Cambria County Pioneers, 1910, by James L. Swank, Cambria County, PA - Judge James Potts Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ ________________________________________________ CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS HON. CYRUS L. PERSHING A Collection of Brief Biographical and other Sketches Relating to the Early History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania. by JAMES M. SWANK PHILADELPHIA: No. 261 SOUTH FOURTH STREET, 1910. 90 CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS. JUDGE JAMES POTTS. WRITTEN IN 1891 AND PRINTED IN PAMPHLET FORM FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION. ON August 8, 1891, the old citizens of Johnstown and more than forty members of the bar of Cambria county laid to rest in Grand View cemetery the remains of Hon. James Potts, who died at Oil City, Venango county, on Thursday, August 6, 1891. He was born at Butler, Pennsylvania, on August 31, 1809, and was consequently at the time of his death almost 82 years old. James Potts was the son of John Potts, a native of the North of Ireland. His mother's maiden name was Jane Karns, who was also of Scotch-Irish extraction. Both families were not only among the first settlers of Western Pennsylvania but they were also long prominent in the social, business, and political affairs of that part of our State. John Potts, the father of James Potts, was one of the pioneer settlers of the town of Butler. He was a merchant. He was also an active and influential politician. He represented Butler county in the Legislature at a very early day and also held the offices of county treasurer and county commissioner. Two of his sons, George and James, were also politicians from their boyhood. The father was a disciple of Thomas Jefferson and his sons were Democrats all their days. The Karns family was divided in its political allegiance. Two members of this family, William and Samuel D. Karns, brothers, were prominent in the councils of the Democratic and Whig parties respectively. The town of Butler was mainly settled by brainy, enterprising, and cultivated families, who were nearly all of Scotch-Irish origin and Presbyterian in their religious faith. Among a people of such characteristics and antecedents James Potts grew up. He lacked no advantages which churches, schools, good health, a comfortable home, ambi- JUDGE JAMES POTTS. 91 tious parents, and superior social surroundings could give. He lived in an intellectual and social atmosphere that was wholesome and elevating. Intended for one of the liberal professions he became a student of Jefferson College when he was about 17 years old, and he almost completed the regular four years' course. Owing to some accidental occurrence he did not graduate, but he obtained a good knowledge of Latin and Greek and the higher mathematics and some knowledge of Hebrew. He was a great reader of history while at college and ever afterwards. He was born with decided literary tastes, and at college these tastes had opportunity for healthy development. When yet a young man he had read much good literature, was a writer of good English, and was a ready and impressive public speaker. Leaving college about 1829 or 1830 James Potts appears to have not immediately entered upon the study of a profession, as we hear of him a few years later as a student of law with his early friend and playmate, Samuel A. Purviance, of Butler, who afterwards became noted for his legal attainments and his political prominence. James Potts did, however, push his way to the front of Butler county politics soon after leaving college, and with such success that when he was 25 years old he was postmaster of Butler. About the time when he was appointed to this political office he was elected captain of an infantry company, the Butler Blues, a volunteer military organization, and a little while later he was elected major of the battalion to which his company was attached. In 1837, after he had commenced the study of law, he was appointed one of the clerks of the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention of that year, of which some of the most eminent men of the State were members. Here his opportunities for increasing his political acquaintance and forming political friendships were most excellent, and he at once attained a high standing among the Democratic leaders of Pennsylvania. On the 2d day of October, 1838, James Potts and his cousin, Margaret Jane Karns, were married at Pittsburgh by the Rev. James Prestly. Mrs. Potts's father's name was James Elliott Karns. During the following winter the canal commissioners, under the administration of Governor 92 CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS. David R. Porter, appointed James Potts, who had first been Captain Potts and was now Major Potts, collector of tolls at Johnstown, on the main line of the public improvements of the State, succeeding Frederick Sharretts, a Whig. Soon after his appointment Major Potts visited Johnstown for the first time, and in March, 1839, when less than 30 years old, he entered upon his new duties and set up housekeeping in the official residence of the collector, attached to the collector's office on Canal street, now Washington street. Major Potts continued as collector of tolls for five years, or until 1844, when he was succeeded by A. W. Wasson, of Erie, who was in turn succeeded a few years later by Obed Edson, of Warren. During a large part of Major Potts's term as collector he had as his clerks George Nelson Smith, Campbell Sheridan, and Cyrus L. Pershing, all well known to the old citizens of Johnstown. Upon coming to Johnstown in the spring of 1839 Major Potts and his wife at once became a positive and beneficent social force in their new home. They were a handsome couple, tasteful in dress, courtly in manner, fond of social gatherings where gentility counted for something, exceedingly hospitable in their own elegantly furnished home, regular attendants at church, and possessed of many polite accomplishments as well as a generous income apart from the emoluments of the collector's office. Mrs. Potts was a woman of rare grace and of queenly presence, of most winning ways, cheerful and hopeful under all circumstances, devoted to her home, ever ready to make others happy, the possessor of a mind cultivated by much reading and contact with well-read and well-bred people - a lady, in brief, of exalted character. She died on August 9, 1879, in Johnstown, living there all her married life. She was the mother of eight children. Her oldest daughter Jane lost her life in the Johnstown flood of 1889. When Major Potts surrendered the collector's office to his successor he opened an office on Clinton street for the practice of law so far as this could be done without his having previously been admitted to the bar. He had not completed his legal studies when he came to Johnstown, but when the whirligig of politics threw him on his own JUDGE JAMES POTTS. 93 resources he resolved not only to make Johnstown his permanent home but to rely upon the practice of law for a livelihood. To comply with the court regulations before applying for admission to the bar he nominally became a student with Hon. Moses Canan, then the only lawyer in Johnstown, and on the 7th of October, 1846, he was formally admitted as a member of the Cambria county bar. He at once entered upon an active and lucrative practice, in which he continued until advancing years and declining health caused him to virtually retire from the further practice of his profession. On June 11, 1850, when on a visit to his old home in Butler, he was admitted as a member of the Butler county bar. For about three years, beginning with 1850, he was the senior member of the law firm of Potts & Kopelin. Abram Kopelin had studied law with Major Potts and was a bright and promising student. He afterwards became one of the most distinguished members of the Cambria county bar. Major Potts never had any other law partner. At the time of his death Major Potts was the oldest in years of all the members of the Cambria county bar, but there survived him two members who were engaged in practice before he had been admitted. Hon. John Fenlon was admitted on July 3, 1837, and General Joseph McDonald on April 3, 1844. For these dates I am indebted to Hon. George M. Reade, of Ebensburg, who completed his legal studies with Potts & Kopelin. As early as 1850 an active agitation had commenced in the southern part of Cambria county in favor of the establishment of a new county, with Johnstown as the county-seat, and in 1854, after the election of George S. King to the Legislature, this movement, with which Mr. King earnestly sympathized, took shape in the preparation of a bill which provided for the organization of a new county. The measure failed before the Legislature, but the agitation was again fiercely renewed in 1860, when Major Potts, who had from the first been one of its principal promoters, became the candidate for the Legislature of what was known as the New County party. He was defeated after a most animated canvass, which has probably never been surpass- 94 CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS. ed in intensity in Cambria county. Then the war came, but a few years after it closed the new-county movement was again renewed with great energy, this time, however, taking the form of a proposition to remove the county-seat from Ebensburg to Johnstown. In 1870 Captain H. D. Woodruff, of Johnstown, ran as a candidate for the Legislature on this issue, but was defeated by a small majority. It had previously been proposed to establish at Johnstown a district court which should include within its jurisdiction Johnstown and some neighboring towns and townships. This scheme was so far successful that in 1869 it was approved in an act of the Legislature and the court was duly established, the judges of the Cambria county courts officiating as judges of the district court. Subsequent legislation provided for the election of all district court officers by the citizens of the district, but before an election could be held the offices were filled by appointment of the Governor, Major Potts being appointed president judge by Governor Geary in 1871. He was subsequently elected to this position. Several sessions of the new court were held with Judge Potts on the bench. But the court, which had at first been eagerly desired, soon fell into disfavor because by the terms creating it it partook too much of the character of a police court. There was much legislation concerning it and much litigation. In 1874 Judge Potts was defeated as a candidate for re-election to the judgeship, and in 1875 the Supreme Court of the State decided that the act creating the district court was unconstitutional. This ended the new-county and county-seat agitation which had existed for a quarter of a century. Soon after coming to Johnstown Major Potts took an interest in its military affairs. There had existed for a number of years a volunteer infantry company called the Conemaugh Guards, of which Joseph Chamberlain, John K. Shryock, and John Linton were successively captains. About 1841 a rival company was organized, called the Washington Artillerists, of which Peter Levergood, Jr., was elected captain. He was succeeded by George W. Easly, and about 1842 Collector Potts was elected captain, a position which he held for many years. The name of the company had in the JUDGE JAMES POTTS. 95 meantime been changed to Washington Grays. The Grays were often on dress parade and with the Conemaugh Guards they participated in many encampments. Those were stirring times for a country town. Major Potts was a good drill officer. At the beginning of the Rebellion he took delight in drilling Johnstown volunteers for the Union army. I may here recall the interesting fact that James Potts played the drum on the 3d day of June, 1825, upon the occasion of Lafayette's reception by the people of the town of Butler, and that the fifer whom he accompanied with his drum was a Revolutionary soldier named Peter McKinney, who had played the fife at Bunker Hill in 1775, just fifty years before. In our old friend we have had a link to connect the present generation with Revolutionary days. In 1840, not long after Major Potts came to Johnstown, the Washingtonian temperance movement was started, and in this movement he took an active interest, attending and addressing the meetings which were held in 1840 and 1841, and perhaps in 1842, in the various churches of Johnstown, and aiding greatly by his earnestness and ability in obtaining signers to the Washingtonian pledge. The Washingtonian movement in Johnstown was soon followed by the organization of the Juvenile Temperance Society, and the credit of originating and perfecting this organization belongs wholly to Major Potts. It lasted for two or three years, and did great good in starting many Johnstown boys in the right path. Subsequently Major Potts assisted in organizing the Johnstown Division of Sons of Temperance and its companion the Cadets of Temperance. All his days he was a consistent and earnest temperance man. His influence in Johnstown in behalf of temperance was a marked feature of his useful life. But Major Potts was active in other good works in Johnstown for many years after he became one of its citizens and at a time when men of capacity and courage were greatly needed. It will surprise many who read these lines to learn that when he came to Johnstown the common-school system as it has been known to this generation was so unpopular in his new home that there was danger of its complete rejection, while in some of the country districts 96 CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS. surrounding Johnstown it had actually been rejected. Of all the defenders of the common-school system in Johnstown at this period Major Potts was certainly the most active, and the final establishment of the system on a firm foundation in that town and in neighboring school districts was very largely the result of his earnest efforts. When the system was still in danger in Johnstown he was chosen a school director, and for many years he faithfully and zealously served his fellow citizens in that humble and thankless position. He was also one of the prime movers in the establishment about 1851 of a select school for girls, which was held in the building especially erected for the purpose in the rear of the Presbyterian church and was presided over by Miss A. L. Elliott and Miss Hannah McCullough, the latter being succeeded in a year or two by Miss Rebecca Newell. This school was a signal success for many years. The cause of popular education in Johnstown and the cause of liberal education as well never had a better or more efficient friend than Major Potts. When our old friend came to Johnstown in 1839 his official position and his natural tastes combined to make him active in local politics, while his wide acquaintance with the leading members of his party made him also to some extent a factor in State politics. He had opinions of his own about men and measures and expressed them freely. He was long a regular attendant at the county conventions of his party. He was a Tariff Democrat and a friend of Simon Cameron. He was a ready political writer and liked to take part in newspaper controversies. For a few months in 1846 he was one of the editors of an independent Democratic paper published in Johnstown in 1846 and in 1847, called The Democratic Courier; but a year or two before this, during the interregnum between his retirement from the collector's office and his entrance upon the active practice of law, he edited for one winter the Democratic organ at Harrisburg, the Argus. In 1847 the Courier opposed Governor Shunk's renomination. It was then edited by T. A. Maguire. The paper died in that year. In both cases in which Major Potts assumed editorial duties he was influenced by his JUDGE JAMES POTTS. 97 strong partisanship and his thoroughly unselfish devotion to his political friends. With the exceptions which have been noted he never, however, was the recipient of noteworthy political honors. While personally popular with men of all parties his independent and often impulsive methods did not commend him to wide recognition as a party leader. For several years before the Johnstown flood of May 31, 1889, Judge Potts had lived a quiet and retired life in the comfortable home on Walnut street he had built about 1853, and which was always, especially during the lifetime of Mrs. Potts, one of the most hospitable and inviting of all Johnstown homes. A large garden and many fruit trees occupied much of the judge's attention from spring to fall, and at all seasons his well-stored library served to employ his active brain and to afford subjects of conversation with friends who called to see him. The last conversation I ever held with the judge on the porch of the old- fashioned brick house to which he was so much attached was suggested by his reference to the important part which George Washington had personally taken in the development of Western Pennsylvania. He was an ardent patriot, and the history of his country was as familiar to him as household words, while the achievements of its great men aroused his enthusiasm and excited his pride whenever they were recalled. Western Pennsylvania had a warm place in his affections. He was also a close Bible student and an intelligent adherent of the faith of his fathers. Without pressing his religious views or his biblical knowledge upon others he was always most entertaining when religious or scriptural questions were the subjects of conversation. His knowledge of every subject in which he took an interest was thorough; he could be superficial in nothing which he set out to understand. The early history of Johnstown, its surveys, its metes and bounds, all these were well known to him. When the flood came on that last day of May, 1889, Judge Potts and his family were overwhelmed by the mighty rush of waters; their home was destroyed in an instant; his oldest daughter, as has already been stated, was lost, although her body was afterwards found; and the judge and his remaining children were swept down toward 98 CAMBRIA COUNTY PIONEERS. the now historic stone bridge, where they were rescued. In a day or two the judge and his family found a refuge with friends in Westmoreland county and afterwards with friends in Blair county; thence going before the summer was over to Oil City, where a new home was secured, and where, a few weeks ago, away from the few old friends who had survived the flood, he died. As my memory carries me back over the fifty years which Judge Potts spent in Johnstown I am impressed by the thought that the town never had a more worthy citizen, never a truer friend, never a more potent force in giving rightful direction to its social and moral development. His influence was always on the right side of every question which affected its welfare, and in his younger days that influence was exerted to the utmost whenever the occasion called for wise leadership. His very presence in the community was in those days an inspiration to the timid, the irresolute, the unfortunate, and the friendless. He was especially the friend of ambitious young men. I can name many successful men who have had Johnstown for their home who owe a great deal of their success in life to the encouragement they received from Judge Potts. His home of refinement and grace was always open to them when they were boys; his books were freely loaned to them; his interest in them never ceased; his praise was never withheld. He was one of the first residents of Johnstown to give to its social currents a literary direction and the desire for the training of colleges and seminaries. But it was in wider directions that his influence for the good of Johnstown was most felt and has been most lasting. Nearly all the men whose brains and courage and devotion made Johnstown the prosperous and orderly town that it was before the flood have gone to their reward. Now there is a new town among the hills and there are new people in its new homes. It is not surprising to be told that, when Judge Potts visited Johnstown for the last time three months ago, his heart was broken by a flood of memories as crushing as the flood of waters. The old home and the old town gone, old friends gone, himself an old man, what could he do but die and be gathered to his fathers?