John Potts Hobart was born in 1814 in Pottstown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, the son of Pennsylvania Auditor Nathaniel P. Hobart. He was well educated in private schools and a military school in Mt. Airy. He studied law with William Biddle at Carlisle, Pa. and was admitted to practice in the courts of Cumberland County. In 1837 he opened a law practice in Orwigsburg, PA. When Pottsville became county seat of Schuylkill County, he moved his practice there. In 1838 he married Anne Amelia Smith and they had 10 children. He was a prominent jurist and public official in Schuylkill County. Politically he was a Whig/Republican in a predominantly Democratic county. He was elected sheriff in September 1858 serving one term in that capacity until late 1861. Hobart was a colonel of a regiment of militia. Following his term as sheriff, he served as an officer for the military conscription in Schuylkill County. Mandatory military service had ended in 1858 so it was necessary for each county to draft "volunteers" for the Civil War. To try to end the unrest and rioting among the miners and the related population, it was proposed to conscript as many of the miners as possible to serve in the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteers of Schuylkill County. Many of the conscripted groups had Irish and German surnames. The idea was to use the militia to end the political problems caused by the rioting miners. The disgruntled miners frequently vented their grievances in assault and battery against the mine supervisors and railroad men. These are the troubles fermenting during the era represented in the "Session Docket of J.P. Hobart." The Civil War demand for coal led to the violence attributed to the Irish secret society known as the "Molly Maguires." After the Civil War Hobart was Register of Schuylkill County for many years while maintaining a private practice. He was also associated with the Schuylkill Coal Exchange founded by Franklin B. Bowen. He died in Pottsville in 1892.