Background
Potts was born December 20, 1830, in Rutherford County, Tennessee, the son of John Greene Potts and Cynthia Jones Potts. His father died when James was just four years old, and his mother when he was thirteen.
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James Wesley
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He had a brother, William H.
He came to California via the Overland Trail in 1852, "walking the entire distance beside a yoke of oxen which pulled one of the old prairie schooners containing all of his possessions."
Potts was married in Los Angeles on July 12, 1866, to Emma Catherine Bedwell or Bedwells of Arkansas and Texas. They had five children, one of whom died when a baby. Surviving to adulthood were Louisa V. Potts (Sexton), Ida A. Potts (McKenzie, and then Johnson), Robert Whaley Potts, and Emma or Emelie M. Potts (Cole).
In his later years his was a most familiar and striking figure on the streets, walking along with his old curved apple-wood cane on his arm, nodding a cheerful good-day to everyone and passing the weather, his favorite theme, with his more intimate friends.
He died January 22, 1896, in his home on Waterloo Street, in the Echo Park district. On arriving in California, Potts first settled in El Monte, "where he engaged in commercial business," then moved to Wilmington and finally to Los Los Angeles
There he "worked on the roads for a mere subsistence for several months, then started as a fruit vender. Soon his sales enabled him to rent a store, and in a few months his receipts were as high as $40 per day." He invested in land and became wealthy, but:
Like many of the enterprising, active pioneers who have given California its wonderful history, he had his ups and downs in financial matters.
He was several times rich and several times poor.. The great monetary depression that swept over the country the past few years greatly crippled him, and it was his ardent hope and ambition to ride out the storm and regain financial independence for himself and family. Potts was elected to a one-year term to represent the 2nd Ward on the Los Angeles on December 3, 1877, serving until December 6, 1878.
He was one of the council members who favored establishment of Evergreen Cemetery by a private group in Boyle Heights.
The measure was controversial, and it was approved by a split vote in the council, Potts stating: "I can"t see why these men object to having a graveyard on the other side of the River for I should rejoice to bury my family over there—that is, when I die.".
Membership
He was a merchant, a landowner and a member of the Los Angeles, the legislative branch of the city, becoming noted locally as an amateur weatherman nicknamed "The Prophet.".
