112th New York State Legislature

The 112th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 1 to May 16, 1889, during the fifth year of David B. Hill's governorship, in Albany.

112th New York State Legislature
← 111th 113th →
New York State Capitol (2009)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	January 1 – December 31, 1889
Senate
Members	32
President	Lt. Gov. Edward F. Jones (D)
Temporary President	Jacob Sloat Fassett (R)
Party control	Republican (20-12)
Assembly
Members	128
Speaker	Fremont Cole (R)
Party control	Republican (79-49)
Sessions
1st January 1 – May 16, 1889

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. The "United Labor" organization endorsed the Republican nominee for governor Warner Miller, but nominated own candidates for the other offices. The Prohibition Party and the Socialist Labor Party also nominated state tickets.

Elections

The New York state election, 1888 was held on November 6. Gov. David B. Hill and Lt. Gov. Edward F. Jones (both Dem.) were re-elected. The only other statewide elective office up for election was also carried by a Democrat. The approximate party strength at this election, as expressed by the vote for governor, was: Democrats 650,000; Republicans/United Labor 631,000; Prohibition 30,000; and Socialist Labor 3,500.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 1, 1889; and adjourned on May 16.

Fremont Cole (R) was re-elected Speaker with 76 votes against 47 for William F. Sheehan (D).

Jacob Sloat Fassett (R) was elected president pro tempore of the State Senate.

On January 18, a grand jury in Albany refused to indict Assemblyman Charles Smith for perjury. The New York City Reform Club had accused Smith of having obtained his election by buying votes.[2]

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.

District	Senator	Party	Notes
1st	Simeon S. Hawkins*	Republican
2nd	James F. Pierce*	Democrat
3rd	Eugene F. O'Connor*	Republican
4th	Jacob Worth*	Republican
5th	Michael C. Murphy*	Democrat
6th	Thomas F. Grady	Democrat	elected on December 28, 1888, to fill vacancy, in place of Edward F. Reilly[3]
7th	George F. Langbein*	Democrat
8th	Cornelius Van Cott*	Republican	seat vacated on May 1, upon taking office as Postmaster of New York City
9th	Charles A. Stadler*	Democrat
10th	Jacob A. Cantor*	Democrat	Minority Leader
11th	Eugene S. Ives*	Democrat
12th	William H. Robertson*	Republican
13th	vacant		Henry R. Low (R) died on December 1, 1888
	Peter Ward	Democrat	elected on January 29, 1889, to fill vacancy[4]
14th	John J. Linson*	Democrat
15th	Gilbert A. Deane*	Republican
16th	Michael F. Collins*	Democrat
17th	Henry Russell*	Republican
18th	John Foley*	Democrat
19th	Rowland C. Kellogg*	Republican
20th	George Z. Erwin*	Republican
21st	George B. Sloan*	Republican
22nd	Henry J. Coggeshall*	Republican
23rd	Frank B. Arnold*	Republican
24th	William Lewis*	Republican
25th	Francis Hendricks*	Republican
26th	William L. Sweet*	Republican
27th	J. Sloat Fassett*	Republican	elected President pro tempore
28th	John Raines*	Republican
29th	Donald McNaughton*	Democrat
30th	Edward C. Walker*	Republican
31st	John Laughlin*	Republican
32nd	Commodore P. Vedder*	Republican

Employees

• Clerk: John S. Kenyon
• Sergeant-at-Arms: John W. Corning
• Doorkeeper: Charles V. Schram
• Assistant Doorkeeper: Hiram Van Tassel
• 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	Jervis L. Miller	Democrat
	2nd	Vreeland H. Youngman*	Republican
	3rd	Galen R. Hitt	Democrat
	4th	William Burton LeRoy	Republican
Allegany		Albert B. Cottrell*	Republican
Broome		Alonzo D. Lewis*	Republican
Cattaraugus	1st	George N. West	Republican
	2nd	James S. Whipple*	Republican
Cayuga	1st	John E. Savery*	Republican
	2nd	Leander Fitts	Republican
Chautauqua	1st	S. Frederick Nixon*	Republican
	2nd	George E. Towne	Republican
Chemung		Robert P. Bush*	Democrat
Chenango		Edgar A. Pearsall	Republican
Clinton		Stephen Moffitt	Republican
Columbia		William Dinehart*	Republican
Cortland		Rufus T. Peck	Republican
Delaware		George O. Mead	Republican
Dutchess	1st	Willard H. Mase*	Republican
	2nd	Johnston de Peyster	Republican
Erie	1st	William F. Sheehan*	Democrat	Minority Leader
	2nd	Matthias Endres*	Democrat
	3rd	Leroy Andrus	Republican
	4th	Henry H. Guenther*	Democrat
	5th	Amos H. Baker	Republican
Essex		Thomas J. Treadway	Republican
Franklin		William C. Stevens	Republican
Fulton and Hamilton		Lewis Brownell*	Republican
Genesee		John M. McKenzie*	Republican
Greene		Francis G. Walters	Republican
Herkimer		DeWitt J. Mesick	Republican
Jefferson	1st	Henry J. Lane	Republican
	2nd	Andrew C. Comstock*	Republican
Kings	1st	Robert H. Miley	Democrat
	2nd	William H. McLaughlin*	Democrat
	3rd	Peter K. McCann*	Democrat
	4th	Henry F. Haggerty*	Democrat
	5th	John Kelly	Democrat
	6th	Patrick H. McCarren	Democrat
	7th	Adam Schaaff	Democrat
	8th	William Blanchfield	Democrat
	9th	Frank Sperry	Republican
	10th	John B. Longley*	Democrat
	11th	Joseph Aspinall*	Republican
	12th	James P. Graham	Democrat
Lewis		Hugh Hughes*	Republican
Livingston		Jotham Clark*	Republican
Madison		Charles E. Maynard*	Republican
Monroe	1st	Judson F. Sheldon	Republican
	2nd	Joseph Bauer	Republican
	3rd	Edwin A. Loder	Republican
Montgomery		W. Barlow Dunlap	Republican
New York	1st	Patrick H. Duffy	Democrat
	2nd	Timothy D. Sullivan*	Democrat
	3rd	Thomas Smith, Jr.*	Democrat
	4th	Jeremiah Hayes*	Democrat
	5th	Dominick F. Mullaney	Democrat
	6th	Charles P. Blake	Democrat
	7th	Francis V. King	Republican
	8th	Charles Smith	Republican
	9th	John Martin*	Democrat
	10th	George F. Roesch*	Democrat
	11th	Robert Ray Hamilton*	Republican
	12th	Moses Dinkelspiel	Democrat
	13th	Frederick S. Gibbs	Republican
	14th	Thomas J. Creamer	Democrat
	15th	Frederick Haffner	Democrat
	16th	Edward P. Hagan*	Democrat
	17th	John Kerrigan	Democrat
	18th	William H. Newschafer	Democrat
	19th	John Connelly*	Democrat
	20th	William H. Hornidge*	Democrat
	21st	Ernest H. Crosby*	Republican
	22nd	Joseph Blumenthal*	Democrat
	23rd	Augustus Strassburg	Democrat
	24th	Christopher C. Clarke	Democrat
Niagara	1st	John F. Little	Republican
	2nd	J. Marville Harwood	Democrat
Oneida	1st	Joseph Harry Kent*	Democrat
	2nd	George G. McAdam*	Republican
	3rd	Abisha B. Baker	Republican
Onondaga	1st	James W. Upson	Republican
	2nd	William H. Gallup*	Republican
	3rd	Walter W. Cheney*	Republican
Ontario		Robert Moody*	Republican
Orange	1st	John C. Adams*	Republican
	2nd	George W. Greene*	Democrat
Orleans		Ira Edwards*	Republican
Oswego	1st	S. Mortimer Coon*	Republican
	2nd	Danforth E. Ainsworth*	Republican
Otsego	1st	William E. Dante	Republican
	2nd	Walter L. Brown*	Republican
Putnam		Hamilton Fish II	Republican
Queens	1st	Solomon S. Townsend	Democrat
	2nd	Philip T. Cronin	Democrat
Rensselaer	1st	George O'Neil*	Democrat
	2nd	Joseph S. Saunders	Republican
	3rd	James Ryan, Jr.*	Democrat
Richmond		Hubbard R. Yetman	Democrat
Rockland		Frank P. Demarest*	Democrat
St. Lawrence	1st	N. Martin Curtis*	Republican
	2nd	William H. Kimball*	Republican
	3rd	Michael H. Flaherty*	Republican
Saratoga	1st	Harvey J. Donaldson*	Republican
	2nd	George S. Batcheller	Republican	seat vacated on April 1, upon appointment as Assistant U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
Schenectady		Austin A. Yates*[5]	Republican
Schoharie		J. Edward Young	Democrat
Schuyler		Fremont Cole*	Republican	re-elected Speaker
Seneca		William Harrison Dunham	Democrat
Steuben	1st	Charles H. McMaster	Republican
	2nd	Milo M. Acker*	Republican
Suffolk		Henry E. Huntting*	Republican
Sullivan		Martin A. Smith*	Republican
Tioga		Abram I. Decker	Republican
Tompkins		Frank J. Enz*	Republican
Ulster	1st	George A. Davidson	Republican
	2nd	Jacob Rice	Democrat
	3rd	George H. Bush	Democrat
Warren		Scott Barton	Republican
Washington	1st	Charles W. Larmon	Republican
	2nd	William H. Tefft	Republican
Wayne	1st	Charles T. Saxton*	Republican
	2nd	Richard P. Groat	Republican
Westchester	1st	William Murray	Democrat
	2nd	Bradford Rhodes*	Republican
	3rd	James W. Husted*	Republican
Wyoming		Greenleaf S. Van Gorder*	Republican
Yates		William A. Carson	Republican

Employees

• Clerk: Charles A. Chickering
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Owel H. Willard
• Doorkeeper: Homer B. Webb
• First Assistant Doorkeeper: John R. Harlow
• Second Assistant Doorkeeper: W. B. Clark
• Stenographer: George H. Thornton

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. JUSTICE FAILS ONCE MORE in NYT on January 19, 1889
3. HILL'S MAN ELECTED in NYT on December 29, 1888
4. SENATOR LOW'S SUCCESSOR in NYT on January 30, 1889
5. Austin Andrew Yates (born 1836), nephew of Gov. Joseph C. Yates

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. 507 for assemblymen)
• THE STATE LEGISLATURE in NYT on January 2, 1889
• THE EXCISE BILL PASSED in the New York Press on April 4, 1889