120th New York State Legislature

The 120th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 6 to April 24, 1897, during the first year of Frank S. Black's governorship, in Albany.

120th New York State Legislature
← 119th 121st →
New York State Capitol (1897)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	January 1 – December 31, 1897
Senate
Members	50
President	Lt. Gov. Timothy L. Woodruff (R)
Temporary President	Timothy E. Ellsworth (R)
Party control	Republican (36-14)
Assembly
Members	150
Speaker	James M. E. O'Grady (R)
Party control	Republican (114-36)
Sessions
1st January 6 – April 24, 1897

Background

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1894, 50 Senators and 150 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 (twelve districts), Kings County (seven districts), Erie County (three districts) and Monroe County (two districts). The Assembly districts were made up of contiguous area, all within the same county.

At the New York state election, 1895, the state officers and state senators were elected to an exceptional three-year term (for the sessions of 1896, 1897 and 1898), so that the election of these officers would be held, beginning in 1898, in even-numbered years, at the same time as the gubernatorial election.

At this time there were two major political parties: the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. The Democrats were split into two factions: the majority supported Free silver and William Jennings Bryan for U.S. president; a minority supported the Gold standard and John M. Palmer for U.S. president. The Socialist Labor Party, the Prohibition Party, and the People's Party also nominated tickets.

Elections

The New York state election, 1896 was held on November 3. Congressman Frank S. Black was elected Governor; and Timothy L. Woodruff was elected Lieutenant Governor; both Republicans.

The only other statewide elective office up for election was also carried by a Republican. The approximate party strength at this election, as expressed by the vote for Governor, was: Republican 788,000; Silver Democrats 570,000; Gold Democrats 27,000; Socialist Labor 18,000; Prohibition 17,000; and People's Party 5,000.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 6, 1897; and adjourned on April 24.

James M. E. O'Grady (R) was elected Speaker with 112 votes against 34 for Daniel E. Finn (D).

On January 19, the Legislature elected Thomas C. Platt (R) to succeed David B. Hill (D) as U.S. Senator from New York, for a six-year term beginning on March 4, 1897.

State Senate

Districts

• 1st District: Richmond and Suffolk counties
• 2nd District: Queens County
• 3rd District: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Ward of Brooklyn
• 4th District: 7th, 13th, 19th and 21st Ward of Brooklyn
• 5th District: 8th, 10th, 12th and 30th Ward of Brooklyn, and the annexed former Town of Gravesend
• 6th District: 9th, 11th, 20th and 22nd Ward of Brooklyn
• 7th District: 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th Ward of Brooklyn
• 8th District: 23rd, 24th, 25th and 29th Ward of the City of Brooklyn; and the Town of Flatlands
• 9th District: 18th, 26th, 27th and 28th Ward of Brooklyn
• 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st District: Parts of the City of New York, defined geographically by their bordering streets, regardless of Wards or Assembly districts
• 22nd District: Westchester County
• 23rd District: Orange and Rockland counties
• 24th District: Columbia, Dutchess and Putnam and counties
• 25th District: Greene and Ulster counties
• 26th District: Chenango, Delaware and Sullivan counties
• 27th District: Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery and Schoharie counties
• 28th District: Saratoga, Schenectady and Washington counties
• 29th District: Albany County
• 30th District: Rensselaer County
• 31st District: Clinton, Essex and Warren counties
• 32nd District: Franklin and St. Lawrence counties
• 33rd District: Otsego and Herkimer counties
• 34th District: Oneida County
• 35th District: Jefferson and Lewis counties
• 36th District: Onondaga County
• 37th District: Oswego and Madison counties
• 38th District: Broome, Cortland and Tioga counties
• 39th District: Cayuga and Seneca counties
• 40th District: Chemung, Schuyler and Tompkins counties
• 41st District: Steuben and Yates counties
• 42nd District: Ontario and Wayne counties
• 43rd District: 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th Ward of Rochester; and the towns of Brighton, Henrietta, Irondequoit, Menden, Penfield, Perinton, Pittsford, Rush and Webster, in Monroe County
• 44th District: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 15th, 19th and 20th Ward of Rochester; and the towns of Chili, Clarkson, Gates, Greece, Hamlin, Ogden, Parma, Riga, Sweden and Wheatland, in Monroe County
• 45th District: Genesee, Niagara and Orleans counties
• 46th District: Allegany, Livingston and Wyoming counties
• 47th District: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 15th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th Ward of Buffalo
• 48th District: 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 16th Ward of Buffalo
• 49th District: 17th, 18th and 25th Ward of the City of Buffalo; and all area in Erie County outside Buffalo
• 50th 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.

Senators

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

Note: For brevity, the chairmanships omit the words "...the Committee on (the)..."

District	Senator	Party	Notes
1st	Richard Higbie*	Republican	Chairman of Agriculture
2nd	Theodore Koehler*	Democrat
3rd	Frank Gallagher*	Democrat
4th	George W. Brush*	Republican	Chairman of Public Health
5th	Michael J. Coffey*	Democrat
6th	Peter H. McNulty*	Democrat
7th	Patrick H. McCarren*	Democrat
8th	Albert A. Wray*	Republican	Chairman of Public Education
9th	Julius L. Wieman*	Republican
10th	John F. Ahearn*	Democrat
11th	Timothy D. Sullivan*	Democrat
12th	Samuel J. Foley*	Democrat
13th	Bernard F. Martin*	Democrat
14th	Thomas F. Grady*	Democrat
15th	Frank D. Pavey*	Republican	Chairman of Revision
16th	Louis Munzinger*	Democrat
17th	Charles B. Page*	Republican
18th	Maurice Featherson*	Democrat
19th	John Ford*	Republican
20th	Jacob A. Cantor*	Democrat	Minority Leader
21st	Charles L. Guy*	Democrat
22nd	J. Irving Burns*	Republican	Chairman of Insurance
23rd	Clarence Lexow*	Republican	Chairman of Judiciary
24th	William C. Daley*	Republican
25th	Charles Davis*	Republican
26th	John Grant	Republican	elected to fill vacancy, in place of James Ballantine; Chairman of Public Printing
27th	Hobart Krum*	Republican	Chairman of Forest, Fish and Game Laws
28th	Edgar T. Brackett*	Republican	Chairman of Affairs of Villages
29th	Myer Nussbaum*	Republican	Chairman of Privileges and Elections
30th	LeGrand C. Tibbits*	Republican
31st	George Chahoon*	Republican	Chairman of Trades and Manufactures
32nd	George R. Malby*	Republican	Chairman of Codes
33rd	Walter L. Brown*	Republican	Chairman of Miscellaneous Corporations
34th	Henry J. Coggeshall*	Ind. Rep.
35th	Joseph Mullin*	Republican	Chairman of Finance; died on September 1, 1897
36th	Horace White*	Republican	Chairman of Printed and Engrossed Bills
37th	Nevada N. Stranahan*	Republican	Chairman of Affairs of Cities
38th	William Elting Johnson*	Republican	Chairman of Military Affairs
39th	Benjamin M. Wilcox*	Republican	Chairman of Penal Institutions
40th	Edwin C. Stewart*	Republican	Chairman of Internal Affairs of Towns and Counties
41st	John S. Sheppard*	Republican	Chairman of Roads and Bridges
42nd	John Raines*	Republican	Chairman of Railroads
43rd	Cornelius R. Parsons*	Republican	Chairman of Commerce and Navigation
44th	Henry Harrison*	Republican
45th	Timothy E. Ellsworth*	Republican	President pro tempore; Chairman of Rules
46th	Lester H. Humphrey*	Republican	Chairman of Banks
47th	Charles Lamy*	Republican	Chairman of Canals
48th	Simon Seibert*	Republican
49th	George Allen Davis*	Republican	Chairman of Indian Affairs
50th	Frank W. Higgins*	Republican	Chairman of Taxation and Retrenchment

Employees

• Clerk: John S. Kenyon
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Garret J. Benson
• Doorkeeper: Nathan Lewis
• Stenographer: Edward Shaughnessy
• Journal Clerk: Lafayette B. Gleason
• Index Clerk: Ernest A. Fay

State Assembly

Assemblymen

Note: For brevity, the chairmanships omit the words "...the Committee on (the)..."

District		Assemblymen	Party	Notes
Albany	1st	Robert G. Scherer*	Republican	Chairman of Judiciary
	2nd	James B. McEwan	Republican
	3rd	George T. Kelly*	Democrat
	4th	Jacob D. Leversee	Republican
Allegany		Frederick A. Robbins*	Republican
Broome	1st	Charles E. Fuller	Republican
	2nd	Charles F. Tupper*	Republican
Cattaraugus	1st	Charles H. Miller*	Republican
	2nd	Girvease A. Matteson*	Republican
Cayuga	1st	W. Clarence Sheldon*	Republican
	2nd	Eugene B. Rounds*	Republican
Chautauqua	1st	Frederick R. Peterson	Republican
	2nd	S. Frederick Nixon*	Republican	Majority Leader; Chairman of Ways and Means
Chemung		John H. Holbert	Republican
Chenango		Jotham P. Allds*	Republican	Chairman of Excise
Clinton		Everett C. Baker	Republican	Chairman of State Prisons
Columbia		Robert Hoes	Republican
Cortland		Franklin P. Saunders*	Republican	Chairman of Printed and Engrossed Bills
Delaware		Delos H. Mackey*	Republican
Dutchess	1st	John A. Hanna*	Republican
	2nd	Augustus B. Gray*	Republican	Chairman of Banks
Erie	1st	Cornelius Coughlin*	Democrat
	2nd	Henry W. Hill*	Republican	Chairman of Revision
	3rd	William Maloney	Democrat
	4th	William Schneider	Republican
	5th	Charles Braun*	Republican	Chairman of Charitable and Religious Societies
	6th	Nicholas J. Miller	Republican
	7th	Henry L. Steiner*	Republican	Chairman of Privileges and Elections
	8th	Heman M. Blasdell*	Republican
Essex		James H. Pierce	Republican	previously a member from Franklin Co.
Franklin		Thomas A. Sears*	Republican	Chairman of Claims
Fulton and Hamilton		Byron D. Brown*	Republican
Genesee		Archie D. Sanders*	Republican	Chairman of Labor and Industries
Greene		Newton Sweet*	Republican
Herkimer		Oliver H. Springer*	Republican
Jefferson	1st	Walter Zimmerman*	Republican	Chairman of Unfinished Business
	2nd	Cornelius J. Clark*	Republican
Kings	1st	Thomas H. Wagstaff*	Republican
	2nd	John McKeown*	Democrat
	3rd	Thomas H. Cullen*	Democrat
	4th	George W. Wilson*	Republican	Chairman of Trades and Manufactures
	5th	John C. Knaup	Republican
	6th	Edward H. M. Roehr	Republican
	7th	George H. Parshall	Republican
	8th	James Lennon Jr.*	Democrat
	9th	John J. Cain*	Democrat
	10th	William L. Perkins*	Republican
	11th	Lucien S. Bayliss	Republican
	12th	Henry E. Abell	Republican
	13th	Orrion L. Forrester*	Republican
	14th	John M. Zurn*	Democrat
	15th	Joseph Murray	Republican
	16th	Edward C. Brennan*	Republican
	17th	Henry Marshall*	Republican
	18th	George J. Soper	Republican
	19th	Frederick Schmid*	Democrat
	20th	Frederick G. Hughes*	Republican
	21st	Henry S. French	Democrat
Lewis		John S. Koster*	Republican	Chairman of Military Affairs
Livingston		Otto Kelsey*	Republican
Madison		Robert J. Fish	Republican
Monroe	1st	Merton E. Lewis	Republican
	2nd	James M. E. O'Grady*	Republican	elected Speaker; Chairman of Rules
	3rd	William W. Armstrong*	Republican	Chairman of Codes
	4th	Frederick E. Gott	Republican
Montgomery		Edward L. Schmidt*	Republican
New York	1st	Daniel E. Finn*	Democrat	Minority Leader
	2nd	Thomas J. Barry*	Democrat
	3rd	William H. Leonard*	Democrat
	4th	Patrick H. Roche	Democrat
	5th	Richard Van Cott	Republican
	6th	Timothy P. Sullivan	Democrat
	7th	Edward W. Hart*	Democrat
	8th	Charles S. Adler*	Republican
	9th	James F. Maccabe*	Democrat
	10th	Jeremiah J. Sullivan	Republican
	11th	William H. Gledhill*	Democrat
	12th	Joseph Schulum*	Democrat
	13th	Patrick F. Trainor*	Democrat
	14th	Jacob Fritz*	Democrat
	15th	Thomas F. Myers*	Democrat
	16th	Benjamin Hoffman*	Democrat
	17th	John A. Dempsey	Democrat
	18th	John F. Daly	Democrat
	19th	Robert Mazet	Republican
	20th	John P. Corrigan*	Democrat
	21st	George C. Austin*	Republican	Chairman of Affairs of Cities
	22nd	Daniel D. Tooher	Democrat
	23rd	Richard Gilleland	Democrat
	24th	John B. Fitzgerald*	Democrat
	25th	Patrick H. Murphy*	Republican	Chairman of Public Health
	26th	Patrick J. Andrews*	Democrat
	27th	Francis E. Laimbeer*	Republican
	28th	Joseph I. Green*	Democrat
	29th	Lawrence E. Brown	Republican
	30th	George W. Meyer Jr.*	Democrat
	31st	Harvey T. Andrews*	Republican
	32nd	Thomas F. Donnelly*	Democrat
	33rd	James P. Degnan	Republican
	34th	Philip W. Reinhard Jr.	Republican
	35th	Douglas Mathewson	Republican
Niagara	1st	Henry E. Warner*	Republican
	2nd	Frank A. Dudley*	Republican	Chairman of Taxation and Retrenchment
Oneida	1st	George E. Philo	Republican
	2nd	William Cary Sanger*	Republican	Chairman of Public Education
	3rd	William B. Graves*	Republican	Chairman of Indian Affairs
Onondaga	1st	William J. Bellen	Republican
	2nd	Edward G. Ten Eyck	Republican
	3rd	Joseph Bondy*	Republican	Chairman of Canals
	4th	Edwin M. Wells*	Republican
Ontario		Murray Benham	Republican
Orange	1st	Louis F. Goodsell*	Republican	Chairman of Electricity, Gas and Water Supply
	2nd	Louis Bedell*	Republican	Chairman of Trust Investigation
Orleans		Fred L. Downs*	Republican	Chairman of Affairs of Villages
Oswego	1st	Louis P. Taylor*	Republican	Chairman of Federal Relations
	2nd	Thomas M. Costello*	Republican
Otsego		Charles B. Gorham*	Republican	Chairman of Public Lands and Forestry
Putnam		Emerson W. Addis	Republican
Queens	1st	Thomas F. Kennedy	Democrat
	2nd	Harvey Stewart McKnight	Republican
	3rd	Morton Cromwell*	Republican
Rensselaer	1st	Edward McGraw*	Republican	Chairman of Public Institutions
	2nd	William Hutton Jr.	Democrat
	3rd	George Anderson*	Republican
Richmond		George Garby	Republican
Rockland		Frederick L. Whritner	Republican
St. Lawrence	1st	Ira C. Miles*	Republican
	2nd	Martin V. B. Ives*	Republican	Chairman of Agriculture
Saratoga		George W. Kavanaugh	Republican
Schenectady		Thomas W. Winne*	Republican
Schoharie		George M. Palmer	Democrat
Schuyler		Oliver H. Budd*	Republican
Seneca		Harry M. Glen	Republican	Chairman of Public Printing
Steuben	1st	James S. Harrison*	Republican	Chairman of Soldiers' Home
	2nd	Joel Clark*	Republican
Suffolk	1st	Erastus F. Post*	Republican
	2nd	Carll S. Burr Jr.*	Republican
Sullivan		George McLaughlin	Republican
Tioga		Daniel P. Witter*	Republican	Chairman of Internal Affairs
Tompkins		Frederick E. Bates*	Republican
Ulster	1st	William S. Van Keuren*	Republican	Chairman of Commerce and Navigation
	2nd	Harcourt J. Pratt	Republican
Warren		Taylor J. Eldridge*	Republican	Chairman of Railroads
Washington		William R. Hobbie*	Republican	Chairman of Fisheries and Game
Wayne		George S. Horton*	Republican	Chairman of General Laws
Westchester	1st	Alfred E. Smith	Republican
	2nd	Richard S. Emmet Jr.	Republican	died on February 7, 1897
	3rd	James W. Husted*	Republican	Chairman of Insurance
Wyoming		Mortimer N. Cole*	Republican
Yates		Miles W. Raplee	Republican

Employees

• Clerk: Archie E. Baxter
• Financial Clerk: William C. Stevens
• Sergeant-at-Arms: James C. Crawford
• Doorkeeper: Joseph Bauer
• Second Assistant Doorkeeper: Eugene L. Demers
• Stenographer: Henry C. Lammert
• Assistant Journal Clerk: Sanford W. Smith
• Chief of the Revision Room: Jean L. Burnett
• Committee Clerk: William L. Coughtry
• General Committee Clerk: Jacob A. Livingston

Sources

• The New York Red Book compiled by Edgar L. Murlin (published by James B. Lyon, Albany NY, 1897; see pg. 133–177 for senators' bios; between pg. 136 and 137 for senators' portraits; pg. 179–279 for assemblymen's bios; between pg. 184 and 185 for assemblymen's portraits; pg. 404 for list of senators; pg. 513 for list of assemblymen; and pg. 712–716 for senate districts)