Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/261

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POPE
POTTS
219


and Bouguereau in Paris. He is an instructor at the Pennsylvania academy of art. Among his works are " Mexican Gala Day," " Fox Hounds," " French Plow-Horses frightened by a passing Train," and " Ulysses feigning Madness " (1S84): "Close of a City Day," "At Twilight," and " Night of the Nativity." His "Fox Hounds " fained for him the seeonii Hallgarten prize and is election as an associate of the National acade- my iti 1888. He also received a valuable prize from the American art association.

POPE, Joseph, Canadian official, b. at Char- lottetown. Prince Kdward island, 16 Aug., 18.54. He is the eldest son of the late William Henry Pope, one of the "fathers "of Canadian confed- eration. The son was educated at Prince of Wales college, in his native place, and gra<luated in 1870. For eight years he engaged in banking, and then entered the Canadian civil service, in which he has since continued. He was private secretary to Sir John Macdonald from 1882-'91 and assistant clerk of the queen's privy council for Canada from 1889-'96. In the latter year he was promoted under-secretary of state for Canada, and ne is also deputy registrar-general. In 1893 he was attai'hed to the stati of the British agent at the Bering sea arbitration at Paris. He is tlie author of " Jacques Cartier, his Life and Voyages" (Ottawa, 1890); " Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald " (2 vols., Ijon<lon, 1894); and "Confederation," a valuable collection of documents bearing on the British North American act (1895).

PORTER, John Killiam, jurist, b. in Water- ford, N. v., 12 Jan., 1819; d. there, 11 April, 1892. He was graduated from Union in 1837, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He went to Albany in 1848, where he was associated with a firm in the practice of his profession. Upon the death of Nicholas Hill, Jr., a member of the law firm, Mr. Porter succeeded him in arguing the firm's cases before the court of ap|icals. He was Charles O'Conor's as.>«jeiate in the famous Parish testa- mentary case, and brought to a successful issue on behalf of Horiu-e (Jreeley the libel suit which I)c Witt C. Liltlejohn began against him in 1862. Mr. Porter was apfMjintcd in 1864 to fill an unexpired terra on the bench of the court of ap|>cals. He was elected the next year to the same post for an eight years' term, but resigned after three years' service, and came to New York city. He was a raeml)er of the committee which examinc<l the public accounts of New York city during the Twee<l ring's infamy, and aided the friends of honest government, while at the same time he re- fused retainers from Tweed and his associates. He represented railroad and church corporations in dimcult litigations, of which the Krie railroad and Trinity church easts are memorable instances. Ho was one of the counsel in the famous Heecher- Tilton trial, and was senior counsel for the people in the trial of President Garfield's murderer.

POSEY, Benjamin Lane, journalist, b. near Laurens Court-House, S. ('., 21 Nov., 1827; d. in Bay St. Louis, Miss.. 2 May, 1888. He was a student at the College of South Carolina when the Mexican war began, left his studies, and served till 1848, when he returneil, but was com- pelled bv failing health to leave without gradua- tion, lie subsequently established and edited in Ablievillc, S, C, the " Independent Press," removed to Alabama, was admitted to practise law, edited the Autauga " Statesman " and the Marion "Amer- ican," settled in Mobile in IS-W, and practised with success till the beginning of the civil war. He or- ganized and became captain, in 1861, of the first volunteer company that was raised for the Con- federate service in Alabama, and served until the cessation of hostilities. After the war he settled in Colorado, and subsequently in Bay St. Louis, where he became a successful member of the bar.

POTE, William, Jr.. navigator, b. in Jlarble- head. Mass., 15 Dec, 1718; d. probably in 17.5.5, as administration on his estate was granted 6 Oct. of that year. He was the oldest son of Capt. William Pote, who was admitted a citizen of Falmouth (now Portland), Me., in 1728. and who became a land-owner there. The son. William, was skilful in both surveying and seamanship. As surveyor he determined important boundaries, notably 400 acres near Little Falls, on Presumpscot river, which the proprietors of Gorhamtown had granted to Gov. William Shirley in 1743. He was captured in Annapolis basin, 17 May, 174,5. while master of the " Montague." a schooner in the employ of the board of ordnance, and the supplies intended for Port Annapolis Royal fell into the hands of the French and Indians then besieging it. Capt. Pote was carried overland by a circuitous route to Que- bec, where he remained a prisoner until his re- lease in July, 1747, and arrived at Louisburg in August, He kept a detailed journal during his captivity, which is of interest to the historian of the period. It was found, and in good condition, in Geneva, Switzerland, in August. 1890, by Bishop John F. Hurst, of Washington. I). C, who pur- chased it, and it was published under the title of "The Journal of Captain William Pote, Jr., during his Captivity in the French and Indian War, from May, 1745, to August, 1747 " (New Y'ork, 1896), in a limited edition. The volume has an historical introduction and extensive annota- tions by Victor II. Paltsits, of the Lenox library, who jireiiared the work for the press.

POTTER, Joseph Adams, soldier, b. in Potter's Hollow, N, Y., 12 June, 1810: d. in Painesville, Ohio, 21 April, 1888. He entered the U. S. service as a civil engineer in 1835 and was engaged in build- ing public works and making surveys of the Great Lakes until the beginning of the civil war. In 1861 he was ordered to Detroit, and was appointed on 27 Sept. 1st lieutenant in the loth U. S. infantry. He was soon transferred to the quartermaster's de^iartmcnt, with the rank of captain, and sent to Illinois, where he was engaged in fitting out troops and in building Camp Douglas at ('hicago and Camp Butler at Springfield, lie disbursed millions of dollars, purchasing large amounts of supplies and great numbers of cavalry hor.«es. Subse- quently he had charge of the quartermaster's dc- nartmcnts at various posts until 1874, when he became chief nuarlerma-ster of the department of the Gulf, with lieadquarters at New Orlean.s. He received the brevets from major to brigailier-gen- cral in the U. S. arinv. and in 1879 was retired.

POTTS, Benjamin Franklin, soldier, b. in Carroll county, Ohio, 29 Jan., 18:^6; d. in Helena, Mont., 17 June, 1887. He was educated at West- minster college. New Wilmington, Pa., and admit- ted to the bar in 18.59. He became captain in the 42d Ohio regiment in 1861, served in the .Shenan- doah valley, was commissioned colonel in 1862, participated in the Vicksburg campaign, and was then promoted to the command of a brigade and served under Gen. William T. Sherman. On 5 Jan., 1865. he became brigadier-general of volunteers. He then returned to the practice of law. was elected state senator of Ohio, and was governor of Montana in 1870-'83. Gen. Potts was in the legislature in 1884. and was a member of the Society of the army of the Tennessee.