Mark Trafton

Mark Trafton (August 1, 1810 – March 8, 1901) was a Methodist Episcopal minister who, as a member of the American Party, served one term as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. He was born in Bangor, then in the District of Maine within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to Theodore and Margaret (Dennett) Trafton. His mother, Margaret Dennett, was the daughter of Jacob Dennett, one of Bangor’s original settlers, linking Trafton to the early civic development of the town. When he was fifteen years old he was apprenticed to a Mr. Weed, a shoemaker in Bangor, an experience that introduced him to manual trade work before he turned to religious and intellectual pursuits.

Trafton pursued his education at Kent’s Hill Seminary in Maine, an institution associated with Methodist education and ministerial training. His studies there prepared him for the ministry in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he subsequently entered the pastorate. He was ordained pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church in Westfield, Massachusetts, beginning a clerical career that would span several decades and multiple congregations. His religious vocation was closely tied to the broader Methodist movement in New England during a period of rapid social and religious change.

In 1836 Trafton married Eliza Young of East Pittston, Maine. The couple had six children, including sons John and James Trafton, and a daughter, Adeline Trafton, who became a writer. The family’s life reflected both Trafton’s ministerial commitments and their enduring ties to Maine and Massachusetts. Eliza Trafton remained an important partner in his pastoral work until her death in 1882, and the couple’s connections to their congregations are evidenced in the tributes they received from parishioners.

By the mid-nineteenth century, Trafton had become a well-known Methodist Episcopal minister in Massachusetts. He served as pastor of the North Russell Street Methodist Episcopal Church in Boston in 1850 and 1851. Upon the conclusion of his tenure there, the ladies of the church presented him and his wife with a red and white signature quilt, a token of esteem that has since been preserved in the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska. Trafton also served as pastor of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church in Charlestown, further establishing his reputation as a prominent clergyman in the Boston area. In the early 1850s he traveled in Europe, and his observations were published in Boston in 1852 as “Rambles in Europe: In a Series of Familiar Letters,” a volume dedicated to his cousin, Bangor merchant George W. Pickering, who may have helped finance the trip. Trafton maintained a lasting connection to his native Bangor, returning there to speak at the city’s centennial celebration in 1869.

Trafton entered national politics as part of the American Party, also known as the Know-Nothing Party, during a period of intense sectional and nativist conflict in the United States. He was elected as the American Party candidate to the Thirty-fourth Congress and served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts from March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1857. During this term, all eleven members of the Massachusetts delegation in the House of Representatives were affiliated with the American Party, including Speaker of the House Nathaniel P. Banks. Trafton’s service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, as debates over slavery, immigration, and national identity intensified. According to his obituary in The New York Times, he “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,” indicating that he used his position to advocate forcefully against the expansion and influence of slavery. As a member of the American Party representing Massachusetts, he contributed to the legislative process during his single term in office, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents amid the turbulent politics of the 1850s.

Trafton was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1856 to the Thirty-fifth Congress. After leaving Congress in March 1857, he resumed his ministerial duties, returning to the work that had defined much of his adult life. He served as pastor of a church in Mount Wollaston, Massachusetts, and continued to be active in Methodist Episcopal circles. His post-congressional career reflected a reengagement with pastoral responsibilities and religious leadership rather than continued pursuit of elective office.

In his later years, Trafton remained identified with both his clerical and reformist legacies. He never lost touch with his home town of Bangor, Maine, and his participation in its centennial celebration underscored his enduring regional connections. He lived to see the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the turn of the twentieth century, outliving many of his contemporaries in both the ministry and politics. Mark Trafton died in West Somerville, Massachusetts, on March 8, 1901. He was interred in Peabody Cemetery in Springfield, Massachusetts, closing a long life that bridged early nineteenth-century New England society and the modern industrial era, and that combined religious vocation with a brief but notable period of national legislative service.