88th New York State Legislature

The 88th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 3 to April 28, 1865, during the first year of Reuben E. Fenton's governorship, in Albany.

88th New York State Legislature
← 87th 89th →
The Old State Capitol (1879)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	January 1 – December 31, 1865
Senate
Members	32
President	Lt. Gov. Thomas G. Alvord (R)
Temporary President	Charles J. Folger (R), from March 9
Party control	Republican (21-11)
Assembly
Members	128
Speaker	George G. Hoskins (R)
Party control	Republican (76-52)
Sessions
1st January 3 – April 28, 1865

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 (four districts) and Kings County (two districts). The Assembly districts were made up of entire towns, or city wards, forming a contiguous area, all within the same county.

At this time there were two major political parties: the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. The Democrats split over the civil war issue. The "War Democrats" and the Republicans formed a coalition known as the "Republican Union," and supported President Abraham Lincoln and the Union Army's war effort; the rump Democratic Party opposed the war, favoring a compromise with the South, and became known as "Peace Democrats" or "Copperheads."

Elections

The New York state election, 1864 was held on November 8. All four statewide elective offices up for election were carried by the Republican Union. Congressman Reuben E. Fenton and Speaker Thomas G. Alvord defeated the incumbent Gov. Horatio Seymour and Lt. David R. Floyd-Jones. The approximate party strength at this election, as expressed by the vote for Governor, was: Republican Union 369,000 and Democrats 361,000.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the Old State Capitol in Albany on January 3, 1865; and adjourned on April 28.

George G. Hoskins (R) was elected Speaker with 72 votes against 50 for Abram B. Weaver (D).

On March 9, Charles J. Folger (R) was elected president pro tempore of the State Senate.

On April 4, the Legislature re-elected Victor M. Rice (R) as Superintendent of Public Instruction.

State Senate

Districts

• 1st District: Queens, Richmond and Suffolk counties
• 2nd District: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 11th, 13th and 19th wards of the City of Brooklyn
• 3rd District: 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th wards of the City of Brooklyn; and all towns in Kings County
• 4th District: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 14th wards of New York City
• 5th District: 10th, 11th, 13th and 17th wards of New York City
• 6th District: 9th, 15th, 16th and 18th wards of New York City
• 7th District: 12th, 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd wards of New York City
• 8th District: Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties
• 9th District: Orange and Sullivan counties
• 10th District: Greene and Ulster counties
• 11th District: Columbia and Dutchess counties
• 12th District: Rensselaer and Washington counties
• 13th District: Albany County
• 14th District: Delaware, Schenectady and Schoharie counties
• 15th District: Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery and Saratoga counties
• 16th District: Clinton, Essex and Warren counties
• 17th District: Franklin and St. Lawrence counties
• 18th District: Jefferson and Lewis counties
• 19th District: Oneida County
• 20th District: Herkimer and Otsego counties
• 21st District: Oswego County
• 22nd District: Onondaga County
• 23rd District: Chenango, Cortland and Madison counties
• 24th District: Broome, Tompkins and Tioga counties
• 25th District: Cayuga and Wayne counties
• 26th District: Ontario, Seneca and Yates counties
• 27th District: Chemung, Schuyler and Steuben counties
• 28th District: Monroe County
• 29th District: Genesee, Niagara and Orleans counties
• 30th District: Allegany, Livingston 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. What is now Bronx County was then part of Westchester County, while what is now Nassau County was part of Queens County.

Members

Partisan composition of the Senate after January 17. Humphrey's seat was vacated after he was elected to the U.S. Congress.

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

District	Senator	Party	Notes
1st	Robert Christie Jr.*	Democrat
2nd	Demas Strong*	Democrat
3rd	Henry C. Murphy*	Democrat
4th	Christian B. Woodruff*	Democrat	also a New York City Tax Commissioner
5th	Luke F. Cozans*	Democrat
6th	William Laimbeer Jr.*	Republican
7th	Thomas C. Fields*	Democrat	also a Central Park Commissioner
8th	Saxton Smith*	Democrat
9th	Archibald C. Niven*	Democrat	contested
	Henry R. Low	Republican	seated on January 17, 1865
10th	George Beach*	Democrat
11th	John B. Dutcher*	Republican
12th	Frederick H. Hastings*	Republican
13th	Ira Shafer*	Democrat
14th	Orson M. Allaben*	Democrat
15th	James M. Cook*	Republican
16th	Palmer E. Havens*	Republican
17th	Albert Hobbs*	Republican
18th	James A. Bell*	Republican
19th	Alexander H. Bailey*	Republican
20th	George H. Andrews*	Republican
21st	Cheney Ames*	Republican
22nd	Andrew D. White*	Republican
23rd	Frederick Juliand*	Republican
24th	Ezra Cornell*	Republican
25th	Stephen K. Williams*	Republican
26th	Charles J. Folger*	Republican	on March 9, elected president pro tempore
27th	Stephen T. Hayt*	Republican
28th	George G. Munger*	Republican
29th	Dan H. Cole*	Republican
30th	Wilkes Angel*	Republican
31st	James M. Humphrey*	Democrat	on November 8, 1864, elected to the 39th U.S. Congress
32nd	Norman M. Allen*	Republican

Employees

• Clerk: James Terwilliger
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Azel B. Hull
• Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: Sanders Wilson
• Doorkeeper: Lawrence Van Duzen
• First Assistant Doorkeeper: Casper Walter
• Second Assistant Doorkeeper: Edmund Traver
• Third Assistant Doorkeeper: Anson W. Johnson

State Assembly

Assemblymen

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

Party affiliations follow the vote for Speaker.

District		Assemblymen	Party	Notes
Albany	1st	Harman H. Vanderzee	Democrat
	2nd	Oliver M. Hungerford	Democrat	contested; seat vacated on April 12[1]
		Joseph Shook	Republican	seated on April 13
	3rd	Alexander Robertson	Democrat
	4th	Michael A. Nolan	Democrat
Allegany	1st	Charles M. Crandall*	Republican
	2nd	Albon A. Lewis	Republican
Broome		Edward C. Mersereau	Republican
Cattaraugus	1st	William P. Angel	Republican
	2nd	E. Curtis Topliff	Republican
Cayuga	1st	Benjamin M. Close*	Republican
	2nd	John L. Parker	Republican
Chautauqua	1st	Sextus H. Hungerford	Republican
	2nd	Martin Crowell	Republican
Chemung		William T. Post*	Republican
Chenango	1st	George W. Sumner*	Republican
	2nd	Samuel S. Stafford	Republican
Clinton		Smith M. Weed	Democrat
Columbia	1st	Walter Shults	Democrat
	2nd	Samuel W. Carpenter	Republican
Cortland		Dan C. Squires	Republican
Delaware	1st	Ira E. Sherman	Republican	took his seat on February 3
	2nd	James Oliver	Republican
Dutchess	1st	James Howard*	Republican
	2nd	Mark D. Wilber	Republican
Erie	1st	Walter W. Stanard*	Democrat
	2nd	Harmon S. Cutting	Democrat
	3rd	John G. Langner	Democrat
	4th	Edwin W. Godfrey	Republican
Essex		William H. Richardson*	Republican
Franklin		James W. Kimball	Republican
Fulton and Hamilton		Walter N. Clark	Democrat
Genesee		John W. Brown	Republican
Greene		Prentiss W. Hallenbeck	Democrat
Herkimer	1st	Henry Tillinghast	Republican
	2nd	E. Bradley Lee	Republican
Jefferson	1st	James G. Kellogg	Republican
	2nd	Lewis Palmer*	Republican
	3rd	Russell B. Biddlecom	Republican
Kings	1st	Jarvis Whitman	Democrat
	2nd	William D. Veeder	Democrat
	3rd	Stephen Haynes	Democrat
	4th	Patrick Burns	Democrat
	5th	John C. Perry*	Republican
	6th	Henry C. Boswell	Democrat
	7th	Jacob Worth*	Republican
Lewis		Nathan Clark	Republican
Livingston	1st	Hugh D. McCall	Republican
	2nd	Jonathan B. Morey*	Republican
Madison	1st	Alfred A. Brown	Republican
	2nd	Alvin Strong	Republican
Monroe	1st	Fairchild Andrus*	Republican
	2nd	John McConvill*	Democrat
	3rd	William Rankin*	Republican
Montgomery		Simeon Sammons	Democrat
New York	1st	Jacob L. Smith*	Democrat
	2nd	Bryan Gaughan	Democrat
	3rd	George L. Loutrel	Democrat
	4th	James B. Murray*	Democrat
	5th	Charles Blauvelt	Democrat
	6th	Edward S. Maloy	Democrat
	7th	Thomas E. Stewart	Republican
	8th	Jacob Seebacher	Democrat
	9th	Samuel C. Reed*	Republican
	10th	Thomas J. Creamer	Democrat
	11th	John McDonald	Democrat
	12th	Joseph A. Lyons*	Democrat
	13th	Alexander Ward	Democrat
	14th	Michael N. Salmon*	Democrat
	15th	Thomas B. Van Buren	Republican
	16th	John Keegan	Democrat
	17th	Sidney P. Ingraham Jr.*	Democrat
Niagara	1st	Albert H. Pickard	Republican	took his seat on January 4
	2nd	Guy C. Humphrey	Republican
Oneida	1st	Abram B. Weaver*	Democrat
	2nd	Lorenzo Rouse	Republican
	3rd	Thomas D. Penfield	Democrat
	4th	George W. Cole	Republican
Onondaga	1st	Albert L. Green*	Republican
	2nd	Daniel P. Wood	Republican
	3rd	Harvey P. Tolman	Republican
Ontario	1st	Volney Edgerton	Republican
	2nd	Edward Brunson	Republican
Orange	1st	Ananias B. Hulse	Republican
	2nd	Theodore H. Cooper	Democrat
Orleans		Edmund L. Pitts*	Republican
Oswego	1st	Elias Root	Republican
	2nd	Richard K. Sanford	Republican
	3rd	Avery W. Severance	Republican	also Supervisor of New Haven
Otsego	1st	Luther I. Burditt	Democrat
	2nd	George M. Hollis*	Republican
Putnam		Jeremiah Sherwood*	Democrat
Queens	1st	William Turner	Democrat
	2nd	Charles McNeill*	Democrat
Rensselaer	1st	George C. Burdett	Democrat	took his seat on April 15
	2nd	Robert M. Hasbrouck	Republican
	3rd	Matthew V. A. Fonda	Democrat
Richmond		James Ridgway	Democrat
Rockland		Prince W. Nickerson	Democrat
St. Lawrence	1st	George Parker*	Republican
	2nd	James Redington*	Republican
	3rd	Daniel Shaw	Republican
Saratoga	1st	George W. Chapman	Democrat
	2nd	Edward Edwards*	Republican
Schenectady		Charles Stanford*	Republican
Schoharie		Edward Eldredge	Democrat
Schuyler		Lorenzo Webber*	Republican
Seneca		George B. Daniels	Democrat
Steuben	1st	William E. Bonham*	Republican
	2nd	Alexander Olcott*	Republican
	3rd	Horace Bemis	Republican
Suffolk	1st	William H. Gleason*	Republican
	2nd	Henry C. Platt*	Democrat
Sullivan		James Matthews*	Democrat
Tioga		William W. Shepard	Republican
Tompkins		Henry B. Lord*	Republican
Ulster	1st	Jesse F. Bookstaver*	Democrat
	2nd	Jacob LeFever*	Republican
	3rd	Andrew S. Weller	Democrat
Warren		Jerome Lapham	Republican
Washington	1st	Alexander Barkley	Republican
	2nd	Sylvester E. Spoor	Republican
Wayne	1st	Thaddeus W. Collins*	Republican
	2nd	William H. Rogers	Republican
Westchester	1st	Pierre C. Talman	Democrat
	2nd	Alsop H. Lockwood*	Democrat
	3rd	George A. Brandreth*	Republican
Wyoming		George G. Hoskins	Republican	elected Speaker; also Postmaster of Bennington
Yates		Eben S. Smith	Republican

Employees

• Clerk: Joseph B. Cushman
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Charles E. Young
• Doorkeeper: Henry A. Rogers
• First Assistant Doorkeeper: Richard S. Stout
• Second Assistant Doorkeeper: Alexander Frier

Notes

1. see A Compilation of Cases of Contested Elections to Seats in the Assembly of the State of New York (1871; pg. 335–368)

Sources

• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough, Stephen C. Hutchins and Edgar Albert Werner (1870; see pg. 439 for Senate districts; pg. 443 for senators; pg. 450–463 for Assembly districts; and pg. 501ff for assemblymen)
• Journal of the Assembly (88th Session) (1865)
• Documents of the Senate (87th Session) (1864; No. 104: "Report of the Committee on Privileges and Elections in the Matter of the Contested Election in the Ninth Senatorial District")