Alonzo Potter

Alonzo Potter (6 July 1800 – 4 July 1865) was an American bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States who served as the third Bishop of Pennsylvania.

Early life

Alonzo Potter was born at Beekman (now La Grange), Dutchess County, New York, on 6 July 1800. His ancestors, English Friends (or Quakers), settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, between 1640 and 1660; his father, Joseph Potter, was a farmer, a Quaker, and in 1798 and in 1814 was a member of the New York Assembly. Alonzo Potter graduated from Union College in 1818, and from 1821 to 1826 he was professor at Union of mathematics and natural philosophy.

Career

In 1824 Alonzo Potter was ordained, and married daughter of President Eliphalet Nott of Union College, Sarah Maria Nott. After she died in 1839, in 1841 he married her cousin, Sarah Benedict. Potter was rector of St. Paul's, Boston, from 1826 to 1831, when he became professor of moral and intellectual philosophy and political economy at Union. In 1838 Potter refused the post of assistant bishop of the eastern diocese (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island). He was vice-president of Union College from 1838 to 1845. After the suspension of Henry Ustick Onderdonk (1789–1858) from the bishopric of Pennsylvania, Potter was chosen to succeed him, and was consecrated on 23 September 1845.

In Pennsylvania

In 1846 he established the western and northeastern convocations of priests in his diocese. Throughout the 1850s Potter worked towards the building of a new hospital in Philadelphia. The cornerstone was laid in 1860, and the facility was named the Hospital of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. The hospital continues in operation today under the name Episcopal Hospital. In 1861 he established the Philadelphia Divinity School. In 1842 with George B. Emerson (1797–1871) he published The School and the Schoolmaster, which had a large circulation and great influence. In 1847, 1848, 1849 and 1853 he delivered five courses of lectures at the Lowell Institute, Boston.

Work and publications

He advocated temperance reform and frequently delivered a lecture on the Drinking Usages of Society (1852); he was an opponent of slavery and published a reply to the pro-slavery arguments of Bishop John Henry Hopkins (1792–1868) of Vermont. He edited many reprints and collections of sermons and lectures, and wrote: Political Economy (with Johann Ludwig Tellkampf, New York, 1840), The Principles of Science applied to the Domestic and Mechanic Arts (1841), Handbook for Readers and Students (1843), and Religious Philosophy (1870).

Family

His youngest brother Horatio Potter (1802–1887) was Episcopal Bishop of New York, created the Community of St. Mary, and was the founder of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.

Alonzo Potter's children were:

• Clarkson Nott Potter (1825–1882) was a Democratic member of the National House of Representatives after the Civil War.
• Robert Brown Potter (1829–1887) was a United States General in the American Civil War.
• Henry Codman Potter (1835–1908) succeeded Horatio Potter as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York in 1887.
• Edward Tuckerman Potter (1831–1904) was an architect who designed the Nott Memorial at Union College.
• William Appleton Potter (1842–1909) was an American architect who designed numerous buildings, including the Church of the Presidents (New Jersey) in Elberon, New Jersey.
• Eliphalet Nott Potter, a publisher.
• Francis Hunter Potter, a musician and writer.
• Maria Louisa Potter, wife of sculptor Launt Thompson.

Owing to his failing health, Potter visited England and France in 1858. In April 1864 he sailed from New York for California. Potter died on board ship in San Francisco harbor on 4 July 1865. His body was returned to Philadelphia and interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery, alongside his wife.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 

External links

• Documents by Alonzo Potter from Project Canterbury
• www.alonzopotter.com