Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/113

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POTTER
POTTER

some time at Union college, but was not graduated. He studied law, was admitted to the bar. and at the beginning of the civil war was in successful practice in New York city. He was commissioned major of the 51st New York volunteers, led the assault at Roanoke island, was wounded at New Berne, commanded his regiment at Cedar Moun- tain. Manassas, and Chantill y, and carried the stone bridge at Antietam, where he was again wounded. He was also engaged in the battle of Fredericks- burg in December, 1862. and was made brigadier- geueral of volunteers, 13 March, 1803. He had pre- vimisly been commissioned lieutenant-colonel and colonel. He led a division at Vicksburg. and took part in the siege of Knoxville, Tenn. He was bre- vetted major-general of volunteers in August, 1864. In the Wilderness campaign, his division was con- stantly under fire, and in the final assault on Pe- tersburg, 2 April, 1865, he was severely injured. After the war he was assigned to the command of the Connecticut and Rhode Island district of the Department of the East, and on his wedding-day his wife was presented by Sec. Stanton with his com- ini"i>in as full major-general of volunteers, dated 29 Sept., 1865. He was mustered out of the army in January. 1866, and acted for three years as receiver of the Atlantic and Great Western railroad. After spending some time in England for his health, he returned to Newport, R. I., where he resided until his death. Gen. Grant refers to Gen. Potter in flattering terms in his " Memoirs," and Gen. Win- field S. Hancock said of him that he was one of the twelve best officers, including both the regular and volunteer services, in the army. Another son, Henry Codiuan, P. E. bishop, b. in Schenectady, N. Y.,'25 May, 1835. after being educated chiefly at the Episcopal academy in Philadelphia, was graduated at the Theological seminary of Virginia in 1857, received deacon's orders the same year, and was ordained, 15 Oct., 1858. From July. 1857. till May. 1859, he was rector of Christ church, Ghreensburgh, Pa., and for the next seven years he had charge of St. John's, Troy, N. Y. He then be- came assistant minister of Trinity church, Boston, where he remained two years. From May, 1868, till January, 1884, he was rector of Grace church. New York city. In 1863 he was chosen president of Kenyon college, Ohio, and in 1875 he was elected bishop of Iowa, but he declined both offices. In 1883 Bishop Horatio Potter, of New York, having asked for an assistant, the convention of that year unanimously elected his nephew. Dr. Henry C. Potter, assistant bishop. He was consecrated on 20 Oct.. in the presence of forty-three bishops and 300 of the clergy, the General convention being then in session in Philadelphia. By formal instru- ments, that were executed soon afterward, the aged bishop resigned the entire charge and responsibility of the work of the diocese into the hands of his assistant. These duties the latter continued to dis- charge until the death of Bishop Horatio Potter, on 2 Jan., 1887, made him his successor. Dr. Pot- ter was secretary of the House of bishops from 1866 till 1883, and for many years he was a manager of the Board of missions. He received from Union the degrees of A. M., D. D., and LL. D. in 1863, 1865. and 1877, respectively, and that of D. D. from Trinity in 1884. Bishop Potter has published "Sisterhoods and Deaconesses at Home and Abroad : A History of their Rise and Growth in the Protestant Episcopal Church, together with Rules for their Organization and Government " (New York, 1872) ; " The Gates of the East : A Winter in Egypt and Syria " (1876) ; and " Ser- mons of the City " (1877). Another son, Edward Tnckernian, architect, b. in Schenectady. X. Y.. '!~i Sept., 1831, was graduated at Union in 1S53. studied architecture under Richard M. Upjohn, and has practised in New York, giving attention prin- cipally to collegiate and ecclesiastical architecture. His work (as illustrated in the Church of the Heavenly Rest, New York; the Church of the Good Shepherd [Colt Memorial], Hartford: and Memorial Hall. Schenectady) is distinguished by marked freshness and originality of conception, felicity of ornamentation, and delicacy of feeling. He has resided largely abroad, and is known as a musical composer of much merit. Another son, Eli|halet Xott, clergyman, b. in Schenectady, N. Y., 20 Sept.. 1836, was graduated at Union in 1861, and at Berkeley divinity-school in 1862. lie took orders as an Episcopalian clergyman, and was rector of the Church of the Nativity in South Beth- lehem, Pa., from 1862 till 1869. From 1866 till 1S71 he was secretary and professor of ethics at Lehigh university, and from 1869 till 1871 he was associate rector of St. Paul's. Troy. N. Y. At Bethlehem Dr. Potter was instrumental in building three churches, and in Troy two chapels. In 1871 he was elected president of Union college, and he was chosen to the same office when the college became a university in 1873. In 1872 he was elected trustee. Resigning from the presidency in 1884, he was chosen bishop of Nebraska, but declined, and accepted instead a prior call to become presi- dent of Hobart college. He received the degree of D. D. from Union in 1869. Alonzo's brother, Horatio, P. E. bishop, b. in Beekman, Dutchess co., N. Y., 9 Feb., 1802; d. in New York city. 2 Jan., 1887. He was graduated at Union college in 1826, ordained deacon in July. 1827. and became priest the following year. His first charge was at Saco, Me. In 1828 he was elected professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Washing- ton (now Trinity) college, and took an active part in plans for the enlargement of the college. In 1833 he became rector of St. Peter's church, Al- bany, N. Y., and held that post till 1854, when he was elected provisional bishop of the diocese of New York, and consecrated in Trinity church on 22 Nov. of that year. On the death of Bishop On- derdonk in 1861, he became bishop of the diocese. The 25th anniversary of his consecration was cele- brated on Saturday, 22 Nov., 1879, by services in Trinity church, and on the following Tuesday by a recep- tion in the Academy of music, at which deputations from the other dioceses in the state of New York were present, and addresses were made by William M. Evarts and John Jay. The bishop's last public service was held, 3 May, 1883, at the end of a long and fatigu- ing visitation, after which he was pros- trated by an attack

of pneumonia from

which he never rallied. He died at his residence, after being confined to his room three years and eight months. When Bishop Potter came to his diocese it was in a state of great depression and disquiet, owing to the controversies that resulted