Representative Nathan Taylor Stratton

Nathan Taylor Stratton (March 17, 1813 – March 9, 1887) was an American Democratic Party politician who represented New Jersey’s 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives for two terms from 1851 to 1855. His congressional service occurred during a significant period in American history in the decade preceding the Civil War, during which he participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his South Jersey constituents.

Stratton was born in Pilesgrove Township, Salem County, New Jersey, on March 17, 1813. He attended the local common schools, receiving the basic education typical of rural New Jersey in the early nineteenth century. His early life in an agricultural region of the state helped shape his later involvement in both farming and local public affairs.

In 1829, Stratton moved to Mullica Hill, New Jersey, in what later became Harrison Township, Gloucester County. There he clerked in a store, gaining experience in commerce and local trade. By 1835 he had become a partner of his employer, marking his emergence as a young businessman in the community. He established and conducted his own mercantile business beginning in 1840, an enterprise he maintained, in various forms, until 1886. In addition to his storekeeping, he engaged in the real estate business and in agricultural pursuits, reflecting the mixed commercial and farming economy of the region.

Stratton’s public career began at the state and local levels. He was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly, serving from 1843 to 1844. Following his legislative service, he was appointed a justice of the peace, holding that office from 1844 to 1847. Over these years he also held several other local offices in and around Mullica Hill, building a reputation as a civic leader while continuing his private business activities.

Stratton was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-second and Thirty-third Congresses, representing New Jersey’s 1st congressional district. He served in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1851, to March 3, 1855. As a member of the Democratic Party during a time of growing sectional tensions, he contributed to the legislative process over his two terms in office, participating in debates and votes on issues important to New Jersey and the nation. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1854 and returned to private life at the close of his second term.

After leaving Congress, Stratton again engaged in mercantile pursuits in Mullica Hill, continuing his long-standing business interests. He remained active in public service at the local and state levels. In 1865 he was elected a member of the Harrison Township committee, reflecting his continued influence in township affairs. That same year he was appointed a state tax commissioner, a position in which he helped oversee aspects of New Jersey’s fiscal administration.

Stratton also played a role in the state’s emerging system of public institutions. From 1865 until his death in 1887, he served as a trustee of the State Reform School for Boys at Jamesburg, New Jersey, contributing to the governance of one of the state’s principal juvenile reform institutions. In national politics after the Civil War, he was a delegate to the Union National Convention of Conservatives held in Philadelphia in 1866, a gathering of Democrats and moderate Republicans seeking a conciliatory approach to Reconstruction. He later sought to return to Congress as a Democrat and was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1880 to the Forty-seventh Congress.

Nathan Taylor Stratton died in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, on March 9, 1887. He was interred in the Baptist Cemetery in Mullica Hill, closing a life that combined long service in local and state offices, two terms in the United States House of Representatives, and more than four decades of commercial and agricultural activity in southern New Jersey.