# American Medical Biographies/Pott, John

​Pott, John (———1652)
Dr. John Pott being ordained by the London Court to succeed Lawrence Bohune (q. v.) as physician to the colony of Virginia, sailed with his wife Elizabeth on the George and landed at Jamestown in 1620. Having succeeded to the Council in Virginia it seems natural that Pott should covet the former official's station and emoluments—that of physician-general to the Colony, with five hundred acres of land and twenty tenants. The minutes of the London Company for the sixteenth of July, 1621, show that he was recommended for the position by Dr. William Gulston: "For so much as the physicians place to the company was now become voyde by reason of the untimely death of Dr. Bohune, slain in the fight with two Spanish shipps of Warr the nineteenth of March last, Dr. Gulstone did now take occasion to recommend unto the company for the said place one Mr. Potts, a Mr. of Artes, well practised in Chirurgerie and Physique, and expert also in distillinge of waters, and that he had many other ingenious devices so as he supposed his service would be of great use unto the colony in Virginia."
The Council ordered that "If Mr. Pott would accept of the place upon the same conditions as Dr. Bohune did, he should be entertained and for his better content should be specially recommended to the Governor to be well accommodated and should have a chest of Physique £20 charge unto the company, and all things thereunto apertaining together with £10 in books of Physique which should always belonge unto the company, which chest of Physique and Books Dr. Gulstone was desired to by, and seeing he intended to carry over with him his wife a man and a maid they should have their transporte freed, and if one or more Chirurgions could be got they likewise should have their passage freed which conditions Mr. Pott having accepted of was refferred to the committees to be further treated and concluded with."
Dr. Theodore Gulstone, graduate of Oxford, died in 1632, bequeathing $1,000 for founding the Gulstonian chair of anatomy in the London College of Surgeons, a lectureship which is still continued.
Dr. Pott became a member of the Council by royal selection on May 24, 1625, and governor by election of the Council on March 5, 1628. After little more than a year as chief executive he was succeeded by Sir John Harvey. Hardly had the latter assumed the reins of government before Dr. Pott's enemies sought his disgrace, charging him with having pardoned and restored the privileges of a wilful murderer, and with holding some cattle not his own. Harvey confiscated his property and ordered him to remain under arrest at his home until the General Court of July 9, 1630, when he was arraigned before a jury of thirteen on the charge of "felony." The doctor declared the evidence against him hypocritical and unreliable but the jury found against him. Gov. Harvey withheld sentence until he could learn the wishes of the King, writing him that the prisoner "was the only physician in the Colony skilled in epidemical diseases," pleaded for his pardon, and the restoration of his estate because of his lengthy residence and valuable service. Mrs. Pott took ship for England to importune the King in person.
Charles appointed a commission to determine the matter, which reported that the condemning of Dr. Pott "for felony" upon superficial evidence was drastic and very erroneous. The King signed his pardon restoring all rights and privileges on July 25, 1631, most particularly for the reason that he was "the only physician in the Colony."
After his pardon by the King, Dr. Pott retired from public life and devoted his time to his profession. He had acquired a grant of three acres on Jamestown Island in 1624, which was increased to twelve acres in 1628, ​but the unhealthiness of the Island drove him inland. In 1632 he purchased a plantation and erected the first home in Middle Plantation, seven miles from James City, which he called "Harop." The fact that the "Surgeon of the Colony" had moved to Middle Plantation was a convincing argument in favor of its healthfulness. Surveys were quickly made and new homes erected so that there grew up around "Harop" a village which was later given the name of Williamsburg, where in 1693 the College of William and Mary was founded under royal patronage.
Williamsburg, first the habitation of Dr. Pott, became the capital of Virginia in 1698, and here her lawmakers assembled until the exigencies of the Revolution made it advisable to transfer the seat of government to Richmond, in 1779.
It is not known when Dr. Pott died, but his death probably occurred in Virginia, and certainly after March 25, 1651, at which time his son John, styled Jr., signed the test of fealty to the Commonwealth as a citizen of Northampton County.