Frederic A. Potts

Who was Frederic A. Potts?

Frederic Augustus Potts was an American businessman and Republican party politician who was the Republican nominee for Governor of New Jersey in 1880.

Potts was born in 1836 in Pottsville, Pennsylvania to George Alexander Henry and Emily Dilworth 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.

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 candidates in the Hunterdon County district. He ran for the House of Representatives seat again in 1878 and lost by only 620 votes.