{{short description|American politician}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Hamilton Harris | image = Portrait of Hamilton Harris (1820–1900).png | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1820|05|01}} | birth_place = Preble, New York, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1900|12|14|1820|05|01}} | death_place = Albany, New York, U.S. | resting_place = Albany Rural Cemetery | other_names = | occupation = Lawyer, politician | spouse = Lucy Moody Rogers | children = | awards = | education = Union College | party = Republican | signature = Signature of Hamilton Harris (1820–1900).png | office1 = Member of the New York State Senate | constituency1 = 13th District | term_start1 = 1876 | term_end1 = 1879 | office2 = Member of the New York State Assembly | constituency2 = 3rd District | term2 = 1851 }} '''Hamilton Harris''' (May 1, 1820 – December 14, 1900) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.
==Life== Hamilton Harris was born in Preble, New York on May 1, 1820.<ref name=Cyclopaedia>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lcVKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA414 |title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography |volume=I |publisher=James T. White & Company |page=414 |year=1893 |access-date=2021-04-21 |via=Google Books}}</ref> He studied at the Cortland Academy and the Albany Academy.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5oFOISsJbisC&pg=PA120 |chapter=Harris, Hamilton |title=The Biographical Dictionary of America |first1=Rossiter |last1=Johnson |first2=John Howard |last2=Brown |date=1906 |volume=V |page=120 |publisher=American Biographical Society |location=Boston, Massachusetts |access-date=2025-07-14 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Harris graduated from Union College in 1841. Then he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1845, and practiced in Albany.<ref name=NYTObit>{{Cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1900/12/16/102428385.pdf |title=Death List of a Day: Hamilton Harris |newspaper=The New York Times |location=Albany |page=7 |date=1900-12-16 |access-date=2021-04-21}}</ref> He married Lucy Moody Rogers (1829–1898) in 1850.<ref name=NYS/>
He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Albany Co., 3rd D.) in 1851; and District Attorney of Albany County from 1854 to 1856.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GyUOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA470 |title=The New York Civil List |first=Stephen C. |last=Hutchins |publisher=Weed, Parsons & Company |pages=470, [https://books.google.com/books?id=GyUOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA540 540] |year=1870 |access-date=2021-04-21 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
He was a member of the New York State Republican Committee from 1864 to 1870; and a member of the Board of Capitol Commissioners from 1865 to 1875.
He was a member of the New York State Senate (13th D.) from 1876 to 1879, sitting in the 99th, 100th, 101st and 102nd New York State Legislatures.
In 1885, Harris was elected a Regent of the University of the State of New York.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1885/03/11/106172634.pdf |title=The New Regents |newspaper=The New York Times |page=2 |date=1885-03-11 |access-date=2021-04-21}}</ref> In 1891, he was conferred an honorary LL.D. degree by Union College.<ref name=NYS>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N8tTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP404 |chapter=Hamilton Harris |title=New York State's Prominent and Progressive Men: An Encyclopædia of Contemporaneous Biography |first=Mitchell C. |last=Harrison |date=1900 |volume=II |pages=144–145 |publisher=New York Tribune |access-date=2025-07-14 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
He died in Albany on December 14, 1900, and was buried at the Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, New York.<ref name=NYTObit/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-ny-hs}} {{succession box | before = Robert H. Pruyn | title = New York State Assembly <br>Albany County, 3rd District | years = 1851 | after = Teunis Van Vechten Jr.}} {{s-par|us-ny-sen}} {{succession box | before = Jesse C. Dayton | title = New York State Senate <br> 13th District | years = 1876–1879 | after = Edward M. Madden}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Hamilton}} Category:1820 births Category:1900 deaths Category:People from Cortland County, New York Category:The Albany Academy alumni Category:Union College (New York) alumni Category:Lawyers from Albany, New York Category:Politicians from Albany, New York Category:Members of the New York State Assembly Category:Albany County district attorneys Category:New York (state) state senators Category:New York (state) Whigs Category:New York (state) Republicans Category:19th-century American lawyers Category:19th-century members of the New York State Legislature Category:Regents of the University of the State of New York Category:Burials at Albany Rural Cemetery