Mark Trafton

Early life Trafton was born in Bangor (then in Massachusetts' District of Maine) to Theodore and Margaret (Dennett) Trafton. Trafton never lost touch with his home town of Bangor, returning to speak at its centennial celebration in 1869.

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) 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. According to his New York Times 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.