James Potts

Quick Facts

Place of Birth:

Butler County, Pennsylvania

Date of Birth:

August 31, 1809

Place of Death:

Oil City, Cambria County, Pennsylvania

Date of Death:

August 6, 1891 (aged 81)

Place of Burial:

Southmont, Cambria County, Pennsylvania

Cemetery Name:

Grandview Cemetery

Judge James Potts was an appointed toll collector at Johnstown. Potts lived in the collector's house that was connected to the office on Canal Street, now Washington Street.

He was admitted to the Cambria County Bar on October 7, 1846 and continued to practice law until his health began to decline. In 1871, he was appointed to Johnstown's District Court by Governor John Geary, one time superintendent of the Allegheny Portage Railroad.

He married Margaret Jane Karns and they had eight children and their oldest daughter Jane, died in the Great Johnstown Flood on May 31, 1889. The Potts family home on Walnut Street was destroyed in the flood.