Archives West Finding Aid

Joseph Wicks was born in 1896 in Braggs, Oklahoma. Because he was one-quarter Cherokee he was an enrollee in the Cherokee Nation. This lineage has had much to do with Wicks' private and professional life over the course of his career, including a proposed appointment as Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

Wicks graduated from high school at Bacone College, a Baptist Mission school in 1917. He then went into the army, serving overseas from 1917 to 1919. Upon his return to the states he attended the University of Oklahoma during 1919 and 1920. He then left school and took a job as Deputy U.S. Marshal in Muskogee, Oklahoma from 1921 to 1923. While attending George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C., from 1923 to 1926, he worked as a clerk in the Justice Department. Although admitted to practice law in Oklahoma, Wicks worked for the U.S. Treasury Department for a year and then as an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation until 1928.

Wicks began his private practice in 1928 in Alaska but soon came to Washington State where he settled permanently. Between 1929 and 1946, Wicks practiced law in Seattle, Grand Coulee, and Okanogan. He was elected to the office of Superior Court Judge in 1946, and served in this capacity for Okanogan and Ferry Counties from 1947 through 1960. After his retirement from the bench, Judge Wicks returned to private practice, setting up the law firm of Wicks Thomas in Okanogan, Washington. In 1963 and 1964 Wicks served as one of the defense attorneys in the Goldmark vs. Canwell Case. Throughout his career Wicks had been interested in Indian Affairs, and in 1965 he agreed to represent the Colville Confederated Tribes as tribal attorney. He remained in this capacity until his resignation in 1970. In 1973 the Judge was again called to the Bench to serve on a pro tempore Supreme Court dealing with the constitutional questions of the Yelle vs. Kramer Case.