John Potter Jr.

John Potter Jr. (May 10, 1821 – January 29, 1879) was an American lawyer from Menasha, Wisconsin who was elected to two one-year terms as a Greenback Party member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from Winnebago County but died in office on January 29, 1879.^[1]^[2]

Background

Potter was born May 10, 1821, in Potters Mills, Pennsylvania,^[3] received an academic education at Harrisburg, and became a lawyer. He came to Wisconsin in 1850, and settled in Menasha (the second lawyer ever to live in the new town), where he briefly taught school for an annual salary of $30, became secretary of the newly chartered Masonic lodge,^[4] and held various local offices. These included county supervisor; and clerk, trustee and president of the Village Board of Menasha while it was a village, and constable and alderman after it became a city.^[5]

Legislature

He was elected in 1877 for the second Assembly district of Winnebago County (cities of Neenah and Menasha; the village of Winneconne; and the Towns of Clayton, Neenah, Menasha, Winchester and Winneconne, with 1,270 votes to 728 for Republican F. T. Moulton. (Republican incumbent Henry Leavens was not a candidate.) He was assigned to the standing committees on the judiciary and on incorporations, chairing the latter.^[6]

He was re-elected in 1878, receiving 1,274 votes, to 933 for Republican C. P. Northrop. His committee assignments remained the same, although he lost his chairmanship.^[7] He died in Madison during the Assembly session in January 1879, and was succeeded the next year by Democrat A. H. F. Krueger.

References

[1] "The Legislature". Janesville Daily Gazette. January 30, 1879. p. 1. Retrieved February 4, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.

[2] Cannon, A. Peter, ed. Members of the Wisconsin Legislature: 1848 – 1999. State of Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau Informational Bulletin 99-1, September 1999; p. 95 Archived 2006-12-09 at the Wayback Machine

[3] "John Potter, Jr". Harrisburg Daily Independent. February 4, 1879. p. 1. Retrieved February 4, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.

[4] Lawson, Publius V. et al. History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Its Cities, Towns, Resources, People In Two Volumes. Chicago: C.F. Cooper, 1908. Volume II; pp. 771, 773, 793

[5] Harney, Richard J. History of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, and Early History of the Northwest Oshkosh: Allen and Hicks, Book Printers, 1880; pp. 127, 128, 219, 222

[6] Bashford, R. M., ed. The Legislative Manual of the State of Wisconsin: Comprising the Constitutions of the United States and of the State of Wisconsin, Jefferson's Manual, Forms and Laws for the Regulation of Business; also, lists and tables for reference, etc. Seventeenth Annual Edition. Madison: David Atwood, Printer and Stereotyper, 1878; pp. 396, 485-486, 491, 495

[7] Warner, Hans B., ed. The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin, for 1879. Containing the Constitutions of the United States and of the State; Jefferson's Manual; Rules and Orders of the Senate and Assembly, and Annals of the Legislature; also, statistical tables and history of state institutions Eighteenth Annual Edition. Madison: David Atwood, State Printer, 1879; pp. 508, 514, 517

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