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.

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 candidates in the Hunterdon County district. He ran for the House of Representatives seat again in 1878 and lost by only 620 votes.^[2]

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.^[3]

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.^[2]

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