure in the legal community and continued his association with Democratic politics and local civic affairs. In the later phase of his career, he again entered judicial service and served as a circuit judge from 1957 to 1958, capping a long professional life that had included roles as attorney, prosecutor, legislator, and judge.

In his later years, Ware resided in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, a suburban community near Covington. He lived there in retirement from active public life while maintaining his longstanding ties to the region where he had built his career. He died in Fort Mitchell on December 16, 1974, at the age of ninety-two. He was interred in Highland Cemetery, leaving a record of more than half a century of involvement in Kentucky’s legal, political, and civic life.