85th New York State Legislature

85th New York State Legislature
85th New York State Legislature
	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
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 .

Elections[]

The New York state election, 1861 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;^[1] 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:
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
	1st	^[2]	Democrat	elected to fill vacancy; seated on February 6
	2nd		Union
	3rd	A. Bleecker Banks	Democrat
	4th		Democrat
Allegany	1st		Union
Allegany	2nd		Union
Broome			Union
Cattaraugus	1st		Union
Cattaraugus	2nd		Union
Cayuga	1st		Union
Cayuga	2nd	*	Union
Chautauqua	1st		Union
Chautauqua	2nd		Union
Chemung			Union
Chenango	1st		Union
Chenango	2nd		Union
Clinton		Lemuel Stetson	Union
Columbia	1st		Democrat
Columbia	2nd		Union
Cortland			Union
Delaware	1st		Union
Delaware	2nd	*	Union
Dutchess	1st	John B. Dutcher*	Union
Dutchess	2nd		Union
Erie	1st		Democrat
	2nd	Horatio Seymour	Democrat
	3rd		Union
	4th		Union
Essex		Palmer E. Havens	Union
Franklin			Union
Fulton and Hamilton		James H. Burr*	Union
Genesee		Benjamin Pringle	Union
Greene			Democrat
Herkimer	1st		Union
Herkimer	2nd		Union
Jefferson	1st		Union
	2nd		Union
	3rd		Union
Kings	1st	Andrew J. Provost*	Union
	2nd		Democrat
	3rd		Union
	4th	James Darcy*	Democrat
	5th	Charles L. Benedict	Union
	6th		Union
	7th		Union
Lewis			Union
Livingston	1st	*	Union
Livingston	2nd		Union
Madison	1st	William H. Brand	Union
Madison	2nd		Union
Monroe	1st		Union
	2nd		Democrat
	3rd	*	Union
Montgomery			Democrat
New York	1st	*	Democrat
	2nd		Democrat
	3rd		Democrat
	4th	*	Democrat
	5th	James W. Bush	Union
	6th		Democrat
	7th	Henry J. Raymond	Union	elected Speaker
	8th		Democrat
	9th		Union
	10th		Democrat
	11th		Union
	12th		Democrat
	13th		Democrat
	14th	Royal Phelps	Union
	15th		Democrat
	16th		Union
	17th	^[3]	Democrat
Niagara	1st		Democrat
Niagara	2nd	Peter A. Porter	Union
Oneida	1st		Union
	2nd		Union
	3rd		Union
	4th		Union
Onondaga	1st		Union
	2nd	Thomas G. Alvord	Union
	3rd		Union
Ontario	1st		Union
Ontario	2nd		Union
Orange	1st		Union
Orange	2nd		Democrat
Orleans			Union
Oswego	1st	Elias Root	Union
	2nd	Willard Johnson	Democrat
	3rd		Union
Otsego	1st		Union
Otsego	2nd		Union
Putnam			Union
Queens	1st		Union
Queens	2nd		Democrat
Rensselaer	1st	*	Democrat
	2nd		Union
	3rd		Democrat
Richmond		^[4]	Democrat
Rockland			Democrat
St. Lawrence	1st		Union
	2nd		Union
	3rd	Calvin T. Hulburd	Union	on November 4, 1862, elected to the 38th U.S. Congress
Saratoga	1st	*	Union
Saratoga	2nd		Union
Schenectady		Simon J. Schermerhorn	Union
Schoharie		William Lamont	Democrat
Schuyler			Union
Seneca			Democrat
Steuben	1st	*	Union
	2nd	Henry Sherwood	Union
	3rd		Union
Suffolk	1st		Union
Suffolk	2nd		Democrat
Sullivan			Union
Tioga		Benjamin F. Tracy	Union
Tompkins		Ezra Cornell	Union
Ulster	1st		Democrat
	2nd	George T. Pierce*	Union
	3rd		Democrat
Warren			Democrat
Washington	1st		Union
Washington	2nd		Union
Wayne	1st		Union
Wayne	2nd		Union
Westchester	1st		Democrat
	2nd		Democrat
	3rd	Chauncey M. Depew	Union
Wyoming			Union
Yates		Darius A. Ogden	Union

Employees[]

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

Notes[]

^ see results in The Tribune Almanac (1862; pg. 58)
^ Willet Serls (in Assembly Journal "Willett Searles"), Postmaster of Indian Fields, see Post Office Directory (1856; pg. 108)
^ Edward Jones (born c. 1825 Roxbury, Mass.), brother of Jay Jarvis Jones, his predecessor in the Assembly
^ Smith Ely (born c. 1802 New Jersey), uncle of Smith Ely, Jr.

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)

[1] see results in The Tribune Almanac (1862; pg. 58)

[2] Willet Serls (in Assembly Journal "Willett Searles"), Postmaster of Indian Fields, see Post Office Directory (1856; pg. 108)

[3] Edward Jones (born c. 1825 Roxbury, Mass.), brother of Jay Jarvis Jones, his predecessor in the Assembly

[4] Smith Ely (born c. 1802 New Jersey), uncle of Smith Ely, Jr.

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