Mark Trafton (August 1, 1810 – March 8, 1901) was a

Methodist Episcopal The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...

minister who, as a member of the American Party served one term as a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

Family history

Trafton's mother Margaret Dennett, was the daughter of Jacob Dennett, one of

Bangor, Maine Bangor ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's List of municipalities in Maine, third-most populous city, behind Portland, Maine, Portland ...

's original settlers.

Early life

Trafton was born in Bangor (then in Massachusetts'

District of Maine The District of Maine was the governmental designation for what is now the U.S. state of Maine from October 25, 1780, to March 15, 1820, when it was Admission to the Union, admitted to the Union as the List of U.S. states by date of admission to ...

) to Theodore and Margaret (Dennett) Trafton. When he was fifteen years old he was apprenticed to a Mr. Weed, a shoemaker of

Education

Trafton studied at Kent's Hill Seminary, and was ordained pastor of the

church in

Westfield, Massachusetts Westfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Hampden County, in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, United States. Westfield was first settled by Europeans in 1660. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metrop ...

. In the early 1850s he traveled in Europe and published his letters home as ''Rambles in Europe: In a Series of Familiar Letters'' (Boston, 1852). The volume is dedicated to George W. Pickering, a cousin and prominent merchant in

, who may have financed the trip. Trafton never lost touch with his home town of Bangor, returning to speak at its centennial celebration in 1869.''Centennial Celebration of Bangor (Me.)'' (1869), p. 90

Family life

In 1836 Trafton married Eliza Young of East Pittston, Maine. The Traftons had six children including sons John and James Trafton, and daughter, writer Adeline Trafton. Eliza Trafton died in 1882.

Member of Congress

Trafton was elected as the candidate of the American Party (aka the

Know-Nothing Party The American Party, known as the Native American Party before 1855 and colloquially referred to as the Know Nothings, or the Know Nothing Party, was an Old Stock nativist political movement in the United States in the 1850s. Members of the m ...

) to the Thirty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1857). All eleven U.S. Representatives in the Massachusetts delegation were members of the American Party, including Speaker of the House

Nathaniel P. Banks Nathaniel Prentice (or Prentiss) Banks (January 30, 1816 – September 1, 1894) was an American politician from Massachusetts and a Union Army, Union general during the American Civil War, Civil War. A millworker, Banks became prominent in local ...

. According to his ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' obituary, Trafton "had been an active leader in the anti-slavery reform, and while a member of Congress he secured the cordial hate of his opponents by his bold assaults upon the slave power". He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1856 to the Thirty-fifth Congress, and resumed his ministerial duties as pastor of a church in Mount Wollaston, Massachusetts.

Career as a Clergyman

Trafton served as the pastor of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church in Charlestown. Trafton served as pastor for the North Russell St. M. E. church in Boston in 1850 and 1851. The ladies of the church presented he and his wife with a red and white signature quilt upon his leaving his tenure there. The quilt now resides at the International Quilt Museum, in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Death and burial

Trafton died in West Somerville, Massachusetts, March 8, 1901. He was interred in Peabody Cemetery, in Springfield.

References

Notes

External links

*
Mark Trafton entry
at

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 Politics of the United States, American political figures and List of United States political families, political families, along with other informa ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Trafton, Mark 1810 births 1901 deaths Politicians from Bangor, Maine American Methodist clergy Know-Nothing members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts Politicians from Somerville, Massachusetts 19th-century Methodists 19th-century American clergy 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives