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. 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
Background Potter was born May 10, 1821, in Potters Mills, Pennsylvania, 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,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 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.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
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.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
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.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 He died in Madison during the Assembly session in January 1879, and was succeeded the next year by Democrat A. H. F. Krueger.
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