Alonzo Potter (1800-1865), American bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was born at Beekman (now La Grange), Dutchess County, New York, on 6 July 1800. His ancestors, English Friends, settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, between 1640 and 1660; his father was a farmer, a Quaker, and in 1798 and in 1814 was a member of the New York Assembly. The son graduated at Union College in 1818, and from 1821 to 1826 was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy there.