85th New York State Legislature

85th New York State Legislature
← 84th 86th →
The Old State Capitol (1879)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	January 1 – December 31, 1862
Senate
Members	32
President	Lt. Gov. Robert Campbell (R)
Temporary President	James A. Bell (U), from February 11
Party control	Union (25-7)
Assembly
Members	128
Speaker	Henry J. Raymond (U)
Party control	Union (90-38)
Sessions
1st January 7 – April 23, 1862

The 85th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 7 to April 23, 1862, during the fourth year of Edwin D. Morgan's governorship, in Albany.

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 nominated an "Independent People's" ticket which was almost completely endorsed by the Republicans, and became known as the Union ticket; the rump Democratic Party, favoring a compromise with the South and later known as Copperheads, nominated an opposing ticket. In New York City the Democrats were split into two factions: Tammany Hall and Mozart Hall.

Elections

The 1861 New York state election was held on November 5. Of the nine statewide elective offices up for election, eight were carried by Union men, and one by a Democrat. The approximate party strength at this election, as gathered from the vote for Secretary of State and the short-term Canal Commissioner was: Democrats 190,000; Republicans 180,000; and War Democrats 117,000.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the Old State Capitol in Albany on January 7, 1862; and adjourned on April 23.

Henry J. Raymond (U) was elected again Speaker with 88 votes against 36 for Horatio Seymour (D).

On January 30, the Legislature elected Victor M. Rice to succeed Henry H. Van Dyck as Superintendent of Public Instruction.

On February 11, James A. Bell was elected president pro tempore of the State Senate.

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. 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. Richard B. Connolly, Hezekiah D. Robertson, Joseph H. Ramsey, Charles C. Montgomery, James A. Bell, Allen Munroe and Lyman Truman were re-elected. Christian B. Woodruff, Richard K. Sanford and Wilkes Angel changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

Party affiliations as published by the New York Tribune; those marked "Republican" were elected in opposition to "Union" candidates. Senate officers and a Regent of USNY were elected without opposition.

District	Senator	Party	Notes
1st	Monroe Henderson	Union	due to ill health, absent from January 31
2nd	Jesse C. Smith	Union
3rd	Henry C. Murphy	Fusion	elected unopposed
4th	Christian B. Woodruff*	Democrat
5th	Charles G. Cornell	Democrat	from December 3, 1862, also New York City Street Commissioner
6th	John J. Bradley	Democrat
7th	Richard B. Connolly*	Democrat
8th	Hezekiah D. Robertson*	Union
9th	Henry R. Low	Union
10th	Jacob S. Freer	Democrat
11th	William H. Tobey	Union
12th	Ralph Richards	Union
13th	John V. L. Pruyn	Democrat
14th	Joseph H. Ramsey*	Union
15th	John Willard	Fusion	elected unopposed; died on August 31, 1862
16th	Russell M. Little	Union
17th	Charles C. Montgomery*	Union
18th	James A. Bell*	Union	on February 11, elected president pro tempore
19th	Alexander H. Bailey	Union
20th	George A. Hardin	Republican
21st	Richard K. Sanford*	Fusion	elected unopposed
22nd	Allen Munroe*	Republican
23rd	Henry A. Clark	Union
24th	Lyman Truman*	Union
25th	Chauncey M. Abbott	Republican
26th	Charles J. Folger	Union
27th	Charles Cook	Union
28th	Lysander Farrar	Fusion	elected unopposed
29th	Almanzor Hutchinson	Union
30th	Wilkes Angel*	Republican
31st	John Ganson	Democrat	on November 4, 1862, elected to the 38th U.S. Congress
32nd	Horace C. Young	Republican

Employees

• Clerk: James Terwilliger
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Richard U. Owens
• Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: Caleb S. Babcock
• Doorkeeper: Orville Griffin
• First Assistant Doorkeeper: Charles Johnson
• Second Assistant Doorkeeper: Sanders Wilson
• Third Assistant Doorkeeper: Giles H. Holden

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	vacant		Assemblyman-elect John Vanderzee died on December 3, 1861
		Willet Serls	Democrat	elected to fill vacancy; seated on February 6
	2nd	Almerin J. Cornell	Union
	3rd	A. Bleecker Banks	Democrat
	4th	William Doyle	Democrat
Allegany	1st	Alvah E. Cruttenden	Union
	2nd	Edward D. Loveridge	Union
Broome		George Bartlett	Union
Cattaraugus	1st	Andrew L. Allen	Union
	2nd	Addison G. Rice	Union
Cayuga	1st	William A. Halsey	Union
	2nd	Smith Anthony*	Union
Chautauqua	1st	Emry Davis	Union
	2nd	Henry C. Lake	Union
Chemung		Tracy Beadle	Union
Chenango	1st	David B. Parce	Union
	2nd	Francis B. Fisher	Union
Clinton		Lemuel Stetson	Union
Columbia	1st	Jacob Ten Broeck	Democrat
	2nd	Samuel Wilbor	Union
Cortland		Thomas Barry	Union
Delaware	1st	Nelson K. Wheeler	Union
	2nd	Daniel Waterbury*	Union
Dutchess	1st	John B. Dutcher*	Union
	2nd	Edmund Green	Union
Erie	1st	John W. Murphy	Democrat
	2nd	Horatio Seymour	Democrat
	3rd	Ezra P. Goslin	Union
	4th	John A. Case	Union
Essex		Palmer E. Havens	Union
Franklin		Albert Andrus	Union
Fulton and Hamilton		James H. Burr*	Union
Genesee		Benjamin Pringle	Union
Greene		Jonathan B. Cowles	Democrat
Herkimer	1st	Orson Moore	Union
	2nd	George Springer	Union
Jefferson	1st	Jonathan M. Ackley	Union
	2nd	George W. Hazelton	Union
	3rd	William Dewey	Union
Kings	1st	Andrew J. Provost*	Union
	2nd	Richard J. Lalor	Democrat
	3rd	William M. Thomas	Union
	4th	James Darcy*	Democrat
	5th	Charles L. Benedict	Union
	6th	Samuel T. Maddox	Union
	7th	Edgar McMullen	Union
Lewis		Henry D. H. Snyder Jr.	Union
Livingston	1st	Matthew Wiard*	Union
	2nd	Samuel Skinner	Union
Madison	1st	William H. Brand	Union
	2nd	Albert G. Purdy	Union
Monroe	1st	George E. McGonegal	Union
	2nd	Eliphaz Trimmer	Democrat
	3rd	Benjamin R. Wells*	Union
Montgomery		Nicholas Newkirk	Democrat
New York	1st	John Callahan*	Democrat
	2nd	Daniel Leamy	Democrat
	3rd	George L. Loutrel	Democrat
	4th	William J. C. Kenny*	Democrat
	5th	James W. Bush	Union
	6th	William J. Coey	Democrat
	7th	Henry J. Raymond	Union	elected Speaker
	8th	William G. Olvany	Democrat
	9th	Alexander McLeod	Union
	10th	Daniel M. O'Brien	Democrat
	11th	Noah A. Childs	Union
	12th	Andrew Smith	Democrat
	13th	Alexander Ward	Democrat
	14th	Royal Phelps	Union
	15th	David S. Coddington	Democrat
	16th	Dennis McCabe	Union
	17th	Edward Jones	Democrat
Niagara	1st	Benjamin H. Fletcher	Democrat
	2nd	Peter A. Porter	Union
Oneida	1st	Charles M. Scholefield	Union
	2nd	Eli Avery	Union
	3rd	Thomas D. Penfield	Union
	4th	Jeremiah Sweet	Union
Onondaga	1st	Frederick A. Lyman	Union
	2nd	Thomas G. Alvord	Union
	3rd	R. Nelson Gere	Union
Ontario	1st	David Picket	Union
	2nd	Francis O. Mason	Union
Orange	1st	Daniel R. Hudson	Union
	2nd	John Van Etten Jr.	Democrat
Orleans		Nicholas E. Darrow	Union
Oswego	1st	Elias Root	Union
	2nd	Willard Johnson	Democrat
	3rd	Benjamin E. Bowen	Union
Otsego	1st	LeRoy E. Bowe	Union
	2nd	Cornelius A. Church	Union
Putnam		Thomas H. Reed	Union
Queens	1st	Isaac Coles	Union
	2nd	Henry D. Hall	Democrat
Rensselaer	1st	Charles J. Saxe*	Democrat
	2nd	David G. Maxon	Union
	3rd	Sylvester Waterbury	Democrat
Richmond		Smith Ely	Democrat
Rockland		James S. Haring	Democrat
St. Lawrence	1st	Elias P. Townsley	Union
	2nd	James Redington	Union
	3rd	Calvin T. Hulburd	Union	on November 4, 1862, elected to the 38th U.S. Congress
Saratoga	1st	John Fulton*	Union
	2nd	Nathaniel M. Houghton	Union
Schenectady		Simon J. Schermerhorn	Union
Schoharie		William Lamont	Democrat
Schuyler		Alvin C. Hause	Union
Seneca		Peter J. Van Vleet	Democrat
Steuben	1st	Daniel B. Bryan*	Union
	2nd	Henry Sherwood	Union
	3rd	Samuel M. Alley	Union
Suffolk	1st	John C. Davis	Union
	2nd	John S. Havens	Democrat
Sullivan		Benjamin L. Ludington	Union
Tioga		Benjamin F. Tracy	Union
Tompkins		Ezra Cornell	Union
Ulster	1st	Jesse F. Bookstaver	Democrat
	2nd	George T. Pierce*	Union
	3rd	Ebenezer Westbrook	Democrat
Warren		Thomas S. Gray	Democrat
Washington	1st	George H. Taylor	Union
	2nd	Philip H. Neher	Union
Wayne	1st	Eron N. Thomas	Union
	2nd	Abram Pryne	Union
Westchester	1st	Pierre C. Talman	Democrat
	2nd	Newberry D. Halsted	Democrat
	3rd	Chauncey M. Depew	Union
Wyoming		Lucius Peck	Union
Yates		Darius A. Ogden	Union

Employees

• Clerk: Joseph B. Cushman
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Levi M. Gano
• Doorkeeper: Norman B. Sprague
• First Assistant Doorkeeper: William H. Creed
• Second Assistant Doorkeeper: Thomas Miller

Sources

• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough, Stephen C. Hutchins and Edgar Albert Werner (1867; see pg. 439 for Senate districts; pg. 443 for senators; pg. 450–462 for Assembly districts; and pg. 494ff for assemblymen)
• Journal of the Senate (85th Session) (1862)
• Journal of the Assembly (85th Session) (1862)
• Biographical Sketches of the State Officers and the Members of the Legislature of the State of New York in 1862 and '63 by William D. Murphy (1863)