109th New York State Legislature

The 109th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 5 to May 20, 1886, during the second year of David B. Hill's governorship, in Albany.

109th New York State Legislature
← 108th 110th →
New York State Capitol (2009)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	January 1 – December 31, 1886
Senate
Members	32
President	Lt. Gov. Edward F. Jones (D)
Temporary President	Edmund L. Pitts (R)
Party control	Republican (20-12)
Assembly
Members	128
Speaker	James W. Husted (R)
Party control	Republican (77-51)
Sessions
1st January 5 – May 20, 1886

Background

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1846, 32 Senators and 128 assemblymen were elected in single-seat districts; senators for a two-year term, assemblymen for a one-year term. The senatorial districts were made up of entire counties, except New York County (seven districts) and Kings County (three districts). The Assembly districts were made up of entire towns, or city wards,[1] forming a contiguous area, all within the same county.

At this time there were two major political parties: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. In New York City the Democrats were split into three factions: Tammany Hall, "Irving Hall" and the "County Democrats". The Prohibition Party and the Greenback Party also nominated tickets.

Elections

The New York state election, 1885 was held on November 3. Governor David B. Hill was re-elected; and Edward F. Jones was elected Lieutenant Governor. The other five statewide elective offices up for election were also carried by the Democrats. The approximate party strength at this election, as expressed by the vote for Governor, was: Democrats 501,000; Republicans 490,000; Prohibition 31,000; and Greenback 2,000.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 5, 1886; and adjourned on May 20.

James W. Husted (R) was again elected Speaker, against William F. Sheehan (D).

Edmund L. Pitts (R) was elected president pro tempore of the State Senate.

State Senate

Districts

• 1st District: Queens and Suffolk counties
• 2nd District: 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 12th and 22nd Ward of the City of Brooklyn, and the towns of Flatbush, Gravesend and New Utrecht in Kings County
• 3rd District: 3rd, 4th, 7th, 11th, 13th, 19th, 20th, 21st and 23rd Ward of the City of Brooklyn
• 4th District: 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 24th and 25th Ward of the City of Brooklyn, and the towns of New Lots and Flatlands in Kings County
• 5th District: Richmond County and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 14th and parts of the 4th and 9th Ward of New York City
• 6th District: 7th, 11th, 13th and part of the 4th Ward of NYC
• 7th District: 10th, 17th and part of the 15th, 18th and 21st Ward of NYC
• 8th District: 16th and part of the 9th, 15th, 18th, 20th and 21st Ward of NYC
• 9th District: Part of the 18th, 19th and 21st Ward of NYC
• 10th District: Part of the 12th, 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd Ward of NYC
• 11th District: 23rd and 24th, and part of the 12th, 20th and 22nd Ward of NYC
• 12th District: Rockland and Westchester counties
• 13th District: Orange and Sullivan counties
• 14th District: Greene, Schoharie and Ulster counties
• 15th District: Columbia, Dutchess and Putnam counties
• 16th District: Rensselaer and Washington counties
• 17th District: Albany County
• 18th District: Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery, Saratoga and Schenectady counties
• 19th District: Clinton, Essex and Warren counties
• 20th District: Franklin, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties
• 21st District: Oswego and Jefferson counties
• 22nd District: Oneida County
• 23rd District: Herkimer, Madison and Otsego counties
• 24th District: Chenango, Delaware and Broome counties
• 25th District: Onondaga and Cortland counties
• 26th District: Cayuga, Seneca, Tompkins and Tioga counties
• 27th District: Allegany, Chemung and Steuben counties
• 28th District: Ontario, Schuyler, Wayne and Yates counties
• 29th District: Monroe and Orleans counties
• 30th District: Genesee, Livingston, Niagara and Wyoming counties
• 31st District: Erie County
• 32nd District: Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties

Note: There are now 62 counties in the State of New York. The counties which are not mentioned in this list had not yet been established, or sufficiently organized, the area being included in one or more of the abovementioned counties.

Members

The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature. Edward F. Reilly, Francis Hendricks, Charles F. Barager and John Raines changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

District	Senator	Party	Notes
1st	Edward F. Fagan	Democrat
2nd	James F. Pierce	Democrat
3rd	Stephen M. Griswold	Republican
4th	Jacob Worth	Republican
5th	Michael C. Murphy*	County Dem.	re-elected
6th	Edward F. Reilly*	Tammany Dem.
7th	James Daly*	Democrat	re-elected
8th	Thomas C. Dunham	Democrat
9th	John J. Cullen*	Tam./Irv. H. Dem.	re-elected
10th	William C. Traphagen	Democrat
11th	George W. Plunkitt*	Tammany Dem.	re-elected
12th	Henry C. Nelson*	Democrat	re-elected
13th	Henry R. Low*	Republican	re-elected
14th	Henry C. Connelly	Republican
15th	Jacob W. Hoysradt	Republican
16th	Albert C. Comstock*	Republican	re-elected
17th	Amasa J. Parker, Jr.	Democrat
18th	Edward Wemple	Democrat
19th	Rowland C. Kellogg	Republican
20th	Charles L. Knapp	Republican
21st	George B. Sloan	Republican
22nd	Henry J. Coggeshall*	Republican	re-elected
23rd	John E. Smith	Republican
24th	Matthew W. Marvin	Republican
25th	Francis Hendricks*	Republican
26th	Charles F. Barager*	Republican
27th	J. Sloat Fassett*	Republican	re-elected
28th	John Raines*	Republican
29th	Edmund L. Pitts	Republican	elected President pro tempore
30th	Edward C. Walker	Republican
31st	Daniel H. McMillan	Republican
32nd	Commodore P. Vedder*	Republican	re-elected

Employees

• Clerk: John W. Vrooman
• Sergeant-at-Arms: James C. Murray
• Doorkeeper: John H. Houck
• Stenographer: Harris A. Corell

State Assembly

Assemblymen

The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued as members of this Legislature.

District		Assemblymen	Party	Notes
Albany	1st	John Bowe	Democrat
	2nd	Smith O'Brien	Republican
	3rd	Norton Chase	Democrat
	4th	Terence I. Hardin*	Democrat
Allegany		William R. McEwen*	Republican
Broome		Isaac C. Edson	Republican
Cattaraugus	1st	Frederick W. Kruse*	Republican
	2nd	Erastus S. Ingersoll	Republican
Cayuga	1st	Frank M. Parsons	Republican
	2nd	Michael B. Van Buskirk*	Republican
Chautauqua	1st	Jerome Babcock	Republican
	2nd	Newell Cheney	Republican
Chemung		Robert P. Bush	Democrat
Chenango		Truman I. Matterson	Republican
Clinton		George W. Palmer*	Republican
Columbia		John C. Hogeboom*[2]	Republican
Cortland		Milfred M. Brown	Republican
Delaware		Charles J. Knapp	Republican
Dutchess	1st	Joseph H. Storm*	Republican
	2nd	John I. Platt	Republican
Erie	1st	William F. Sheehan*	Democrat	Minority Leader
	2nd	Frank M. Giese*	Democrat
	3rd	Edward Gallagher	Republican
	4th	John Kraus	Republican
	5th	Amos H. Baker*	Republican
Essex		Wesley Barnes*	Republican
Franklin		Floyd J. Hadley	Republican
Fulton and Hamilton		Alden W. Berry*	Republican
Genesee		Charles A. Seaver	Republican
Greene		Stephen T. Hopkins*	Republican	on November 2, 1886, elected to the 50th U.S. Congress
Herkimer		John M. Budlong*	Republican
Jefferson	1st	Allen E. Kilby*	Republican
	2nd	Edward B. Bulkley	Republican
Kings	1st	Moses J. Wafer*	Democrat
	2nd	William H. McLaughlin	Democrat
	3rd	Peter K. McCann*	Democrat
	4th	Henry F. Haggerty*	Democrat
	5th	James A. McMahon	Democrat
	6th	Thomas F. Farrell*	Democrat
	7th	George H. Lindsay*	Democrat
	8th	Robert E. Connelly*	Democrat
	9th	James A. Brown	Republican
	10th	John B. Longley	Democrat
	11th	Henry D. Hotchkiss	Democrat
	12th	Richard V. B. Newton	Democrat
Lewis		Rutson Rea	Republican
Livingston		William Y. Robinson	Republican
Madison		William S. Leete	Republican
Monroe	1st	Frank Gardner	Republican
	2nd	Charles R. Pratt	Republican
	3rd	George W. Sime	Republican
Montgomery		Thomas Liddle*	Republican
New York	1st	Daniel E. Finn*	County/Irv. H. Dem.
	2nd	Thomas Maher	Tammany Dem.
	3rd	James E. Power	County Dem.
	4th	Jeremiah Hayes	Tam./Irv. H. Dem.
	5th	Michael Brennan*	County Dem.
	6th	Philip Kiernan	Ind./Tam./Irv. H. Dem.	Assemblyman-elect William Hall died November 30, 1885; Kiernan elected to fill vacancy on December 29, 1885
	7th	Lucas L. Van Allen*	Republican
	8th	Charles Smith*	Republican
	9th	John D. Naugle	Tam./County Dem.
	10th	Charles A. Binder	Republican
	11th	Robert Ray Hamilton	Republican
	12th	Moses Dinkelspiel	County Dem.
	13th	John P. Windolph*	Republican
	14th	Lewis J. Conlan	Tam./Irv. H. Dem.
	15th	Werner Bruns	Tammany Dem.
	16th	Edward P. Hagan*	County Dem.
	17th	William Dalton	Democrat
	18th	William J. Hill	Tammany Dem.
	19th	John McManus	Ind. Dem.
	20th	James Haggerty*	Ind. Dem.
	21st	George W. Lyon	Republican
	22nd	Edward J. Shelley	Tam./Irv. H. Dem.
	23rd	Jacob A. Cantor*	Tammany Dem.
	24th	John B. Shea*	County/Irv. H. Dem.	unsuccessfully contested[3]
Niagara	1st	Lewis P. Gordon	Democrat
	2nd	Peter A. Porter	Republican
Oneida	1st	Benjamin Hall	Republican
	2nd	Robert W. Evans	Republican
	3rd	Israel J. White	Republican
Onondaga	1st	Wallace Tappan*	Republican
	2nd	Alfred E. Stacey	Republican
	3rd	Thomas McCarthy[4]	Republican
Ontario		Edward P. Babcock	Republican
Orange	1st	Robert H. Smith	Republican
	2nd	George W. Greene*	Democrat
Orleans		Samuel A. Bates	Republican
Oswego	1st	Henry C. Howe*	Republican
	2nd	Danforth E. Ainsworth	Republican
Otsego	1st	Lowell S. Henry	Democrat
	2nd	Frank B. Arnold*	Republican
Putnam		Henry Mabie	Republican
Queens	1st	Joseph Fitch	Democrat
	2nd	James S. Allen	Republican
Rensselaer	1st	Michael F. Collins	Democrat
	2nd	Eugene L. Demers*	Republican
	3rd	Thomas Dickson	Republican
Richmond		Edward P. Doyle	Democrat
Rockland		George Dickey	Democrat
St. Lawrence	1st	N. Martin Curtis*	Ind. Rep.
	2nd	Andrew Tuck*	Republican
	3rd	George Z. Erwin*	Republican
Saratoga	1st	William M. Donald	Republican
	2nd	George S. Batcheller	Republican
Schenectady		Edward D. Cutler*	Democrat
Schoharie		Charles Brewster	Democrat
Schuyler		Fremont Cole*	Republican
Seneca		Stephen Duncan Leverich	Democrat
Steuben	1st	Franz S. Wolf	Democrat
	2nd	Charles D. Baker*	Republican
Suffolk		Henry E. Huntting	Republican
Sullivan		James D. Decker*	Democrat
Tioga		Adolphus G. Allen	Republican
Tompkins		Charles M. Titus	Republican
Ulster	1st	Benjamin M. Freligh	Republican
	2nd	Herman Craft	Republican
	3rd	Cornelius A. J. Hardenbergh*	Democrat
Warren		John Peart, Jr.	Republican
Washington	1st	Daniel M. Westfall	Republican
	2nd	James H. Manville	Republican
Wayne	1st	William Wood	Democrat
	2nd	Barnet H. Davis	Republican
Westchester	1st	Charles P. McClelland*	Democrat
	2nd	Norman A. Lawlor	Democrat
	3rd	James W. Husted*	Republican	elected Speaker
Wyoming		Edward A. Pierce	Republican
Yates		Clark E. Smith*	Republican

Employees

• Clerk: Charles A. Chickering
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Edward H. Talbott
• Doorkeeper: Michael Maher
• Stenographer: Emory P. Close

Notes

1. Except New York City where the wards were apportioned into election districts, and then some whole wards and some election districts of other wards were gerrymandered together into Assembly districts.
2. John Clinton Hogeboom (born 1857), grandson of state senator John C. Hogeboom (1801–05)
3. see A Compilation of Cases of Contested Elections to Seats in the Assembly of the State of New York (1899; pg. 684)
4. Thomas McCarthy (born 1848), son of Dennis McCarthy

Sources

• The New York Red Book compiled by Edgar L. Murlin (published by James B. Lyon, Albany NY, 1897; see pg. 384f for senate districts; pg. 403 for senators; pg. 410–417 for Assembly districts; and pg. 504f for assemblymen)
• Biographical sketches of the members of the Legislature in The Evening Journal Almanac (1886)