William Plumer Potter (1918)
BACON, POTTER
Posted By: Kent Transier
Date: 11/8/2023 at 18:02:56
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Monday, April 15, 1918
Page 1, Column 3NOTED JUSTICE IS VICTIM OF HEART AILMENT
Supreme Court Judge W. P. Potter Dies Suddenly in Country Residence
HIS HOME HERE
Noted Pittsburgh Lawyer Before His Elevation to State's Highest Court.
ACTIVE IN RELIGION
William Plumer Potter, justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, died suddenly yesterday morning in his country home at Swarthmore, a suburb of Philadelphia. Heart failure is given as the cause. Justice Potter had been a resident of Pittsburgh for many years, and for the past year had maintained his Pittsburgh residence in the William Penn Hotel.
Justice Potter suffered a heart attack Saturday after having spent part of the day in Philadelphia. At 5 a.m. yesterday, he had another attack and after being relieved, his physician advised that the justice be taken to Florida at once. Shortly afterward he was again stricken and died. Mrs. Potter and two daughters, Miss Annabel Potter and Mrs. Leonard C. Ashton, were with the Justice when the end came.
Funeral services will be held tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 o'clock in his Swarthmore home. The body will be brought to Pittsburgh for interment.
Justice Potter was born on Aprii 27, 157, in Maquoketa, Jackson county, Iowa. His father was James H. Potter, a well-known Presbyterian minister, and his grandfather was one of the early settlers of Western Pennsylvania. Justice Potter was educated at the public schools in Baltimore and in Iowa and at Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. He did not finish his college course, but returned to Iowa and engaged in private study. During part of the time he acted as assistant cashier of a national bank in that state.
Partner of W. A. Stone.
Eventually Justice Potter was admitted to the Iowa bar, but in a short time he left that state and came to Pittsburgh, where he made further studies and where he took up active practice in 1884. In 1890 he formed a law partnership with Attorney William A. Stone and the firm was continued until the election of Mr. Stone as governor of Pennsylvania. On September 25, 1900, Gov. Stone appointed Mr. Potter to the bench of the Supreme Court and in 1901 Justice Potter was elected to the position for a term of 21 years beginning January 1. 1902.
Justice Potter was one of the most active corporation lawyers of Pittsburgh before he took his seat on the bench. He was counsel of the United Traction Company, the Consolidated Traction Company and a score of other important corporations. He was active in the formation of the Mercantile Trust Company, the Mercantile Bank, the Federal National Bank, the. Citizens Deposit and Trust Company of Sharpsburg, the First National Bank of McKees Rocks, the Ohio Valley Bank and the Bank of Millvale, in all of which he served for some time as counsel and director.
He took an active interest in religious matters and for years was a director of the Western Theological Seminary. At the time of his death and for many years before he was an elder of the East Liberty Presbyterian Church. He was a member of the Art Club of Philadelphia and of the Duquesne Club and other Pittsburgh social and business organizations.
Honored by College.
Justice Potter was also a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the American Historical Association, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the American Society of International Law. In 1907 he was given the degree of Doctor of Laws by Lafayette College, and in 1911 he was similarly honored by Swarthmore. In 1884 Justice Potter married Miss Jessie Bacon of Des Moines, Ia. Besides her he leaves two daughters, Miss Annabelle Potter and Mrs. Leonard C. Ashton of Swarthmore, Pa. John E. Potter, president of the Potter Title and Trust Company here is a brother and he left for Philadelphia yesterday when he was notified of Justice Potter's death. Justice Potter took an active interest In the Liberty Bond drive and was to have acted as chairman of a big meeting to be held in Philadelphia tonight.
______________________Transcriber's note: The deceased was age 13 when his family came to Winterset, September 1, 1870, so his father could assume the pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church, a position he held for 13 years. (1915 History of Madison County)
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