109th Virginia General Assembly

109th Virginia General Assembly
← 108th 110th →
Virginia State Capitol (1912)
Overview
Legislative body	Virginia General Assembly
Jurisdiction	Virginia, United States
Term	January 12, 1916 (1916-01-12) – January 9, 1918 (1918-01-09)
Senate of Virginia
Members	40 senators
President	J. Taylor Ellyson (D)
President pro tempore	C. Harding Walker (D)
Party control	Democratic Party
Virginia House of Delegates
Members	100 delegates
Speaker	Harry R. Houston (D)
Party control	Democratic Party
Sessions
1st January 12, 1916 (1916-01-12) – March 18, 1916 (1916-03-18)

The 109th Virginia General Assembly was the meeting of the legislative branch of the Virginia state government from 1916 to 1918, after the 1915 state elections. It convened in Richmond for one session, which started on January 12, 1916, and ended on March 18, 1916.

Background

The 1916 General Assembly took place during the latter half of Henry Carter Stuart's governorship. It was the last full session during which J. Taylor Ellyson served as lieutenant governor and president of the state senate; as of 2013, he is the only person in Virginia history to have served three terms in that office.

On November 1, 1916, seven months after the body adjourned, statewide prohibition went into effect. Senator G. Walter Mapp and temperance advocate James Cannon, Jr. (not to be confused with Senator James E. Cannon) drafted the final bill after voters endorsed a referendum in September 1914.

Party summary

Resignations and new members are discussed in the "Changes in membership" section, below.

Senate

Senate Party standings (at the beginning of this session)

  35 Democrats

  1 Independent

  4 Republicans

	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)			Total	Vacant
	Democratic	Independent	Republican
End of previous session	35	0	5	40	0
Begin	35	1	4	40	0
December 7, 1917	34			39	1
Latest voting share	87.2%	12.8%
Beginning of next session	35	1	4	40	0

House of Delegates

House Party standings (at the beginning of this session)

  84 Democrats

  1 Independent

  15 Republicans

	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)			Total	Vacant
	Democratic	Independent	Republican
End of previous session	-	-	-	100	0
Begin	84	1	15	100	0
Latest voting share	84%	16%
Beginning of next session	84	1	15	100	0

Senate

Leadership

Map of Virginia's senatorial districts as they were in 1916

Office	Officer
President of the Senate		J. Taylor Ellyson (D)
President pro tempore		C. Harding Walker (D)
Minority Floor Leader		J. Powell Royall (R)

Members

	District	Senator		Party	Constituency	Began serving
	1st		John P. Buchanan	Democratic	Washington, Smyth, and city of Bristol	1916
	2nd		John M. Goodloe	Republican	Scott, Lee, and Wise	1916
	3rd		J. Powell Royall	Republican	Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell, and Tazewell	1912
	4th		William L. Andrews	Democratic	Roanoke, Montgomery, and cities of Roanoke and Radford	1915
	5th		E. Lee Trinkle	Democratic	Giles, Bland, Pulaski, and Wythe	1916
	6th		M. Price Webb	Republican	Carroll, Grayson, and Patrick	1916
	7th		William A. Rinehart	Democratic	Craig, Botetourt, Allegheny, Bath, and city of Clifton Forge	1912
	8th		George N. Conrad	Democratic	Rockingham	1916
	9th		Cornelius T. Jordan	Independent	Augusta, Highland, and city of Staunton	1916
	10th		Harry F. Byrd	Democratic	Shenandoah, Frederick, and city of Winchester	1916
	11th		Theodore C. Pilcher	Democratic	Fauquier and Loudoun	1916
	12th		Henry H. Downing	Democratic	Clarke, Page, and Warren	1916
	13th		C. O'Conor Goolrick	Democratic	Spotsylvania, Stafford, Louisa, and city of Fredericksburg	1915
	14th		R. Ewell Thornton	Democratic	Alexandria county, Prince William, Fairfax, and city of Alexandria	1908
	15th		Clyde T. Bowers	Democratic	Culpeper, Madison, Rappahannock, and Orange	1912
	16th		Thomas S. Hening	Democratic	Goochland, Powhatan, and Chesterfield	1916
	17th		Nathaniel B. Early	Democratic	Albemarle, Greene, and city of Charlottesville	1908
	18th		Sands Gayle	Democratic	Appomattox, Buckingham, Fluvanna, and Charlotte	1910
	19th		Aubrey E. Strode	Democratic	Amherst and Nelson	1916 (previously served 1906-1912)
	20th		Walter E. Addison	Democratic	Campbell and city of Lynchburg	1916
	21st		James T. Lacy	Democratic	Halifax	1916
	22nd		A. Willis Robertson	Democratic	Bedford, Rockbridge, and city of Buena Vista	1916
	23rd		William A. Garrett	Democratic	Pittsylvania, Henry, and city of Danville	1901
	24th		George T. Rison	Democratic	Pittsylvania and city of Danville	1904
	25th		William H. Jeffreys Jr.	Democratic	Mecklenburg and Brunswick	1916
	26th		Beverly A. Davis	Republican	Franklin and Floyd	1916
	27th		Sidney B. Barham Jr.	Democratic	Greensville, Sussex, Surry, and Prince George	1916
	28th		George E. Allen	Democratic	Nottoway, Amelia, Lunenburg, Prince Edward, and Cumberland	1916
	29th		Patrick H. Drewry	Democratic	Dinwiddie and city of Petersburg	1912
	30th		Junius E. West	Democratic	Isle of Wight, Southampton, and Nansemond	1912
	31st		Earl C. Mathews	Democratic	Norfolk city	1916
	32nd		Charles U. Gravatt	Democratic	Caroline, Hanover, and King William	1908
	33rd		William C. Corbitt	Democratic	Norfolk county and city of Portsmouth	1915
	34th		C. Harding Walker	Democratic	King George, Richmond, Westmoreland, Lancaster, and Northumberland	1899
	35th		Julien Gunn	Democratic	Henrico, New Kent, Charles City, James City, and city of Williamsburg	1916
	36th		Saxon W. Holt	Democratic	Elizabeth City, York, Warwick, and city of Newport News	1904
	37th		G. Walter Mapp	Democratic	Accomac, Northampton, and Princess Anne	1912
	38th		James E. Cannon	Democratic	Richmond city	1914
			Louis O. Wendenburg	Democratic		1912
	39th		John R. Saunders	Democratic	King and Queen, Middlesex, Essex, Gloucester, and Mathews	1908

House of Delegates

Leadership

Office	Officer
Speaker of the House		Harry R. Houston (D)
Majority Floor Leader		R. Holman Willis (D)
Minority Floor Leader		Marion K. Lowry (R)

Members

	Constituency	Delegate		Party
	Accomac (part)		J. Harry Rew	Democratic
	Albemarle Charlottesville		David H. Pitts	Democratic
			Samuel M. Page	Democratic
	Alexandria City Alexandria County		J. Frederick Birrell	Democratic
	Alleghany Craig		Bernard C. Goodwin	Democratic
	Amherst		T. Freeman Epes	Democratic
	Appomattox		M. P. Gatewood	Democratic
	Amelia Nottoway		Richard L. Burke	Democratic
	Augusta Staunton		Herbert J. Taylor	Democratic
			W. W. Sproul	Democratic
	Bath Highland Buena Vista (part) Rockbridge (part)		John W. Stephenson	Democratic
	Bedford		H. C. Lowry	Democratic
			George G. Turner	Democratic
	Botetourt		J. B. Buhrman	Republican
	Brunswick		W. B. Valentine	Democratic
	Buckingham Cumberland		H. P. Baker	Democratic
	Campbell		Robert A. Russell	Democratic
	Caroline		R. L. Beale	Democratic
	Carroll		W. Glenn Edwards	Republican
	Charlotte		Berkley D. Adams	Democratic
	Chesterfield (part)		W. W. Baker	Democratic
	Chesterfield (part) Powhatan		Emmett Lee Mann	Democratic
	Clarke Warren		Kenneth N. Gilpin	Democratic
	Culpeper		Harry B. Smith	Democratic
	Dickenson Wise		W. H. Roberts	Republican
	Dinwiddie		John Y. Harris	Democratic
	Elizabeth City		Harry R. Houston	Democratic
	Fairfax		Franklin Williams Jr.	Democratic
	Fauquier (part)		W. N. Tiffany	Democratic
	Fauquier (part) Loudoun (part)		John O. Daniel	Democratic
	Floyd		W. E. Phillips	Republican
	Franklin		A. S. Adams	Democratic
	Frederick Winchester		John M. Steck	Democratic
	Giles Bland		Anderson E. Shumate	Democratic
	Gloucester		M. E. Bristow	Democratic
	Goochland Fluvanna		George A. Bowles	Democratic
	Grayson		M. O. Cornett	Republican
	Halifax		S. T. A. Kent	Democratic
			Daniel W. Owen	Democratic
	Hanover (part)		W. B. Walton	Democratic
	Henrico		Harry C. Beattie	Democratic
	Henry		John W. Ramsey	Democratic
	Isle of Wight		Thomas B. Wright	Democratic
	King and Queen Essex		Deane Hundley	Democratic
	King William Hanover (part)		Thomas C. Commins	Democratic
	Lancaster Richmond County		Robert O. Norris Jr.	Democratic
	Lee		W. S. Coldiron	Republican
	Loudoun (part)		B. F. Noland	Democratic
	Louisa		R. Lindsay Gordon Jr.	Democratic
	Lunenburg		Stephen Henry Love	Democratic

	Constituency	Delegate		Party
	Lynchburg		J. Calvin Moss	Democratic
	Madison Greene		Will A. Cook	Independent
	Mathews Middlesex		R. H. Stubbs	Democratic
	Mecklenburg		Edward W. Hudgins	Democratic
	Montgomery Radford		U. G. Flanagan	Republican
	Nansemond		Richard L. Brewer Jr.	Democratic
	Nelson		Thomas M. Horsley	Democratic
	Newport News		Philip W. Murray	Democratic
	New Kent Charles City James City York Warwick Williamsburg		Norvell L. Henley	Democratic
	Norfolk City		W. P. Cousins	Democratic
			Lucian B. Cox	Democratic
	Norfolk County		Quinton C. Davis Jr.	Democratic
			Channing W. Hall	Democratic
	Northampton Accomac (part)		G. Frederick Floyd	Democratic
	Northumberland Westmoreland		T. A. Jett	Democratic
	Orange		George L. Browning	Democratic
	Page Rappahannock		Robert F. Leedy	Democratic
	Patrick		Edmund Parr	Republican
	Petersburg		Robert W. Price	Democratic
	Pittsylvania Danville		N. E. Clement	Democratic
			R. L. Dodson	Democratic
			Berryman Green	Democratic
	Portsmouth		J. Davis Reed	Democratic
	Prince Edward		Peter Winston	Democratic
	Princess Anne		A. O. Baum	Democratic
	Prince William		C. J. Meetze	Democratic
	Pulaski		O. E. Jordan	Democratic
	Richmond City		Edward R. Fuller	Democratic
			Graham B. Hobson	Democratic
			James P. Jones	Democratic
			William M. Myers	Democratic
			James H. Price	Democratic
	Roanoke City		R. Holman Willis	Democratic
	Roanoke County		J. Sinclair Brown	Democratic
	Rockbridge (part) Buena Vista (part)		Hugh A. White	Democratic
	Rockingham		Charles H. Rolston	Democratic
			Frank J. Wright	Republican
	Russell		L. B. Sutherland	Republican
	Scott		G. Claude Bond	Republican
	Shenandoah		Otto V. Pence	Republican
	Smyth		Hezekiah L. Bonham	Republican
	Southampton		J. S. Musgrave	Democratic
	Spotsylvania Fredericksburg		Granville R. Swift	Democratic
	Stafford King George		Marion K. Lowry	Republican
	Surry Prince George		David A. Harrison Jr.	Democratic
	Sussex Greensville		William Rufus Cato	Democratic
	Tazewell Buchanan		Ebb H. Witten	Republican
	Washington Bristol		E. C. Buck	Democratic
			Donald T. Stant	Democratic
	Wythe		John H. Crockett	Democratic

Changes in membership

Senate

• December 7, 1917, Theodore C. Pilcher (D-11th district) dies. Seat remains unfilled until start of next regular session.

See also

• List of Virginia state legislatures