Edwin B. Potter, son of Timothy Ricketson Potter and Judith White, was born June 11, 1830 in Potter Hollow (a hamlet now in the town of Renselaersville), Albany County, New York. He commenced the practice of law in September 1851 and married Emaline Juliette Fenn, daughter of Elbridge Burke Fenn and Honor Almira Goodrich, on June 22, 1852 in New York. He and his wife removed to Nevada in 1857. The Fenn family also came to Story County settling in the Iowa Center vicinity.
He conducted various enterprises when he lived in Nevada including a newspaper and a hardware store. However, politics were his passion and he entered the field at a time when political contests were extremely bitter. As the Democratic candidate, he won a special election in the winter of 1862 to fill the state senate seat of Col. John Scott who had resigned to enter the Union army. He served in this position until January 1864.
Although he was a man of ability and conviction, the growing Republicanism during reconstruction times pushed Mr. Potter out of office. With the passing of the political strife of war and reconstruction, a general good feeling was reestablished and personal friendships that had been confined within party lines were opened up, He served as mayor of Nevada in 1870. By 1880, Mr. Potter was in failing health, and it was with the sincere regret of old time opponents, that the family removed from Nevada to Denver, Colorado.
On the afternoon of Christmas Day, December 25, 1901, Edwin B. Potter took his own life by shooting himself with a pistol. His body was brought back to Nevada for burial. He was survived by his wife and two daughters.