Frederic A. Potts

Frederic Augustus Potts (April 4, 1836 – November 9, 1888) was an American businessman and Republican party politician who was the Republican nominee for Governor of New Jersey in 1880.

Frederic A. Potts
Potts in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, September 11, 1880
Member of the
New Jersey Senate
from Hunterdon County
In office
1874–1877
Preceded byDavid H. Banghart
Succeeded byJames N. Pidcock
Personal details
BornApril 4, 1836
Pottsville, Pennsylvania
DiedNovember 9, 1888 (aged 52)
New York City, New York
Political partyRepublican

Potts was born in 1836 in Pottsville, Pennsylvania to George Alexander Henry and Emily Dilworth (Gumming) Potts. His father was the head of the New York branch of the wholesale coal and iron firm of Lewis Audenried & Company. Potts followed in his father's footsteps, working in the coal and iron business in New York City. He controlled an extensive business as a coal merchant.[1]

Potts had a farm in Pittstown, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, and from this base he was recruited to become the Republican candidate for the House of Representatives in New Jersey's 4th congressional district. He was defeated, although by a narrower than usual margin in a district that was known as "the Democratic Gibraltar." He was elected to the New Jersey Senate in 1873 as a Republican, breaking a long succession of Democratic victories in the Hunterdon County stretching "since the days of the Jackson."[2] He ran for the House of Representatives seat again in 1878 and lost by only 620 votes.[3]

In 1880 he was the Republican nominee for Governor of New Jersey and was defeated by the Democratic nominee, George C. Ludlow, by a margin of 651 votes of some 250,000 ballots cast.[4]

Prior to 1880, Potts was a director of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. In 1880 he reorganized the New Jersey Midland Railroad, which merged with other railroads to form the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway. He was elected president of the railway and remained in this position until his death. He died in 1888 at his family residence in New York at the age of 52.[3]

References
  1. Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River (1914).
  2. Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey. F.L. Lundy. 1874. p. 62. In the late election Senator Potts ran largely ahead of his ticket and carried the county by a good majority, being the first republican since the days of Jackson that has done so.
  3. Obituary, The New York Times, November 10, 1888. Accessed June 17, 2008.
  4. Biography of George C. Ludlow, New Jersey State Library.
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