111th New York State Legislature

The 111th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 3 to July 20, 1888, during the fourth year of David B. Hill's governorship, in Albany.

111th New York State Legislature
← 110th 112th →
New York State Capitol (2009)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	January 1 – December 31, 1888
Senate
Members	32
President	Lt. Gov. Edward F. Jones (D)
Temporary President	Henry R. Low (R)
Party control	Republican (21-11)
Assembly
Members	128
Speaker	Fremont Cole (R)
Party control	Republican (72-56)
Sessions
1st January 3 – May 11, 1888 2nd July 17 – 20, 1888

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. Three labor reform organizations nominated state tickets under the names of "United Labor", "Progressive Labor" and "Union Labor". The Prohibition Party, the Greenback Party, and a "Reform Party" also nominated tickets.

Elections

The New York state election, 1887 was held on November 8. All five statewide elective offices up for election were carried by the Democrats. The approximate party strength at this election, as expressed by the vote for Secretary of State, was: Democrats 470,000; Republicans 453,000; United Labor 70,000; and Prohibition 42,000.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 3, 1888; and adjourned on May 11.

Fremont Cole (R) was elected Speaker against William F. Sheehan (D).

Henry R. Low (R) was elected president pro tempore of the State Senate.

The Legislature met for a special session on July 17, and adjourned three days later. This session was called to consider the situation in the State prisons.^[2] Three laws were passed at the special session.^[3]

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. George F. Langbein, Jacob A. Cantor, Eugene S. Ives, Michael F. Collins, George Z. Erwin, Frank B. Arnold and William L. Sweet changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

District	Senator	Party	Notes
1st	Simeon S. Hawkins	Republican
2nd	James F. Pierce*	Democrat	re-elected
3rd	Eugene F. O'Connor	Republican
4th	Jacob Worth*	Republican	re-elected
5th	Michael C. Murphy*	Democrat	re-elected
6th	Edward F. Reilly*	Democrat	re-elected; on November 8, 1888, elected Clerk of New York County
7th	George F. Langbein*	Democrat
8th	Cornelius Van Cott	Republican
9th	Charles A. Stadler	Democrat
10th	Jacob A. Cantor*	Democrat	Minority Leader
11th	Eugene S. Ives*	Democrat
12th	William H. Robertson	Republican
13th	Henry R. Low*	Republican	re-elected; elected president pro tempore; died on December 1, 1888
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	re-elected
20th	George Z. Erwin*	Republican
21st	George B. Sloan*	Republican	re-elected
22nd	Henry J. Coggeshall*	Republican	re-elected
23rd	Frank B. Arnold*	Republican
24th	William Lewis	Republican
25th	Francis Hendricks*	Republican	re-elected
26th	William L. Sweet*	Republican
27th	J. Sloat Fassett*	Republican	re-elected
28th	John Raines*	Republican	re-elected
29th	Donald McNaughton	Democrat
30th	Edward C. Walker*	Republican	re-elected
31st	John Laughlin	Republican
32nd	Commodore P. Vedder*	Republican	re-elected

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	Frederick W. Conger	Democrat
	2nd	Vreeland H. Youngman*	Republican
	3rd	William J. Hill*	Democrat
	4th	John T. Gorman*	Democrat
Allegany		Albert B. Cottrell	Republican
Broome		Alonzo D. Lewis	Republican
Cattaraugus	1st	Harrison Cheney	Republican
	2nd	James S. Whipple	Republican
Cayuga	1st	John E. Savery	Republican
	2nd	Coral C. White*	Republican
Chautauqua	1st	S. Frederick Nixon	Republican
	2nd	George H. Frost*	Republican
Chemung		Robert P. Bush*	Democrat
Chenango		Charles A. Fuller	Republican
Clinton		George S. Weed*	Democrat
Columbia		William Dinehart	Republican
Cortland		Wayland D. Tisdale*	Republican
Delaware		Charles J. Knapp	Republican	on November 8, 1888, elected to the 51st U.S. Congress
Dutchess	1st	Willard H. Mase*	Republican
	2nd	John I. Platt*	Republican
Erie	1st	William F. Sheehan*	Democrat	Minority Leader
	2nd	Matthias Endres	Democrat
	3rd	Edward Gallagher*	Republican
	4th	Henry H. Guenther*	Democrat
	5th	Edward K. Emery*	Republican
Essex		Spencer G. Prime*	Republican
Franklin		Floyd J. Hadley*	Republican
Fulton and Hamilton		Lewis Brownell	Republican
Genesee		John M. McKenzie	Republican
Greene		John H. Bagley Jr.	Democrat
Herkimer		Patrick H. McEvoy*	Republican
Jefferson	1st	Anson S. Thompson*	Republican
	2nd	Andrew C. Comstock	Republican
Kings	1st	Moses J. Wafer*	Democrat
	2nd	William H. McLaughlin*	Democrat
	3rd	Peter K. McCann*	Democrat
	4th	Henry F. Haggerty*	Democrat
	5th	Daniel B. Farrell	Ind. Dem.
	6th	Thomas F. Magner	Democrat	on November 8, 1888, elected to the 51st U.S. Congress
	7th	John Reitz*	Republican
	8th	John H. Bonnington*	Democrat
	9th	Walter Mathison	Republican
	10th	John B. Longley*	Democrat
	11th	Joseph Aspinall	Republican
	12th	Daniel W. Tallmadge	Republican
Lewis		Hugh Hughes	Republican
Livingston		Jotham Clark	Republican
Madison		Charles E. Maynard	Republican
Monroe	1st	Fletcher A. Defendorf*	Democrat
	2nd	P. Andrew Sullivan	Democrat
	3rd	William S. Church	Democrat
Montgomery		Robert Wemple*	Democrat
New York	1st	Daniel E. Finn*	Democrat
	2nd	Timothy D. Sullivan*	Democrat
	3rd	Thomas Smith Jr.	Democrat
	4th	Jeremiah Hayes*	Democrat
	5th	Michael Brennan*	Democrat
	6th	William J. McKenna*	Democrat	vacated his seat before the special session upon appointment as cashier in the Internal Revenue Collector's office^[4]
	7th	Bankson T. Morgan	Republican
	8th	Philip Wissig	Democrat
	9th	John Martin*	Democrat
	10th	George F. Roesch	Democrat
	11th	Robert Ray Hamilton*	Republican
	12th	Solomon D. Rosenthal	Democrat
	13th	J. Wesley Smith	Democrat
	14th	Louis P. Rannow	Democrat
	15th	Charles A. Herrmann	Democrat
	16th	Edward P. Hagan*	Democrat
	17th	William Dalton*	Democrat
	18th	Joseph Gordon	Democrat
	19th	John Connelly	Democrat
	20th	William H. Hornidge*	Democrat
	21st	Ernest H. Crosby*	Republican
	22nd	Joseph Blumenthal	Democrat
	23rd	Nicholas R. O'Connor	Democrat
	24th	John B. Shea*	Democrat
Niagara	1st	Christian F. Goerss*	Republican
	2nd	Nelson D. Haskell	Republican
Oneida	1st	Joseph Harry Kent	Democrat
	2nd	George G. McAdam	Republican
	3rd	George Beatty Jr.	Republican
Onondaga	1st	Hector B. Johnson*	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	John S. Newton	Democrat
	2nd	Walter L. Brown	Republican
Putnam		Henry Mabie*	Republican
Queens	1st	John Cashow	Democrat
	2nd	James L. Hogins	Democrat
Rensselaer	1st	George O'Neil	Democrat
	2nd	J. Irving Baucus*	Republican
	3rd	James Ryan Jr.*	Democrat
Richmond		George Cromwell	Republican
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	Bartlett B. Grippin*	Republican
Schenectady		Austin A. Yates^[5]	Republican
Schoharie		Alonzo B. Coons	Democrat
Schuyler		Fremont Cole*	Republican	elected Speaker
Seneca		James M. Martin	Democrat
Steuben	1st	Azariah C. Brundage*	Republican
	2nd	Milo M. Acker	Republican
Suffolk		Henry E. Huntting	Republican
Sullivan		Martin A. Smith*	Republican
Tioga		Jonathan C. Latimer*	Republican
Tompkins		Frank J. Enz	Republican
Ulster	1st	Christopher N. DeWitt	Republican
	2nd	John J. O'Reilly	Democrat
	3rd	Charles H. Weidner	Democrat
Warren		William D. Aldrich	Democrat
Washington	1st	J. Warren Fort*	Republican
	2nd	Orson W. Sheldon	Democrat
Wayne	1st	Charles T. Saxton*	Republican
	2nd	Barnet H. Davis*	Republican
Westchester	1st	J. Irving Burns*	Republican
	2nd	Bradford Rhodes	Republican
	3rd	James W. Husted*	Republican
Wyoming		Greenleaf S. Van Gorder	Republican
Yates		George R. Cornwell*	Republican

Employees

• Clerk: Charles A. Chickering
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Isaac Scott
• Doorkeeper: Homer B. Webb
• First Assistant Doorkeeper: John P. Harlow
• Second Assistant Doorkeeper: Charles H. McNaughton
• Stenographer: William Loeb Jr.

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. POLITICS AND THE PRISONS; OPENING OF THE LEGISLATURE'S EXTRA SESSION in NYT on July 18, 1888
3. Laws of The State of New York (111th Session) (1888; pg. 1113ff)
4. APPOINTED CHIEF SEARCHER in NYT on August 17, 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. 506 for assemblymen)
• Biographical sketches of the members of the Legislature in The Evening Journal Almanac (1888)
• COLE NAMED FOR SPEAKER in NYT on January 3, 1888