Philip Wissig (March 28, 1848 – October 28, 1921) was a

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

hatter, saloon keeper and politician from New York.

Life

Wissig was born on March 28, 1848, in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Rhine Province The Rhine Province (german: Rheinprovinz), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. It ...

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...

. He immigrated to America in about 1868. Wissig initially worked as a silk hatter in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He served as president of the Hatters' Association for eight years. He later established a liquor saloon on 74

Stanton Street Stanton Street is a west-to-east street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, in the neighborhood of the Lower East Side. The street begins at the Bowery in the west and runs east to a dead end past Pitt Street, adjacent to Hamilton Fish Pa ...

. During the

Lexow Committee Lexow Committee (1894 to 1895) was a major New York State Senate probe into police corruption in New York City. The Lexow Committee inquiry, which took its name from the committee's chairman, State Senator Clarence Lexow, was the widest-ranging ...

, it was revealed that a brothel keeper was renting the building from him and he had corrupt ties with the police. In 1887, Wissig was elected to the New York State Assembly as a Democrat, representing the New York County 8th District. He served in the Assembly in

1888 In Germany, 1888 is known as the Year of the Three Emperors. Currently, it is the year that, when written in Roman numerals, has the most digits (13). The next year that also has 13 digits is the year 2388. The record will be surpassed as late ...

1890 Events January–March * January 1 ** The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony, in the Horn of Africa. ** In Michigan, the wooden steamer ''Mackinaw'' burns in a fire on the Black River. * January 2 ** The steamship ...

, and

1892 Events January–March * January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States. * February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado. * February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies for ...

. In the 1892 session, when the Assembly was voting for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

, Wissig spoke against it so vehemently and vulgarly, the Assembly quickly voted to expunge all record of the speech. The suffrage bill passed the Assembly 69-34, partially as a reaction to Wissig's speech. In response to the speech,

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

forced him to retire from his Tammany leadership position. Wissig died in Lincoln Hospital from

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenocarcinomas. Lymph ...

on October 28, 1921.

References

External links

*
The Political Graveyard
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Wissig, Philip 1848 births 1921 deaths Prussian emigrants to the United States People from Cologne Politicians from Manhattan 19th-century American politicians Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly Deaths from stomach cancer