John F. Potter

John Fox Potter nicknamed "Bowie Knife Potter" (May 11, 1817 – May 18, 1899) was a nineteenth-century politician, lawyer and judge from Wisconsin.

Biography
Born in Augusta, Maine, Potter attended common schools and Phillips Exeter Academy. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1837, commencing practice in East Troy, Wisconsin. He served as a judge in Walworth County, Wisconsin from 1842 to 1846, was a delegate to the Whig National Convention in 1852 and 1856, was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1856 and was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1860 and 1864.

Member of Congress
Potter was elected a Republican to the United States House of Representatives in 1856. He served in the 35th through the 37th Congresses from 1857 to 1863; there, he served as chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions from 1859 to 1861 and of the Committee on Public Lands from 1861 to 1863. In this latter role, his committee handled the Homestead Act of 1862.

Potter was defeated in his race for reelection in 1862. After leaving office in early 1863, the Lincoln administration appointed him to be Consul General of the United States in the British-controlled Province of Canada from 1863 to 1866, residing in what was then the Canadian capital of Montreal, Canada.

In 1866, Potter returned to East Troy, Wisconsin, where he practiced law until his death there on May 18, 1899. He was interred in Oak Ridge Cemetery in East Troy.