Biographical Sketch of

Robert L. D. Potter

Transcribed by Char Eckman



Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara Counties, Wisconsin, 
published 1890 by Acme Publishing Co., Chicago, Pages 486 - 487

Robert Lewis Dorr Potter, the subject of this sketch, is of Dutch and Scotch descent.  Mr. Potter was born in Hillsdale, 
Columbia Co., N. Y., Feb. 5, 1833.  At the age of about nine years he, with his parents, removed to the town of Egremont, 
Berkshire Co., Mass.  He received a common school and academic education.  He resided in Massachusetts until he was about 
twenty years old, when he was called to Easton, Pa., to take charge of the city schools.  At the end of a year he was 
promoted to the position of tutor of the Freshman and Sophmore classes in the High School of that city.  He occupied 
this position for about two years, when he resigned to enter the Union Law School, at Easton, Pa.  He graduated from 
this law school in 1857, and received his diploma from the Faculty.  During the time he was in the law school he was 
in the law office of ex-Gov. Andrew H. Reeder, the first Governor of Kansas.  He came to Wisconsin in 1857, and settled 
in Wautoma, Waushara Co., Wis.  He was elected District Attorney for Waushara County in 1860, and re-elected for three 
successive terms, and held the office for several terms after that by election.  He also filled several local offices 
in his town.

In 1872 Mr. Potter was elected to the State Senate for the 25th Senatorial District, comprising the counties of Green 
Lake, Marquette and Waushara.  In politics Mr. Potter is a Republican.  He voted for John C. Fremont for President in 
1856, and has voted for every Republican candidate for the Presidency since.

It was during the session of 1874 that Mr. Potter introduced a bill in the Senate, entitled "An act relating to Railroads, 
Express and Telegraph companies in the State of Wisconsin," which became a law, and was known as chapter 273, of the laws 
of 1874.  This law was fiercely assailed by the railroad companies, their aiders and abettors, in this country and Europe. 
The constitutionality of the law was sustained by the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, and by the Supreme Court of the United 
States.  This law, which reduced and regulated the charges for transportation of passengers and freight within the State 
of Wisconsin, made Mr. Potter well known throughout this country and Europe.  He was frequently called "Potter Law Potter,"
and was, wherever he went, treated with great consideration and respect.

While it is true that this law was repealed in 1876, and the tariff of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway for the 
year 1872, was adopted by the passage of the bill known as the "Vance Bill," in which the said tariff was incorporated, 
yet the wholesome effect of the law were everywhere apparent.  It reduced the charges for transportation of freight and 
passengers, and was the means of establishing the principle of legislative control over railroads.  At the close of his 
legislative term in March, 1876, he was appointed Special Assistant Attorney General of the United States, to represent 
the Government in a large number of cases commenced against it for the overflowing of lands caused by the improvement 
of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, in the State of Wisconsin, for navigation purposes.  This position he filed with credit 
until May, 1878, when he resigned the same on account of ill health.  He is at present a member of the Republican State 
Central Committee, and was for several years Chairman of the Republican County Committee for Waushara County.  He has 
been named on two or three occasions for Congress from his District, but has refused to be a candidate for any legislative 
office since the close of his term as a member of the Wisconsin Senate.

Mr. Potter was married at Wautoma, Wis., Feb. 5, 1861, to Miss Emeline Bingham, and they have had seven children, four 
of whom are living.  The eldest, a daughter, is married to W. W. Marsh, Esq., of Kansas City, Kan., where they are now 
living, Mr. Marsh being engaged in the drug trade in that city.  The other children, two daughters and a son, are living 
at home and are unmarried.  The son, S. G. Potter, took a special course of study in the State University at Madison, 
Wis., and graduated from the law department of that institution in the summer of 1889.  He is now in the law practice 
with his father in the city of Berlin, Wis., under the firm name of Potter & Potter.






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