Representative Emory Bemsley Pottle

Emory Bemsley Pottle (July 4, 1815 – April 18, 1891) was an American attorney and legislator from Naples, New York, who served in the New York State Assembly and later represented his state in the United States House of Representatives from 1857 to 1861. He was born in Naples, Ontario County, New York, on July 4, 1815, the son of Loring Pottle and Betsey (Kibbe) Pottle. Raised in western New York, he pursued classical studies at the Penn Yan Academy in Penn Yan, New York, laying the academic foundation for his later legal and political career.

After completing his preparatory education, Pottle studied law in Canandaigua, New York, in the office of the firm Sibley & Worden. He was admitted to the bar in New York City in 1838 and commenced the practice of law in Springfield, Ohio. After gaining initial professional experience in the West, he returned to his native Naples, where he continued the practice of law and became a prominent local attorney. His legal work, combined with his growing interest in public affairs, soon drew him into state and national politics.

Pottle entered public life as a member of the Whig Party. In 1847 he was elected to the New York State Assembly, where he served as a Whig representative and participated in the legislative business of the state during a period of significant economic and political development. In addition to his legal and legislative work, he became active in local educational initiatives and later served as president of the board of trustees of the Naples Academy, reflecting his interest in improving educational opportunities in his community.

In the 1850s, as the Whig Party disintegrated amid sectional tensions over slavery, Pottle became an early adherent of the newly formed Republican Party. He was the successful Republican nominee for the United States House of Representatives in 1856 and was re-elected in 1858, serving two consecutive terms in the 35th and 36th Congresses from March 4, 1857, to March 3, 1861. Representing New York as a Republican, he contributed to the legislative process during a significant period in American history, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents on the eve of the Civil War. During his congressional service, Pottle served on the Committee on Expenditures in the Navy Department in the 35th Congress and on the Committee on Naval Affairs in the 36th Congress, giving him a role in overseeing and shaping naval policy and expenditures.

Pottle’s congressional career was marked by his engagement with the central political issue of the era: slavery and the preservation of the Union. He was an opponent of slavery on moral and political grounds, yet he argued that the United States Constitution sanctioned the institution and therefore the federal government could not unilaterally prohibit it within the states. Emphasizing a constitutional and states’ rights framework, he contended that the question of slavery’s future must be resolved by the states themselves. At the same time, he criticized Southern slaveholders for falsely branding Republicans as abolitionists and for obstructing the circulation of accurate information about Republican positions in the South. As sectional tensions deepened, Pottle warned that if the Southern states attempted secession, the Northern states would be compelled to enforce the Constitution, even at the cost of civil war, underscoring his commitment to the Union and constitutional order.

After leaving Congress in 1861, Pottle returned to Naples and resumed the practice of law. His expertise and standing in agricultural and economic matters led President Abraham Lincoln to appoint him to a commission charged with preparing a bill for a tariff on wool, reflecting both his legal acumen and his familiarity with agricultural interests. Beyond the law, Pottle was involved in several business enterprises, notably in the development of regional railroads. He served as president of the Geneva, Hornellsville, and Pine Creek Railroad and the Geneva and Southwestern Railroad, participating in the broader mid-nineteenth-century effort to expand transportation infrastructure in upstate New York and the surrounding region.

Pottle was also deeply engaged in agriculture, particularly in sheep raising and viticulture. He maintained vineyards and raised sheep, and his leadership in these fields was recognized through his service as president of the New York State Grape Growers Association and as secretary of the National Wool Growers Association. These roles placed him at the intersection of law, politics, and agricultural advocacy, and he became a prominent spokesman for the interests of grape and wool producers. His work in these organizations complemented his broader efforts to promote economic development and agricultural improvement in New York.

In the years following the Civil War, Pottle’s political affiliations reflected the shifting currents within the Republican Party. In 1872 he joined the Liberal Republican movement, a faction of Republicans who opposed what they viewed as corruption and patronage abuses in President Ulysses S. Grant’s administration and who supported Horace Greeley for president. By 1876, however, Pottle had returned to the regular Republican fold and was chosen as a delegate to the New York state Republican convention. He remained active in party politics into the 1880s, supporting James A. Garfield for president in 1880 and serving as a featured speaker at an October Republican mass meeting in Cohocton. In 1884 he backed James G. Blaine for president and held a leadership role in the Ontario County Blaine and Logan organization. Widely regarded as a skilled orator, he was frequently called upon to speak at Independence Day celebrations, Decoration Day commemorations, and other public events, reinforcing his public profile long after his congressional service had ended.

Emory Bemsley Pottle died in Naples, New York, on April 18, 1891. He was interred in Rose Ridge Cemetery in his hometown, closing a life that spanned the early republic, the sectional crisis, the Civil War era, and the political realignments of the late nineteenth century.