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]
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
DemocratA. H. F. Krueger.