109th Virginia General Assembly

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.^[1][2]

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)

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