b. Augusta, Maine, 1817
d. 1899

He attended Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H., studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. In 1838 he moved to Wisconsin, settling in East Troy, Walworth County, where he set up a law practice and became active in local Whig and Free Soil politics. He was Walworth County judge (1842-1856), joined the Republican party in 1854, and was state assemblyman (1856). In 1856 Potter was elected to Congress, and served 3 terms (Mar. 1857-Mar. 1863). In Congress, Potter served as chairman of the important House Committee on Public Lands, but gained fame largely because of his personal quarrel in 1860 with Virginia's fiery Congressman, Roger Pryor. In a bitter debate over the slavery question, Pryor challenged Potter to a duel, and the northern sympathizers took Potter to their hearts when he chose as weapons bowie knives at close quarters. Although the police interfered and the duel was not fought, it earned the Wisconsin Representative the sobriquet "Bowie Knife" Potter, and was indicative of the bitter partisan feelings that preceded the Civil War. In 1862 Potter was defeated for re-election to Congress, and from 1863 to 1866 served by Presidential appointment as consul general to the British provinces in North America, with headquarters at Montreal, Canada. In 1866 he resumed his law practice in East Troy, and later retired to his nearby farm in Walworth County.

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Biog. Dir. Amer. Cong. (1928); Wis. Mag. Hist., 27; Milwaukee Sentinel, May 19, 1899; J. F. Potter Papers.