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Hon. Abraham Lansing, son of Christopher Yates Lansing and Caroline May Thomas, was born in Albany February 27, 1835. He attended school in Berkshire county, Mass., and afterwards the Albany Boys' Academy, and entered Williams College in the sophomore class of 1852, and was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1855. He then studied law in his father's office, and entered and was graduated from the Albany Law School, and admitted to the bar in 1857.
He was appointed city attorney of Albany in 1868, and was the first reporter of the Supreme Court under authority of law, having been appointed to that position in 1869, under act of that year, by the governor, attorney-general and secretary of state, and published the first seven volumes of the series of decisions of that court, known as Supreme Court Reports. In 1874 he was appointed by Governor Dix as acting state treasurer. In 1876 he was appointed corporation counsel of Albany, and in 1882 was elected upon the Democratic ticket by a majority exceeding that of any predecessor of his to the office to represent Albany county in the State Senate. He was chairman of the railroad committee of the Senate and member of the financial committee, and was actively identified with the passage of the act providing for a State Railroad Commission, and in the other important measures, which come before the railroad committee of the Legislature during his term.
He interested himself in the enactment of the act called the new Albany Charter, and succeeded against most determined opposition in carrying that measure through the Senate in 1883, and subsequently in 1883, when it became a law. He interested himself in the remodeling of the scientific departments of the State, formed and carried through the acts which accomplished that result, and placed the Capitol and different buildings of the State at Albany in the control of a single superintendent. He took charge of the measure in the Senate which provided for the reservation and establishment of the State Park at Niagara Falls, and earnestly advocated that measure upon the floor of the Senate.
He has been for many years a director of the National Commercial Bank, and in term of service is the senior director of that bank, and also its counsel. He is a trustee of the Albany Savings Bank, a member of the Board of Park Commissioners of Albany, a trustee of the Albany Boys' Academy, one of the governors of the Albany Hospital, a trustee of the Albany Medical College, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Albany Rural Cemetery, and of the Board of Trustees of the Dudley Observatory, and was a foundation member of the Fort Orange Club, one of its first Board of Trustees, and a member of its first House Committee. He was much interested in the formation of that club, drew its charter, and made the draft of its constitution. Mr. Lansing is also a life member of the State Geological Society, a member of the Century Association, and of the University Club and Bar Association of New York city.
At the laying of the corner stone of the present City Hall he spoke for the county and city He received the statue of Robert Burns for the Park Commission, and made an address on the inauguration of the present Dudley Observatory on behalf of its Board of Trustees, and at their request. He is a member of the Holland Society, and of the Albany Burns Club. Mr. Lansing was an active Tilden Democrat and at one time chairman of the Democratic County Committee. He has been identified with the Tilden wing of the Democratic party, and has done some work in the advocacy of its cause.
His father was a lawyer, a native of Albany, and son of Abraham G. Lansing, who also held the office of state treasurer for many years, both by appointment and election, and other public offices, in the early days of the city, and was the brother of Chancellor John Lansing, Jr. Mr. Lansing married Catherine, a daughter of Peter Gansevoort.