Orlando Bronson Potter (March 10, 1823 - January 2, 1894) was a U.S. Representative from New York.
Born in Charlemont, Massachusetts , the son of Samuel and Sophia Rice Potter, he attended the district school, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, and the Dane Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts. MA (Hon) 1867, LLD 1889. He was admitted to the bar in 12 Feb 1845 and commenced practice in Boston, Massachusetts. He married Martha Green Wiley on 28 Oct 1850. In May 1853 he moved to New York and engaged in manufacturing and patent law as President of the Grover and Baker Sewing Machine Co as well as working at real estate development with the Potter and Arcade Buildings and pursuing agricultural interests with a six hundred acre farm on the Hudson in Ossining. He together with Asahel Clarke Geer and his son in law Walter Geer formed the NY Architectural Terra Cotta Co. He helped devise the National Banking Act of 1863.
He was unsuccessful for election in 1878 to the Forty-sixth Congress. However, Potter was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1883-March 3, 1885). He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1884.
He served as member of the Rapid Transit Commission of New York City 1890-1894 as well as Cornell University and Bleeker Street Savings Bank trustee. He died in New York City, January 2, 1894. He was interred in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn along with his wife and three daughters: Mary, Martha, and Blanche.
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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York ? – ? |
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