Elected by the American Party to the Thirty-fourth Congress and as a Republican to the Thirty-fifth Congress, Cragin served from (March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1859).[1] While in the House of Representatives, he was chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of War (Thirty-fourth Congress).
Cragin resumed the practice of law and in 1859 was again a member of the State house of representatives. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Republican Convention in Chicago, and a delegate to the Philadelphia loyalists convention in 1866.[2] He was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1864; was reelected in 1870, and served from March 4, 1865, to March 3, 1877.[3] While in the Senate he was chairman of the Committee on Engrossed Bills (Thirty-ninth Congress) and a member of the Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expense (Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses), the Committee on Naval Affairs (Forty-first and Forty-third Congresses), and the Committee on Railroads (Forty-third and Forty-fourth Congresses).[4]
Cragin died in Washington, D.C., on May 10, 1898 (age 77 years, 96 days). He is interred at School Street Cemetery, Lebanon, New Hampshire.
Family life
Son of Aaron and Sarah Whitney, Cragin married Isabella Tuller and they had a son, Harry Wilton Cragin, who graduated from Yale University and was appointed third assistant in the United States Patent Office.[6]
^Vermont Historical Society (1921–1923). Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society. The Society, 1921 - Vermont. pp. 95–96. Retrieved 11 July 2014. aaron harrison cragin new hampshire historical society.