James Buffington

James Buffington was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts. He was born in Fall River on March 16, 1817. He attended the common schools, and Friends College in Providence, Rhode Island. He studied medicine but never practiced, then engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was a member of the Fall River Board of Selectmen from 1851 to 1854, and served as the first Mayor of Fall River under the new city government from 1854 to 1855. He was elected as a candidate of the American Party to the Thirty-fourth Congress and as a Republican to the three succeeding Congresses. Buffington was chairman of the Committee on Accounts, and the Committee on Military Affairs.