Libertyville's Clyde POTTS is Mayor of Morristown, NJ

POTTS, PANCOAST, MILLER, WALKER

Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 3/30/2006 at 16:56:35

"Fairfield Daily Ledger-Journal", Sun., Jan. 14, 1923

Clyde POTTS, Born and Raised Near Libertyville, Wins Distinction In The East

Clyde POTTS, son of the late Mr. and Mrs. James F. POTTS now occupies the position of mayor of Morristown, New Jersey. Mr. POTTS was born near Libertyville on what is known as the old PANCOAST farm, now owned by Mr. Mace Clinkenbeard.

His rise to the position which he has attained has been practically all of self advancement, and many friends in this community will be glad to know of his good fortune. He was elected mayor of Morristown, with the endorsement of both republican and democratic tickets, being given the position purely because of his fitness therefor.

The Morristown "Daily Record" says: Clyde POTTS who was elected as Mayor of Morristown on the Republican ticket endorsed by the Democrats at the election yesterday is a prominent civil engineer having been employed as Consulting Engineer for Newark, Jersey City, Bayonne, Atlantic City, Englewood, Rahway, Bridgeport, Wilkes-Barre, Ithaca, New York City and other places on sewerage and water problems and promises to do much toward straightening out the water question in this town.

Mayor POTTS was born in Libertyville, Iowa, November 1, 1876, and was the son of James F. and Elizabeth PANCOAST POTTS, both of whom died when he was very young -- his mother when he was but four and his father when he was eight, and he was raised by his sister, Margaret, who died last December.

After being graduated from Des Moines, Iowa, High school, he entered Cornell University where he received Sigma Pi and Tau Beta Pi, graduating from Cornell he was married at Elmira, N. Y., on April 17, 1908, to Miss Jane MILLER. They have two daughters, Jane Walker POTTS 16 years of age and Elizabeth POTTS, 7 years of age.

Mayor POTTS is a member of the church of Christ and is connected with the American Society of Civil Engineers, Sons of the American Revolution, Elks, Masons, Salaam Temple of the Mystic Shrine, American Public Health Association, American Water Works Association and numerous other technical societies.

Besides having been employed as consulting engineer in many of the large cities in the country, Mayor POTTS has been retained by the U. S. Department of Justice as a sanitary expert. During the war he was consulting engineer in the Ordnance Bureau of the War Department. He has designed ang built improvements and enlargements to the Jersey City Water Supply and has also designated the new water supply for Bayonne on the Pamapo River and has built the water supply for the cities of Bridgeton, Belmar, Milltown, Washington and other places. He has been employed as rate expert by Patersen, Pasaic, Montclair, Kearney, Bloomfield, Atlantic City and others.

The sewerage systems of Morristown and upwards of two hundred other cities and towns have been planned by Mr. POTTS who at the present time is in charge of the construction of the sewerage system of Dover and the construction of a trunk sewer and disposal plant at Jersey City, extending to a point below the Jersey City reservoir at Boonton.

When the State Department of Health was created, following passage of the Edge Economy and Efficiency laws, Mr. POTTS was appointed by Governor Fielder as a member of the reorganized board in 1915, was reappointed in 1917 by Governor Edge and again by Governor Edwards last year. He was appointed a member of the Board of Education of the local schools by ex-Mayor Berkman in December, 1921. Mr. POTTS is also chairman of the Committee on Child Hygiene of the State Department of Health.

The POTTS family was among the earliest settlers of the State of New Jersey, Thomas POTTS coming from England on the ship "Shield" in December, 1678, and settled in Burlington. Mayor POTTS is the eighth generation since. His father served throughout the Civil War in the 28th Illinois Volunteers and on his (dis)charge settled in Iowa.

Mayor POTTS' mother was descended from John WALKER, who came to America from Newry, Ireland, where he had moved from Wigton, Scotland, some years previous. He settled in 1728 later moving to Rockbridge County, Va., where the WALKER family has since lived.

In an editorial the same paper says "Yesterday Morristown unanimously, for perhaps the first time in its history, elected a new mayor -- Clyde POTTS. Uncontrolled by politicians, owing nothing to anyone, Mr. POTTS comes into office with peculiar responsibilities as well as possibilities."

It is well at the start, however, to remember that single-handed Mr. POTTS can accomplish little for the town. He must win the approval of the Board of Aldermen on almost every project that he may advance. To really have an administration that will live up to what is expected of it, it will be necessary to received the support, the advice, and the backing of all citizens. By himself the new Mayor will accomplish little. With the town behind him he can do much. It will be Morristown's own fault if it fails to grasp the opportunity that is now before it.

(A handwritten note by the Prills, who collected the article transcribed above, reads: Revolutionary Ancestor Joel WALKER, the line descending through Clyde's mother, Elizabeth Jane PANCOAST POTTS. SAR Nat. #28167)

*Transcribed for genealogy purposes; I have no relation to the person(s).