Mahlon Van Horne

Born: 1840

Death: 1910

Biography:

American minister, state legislator, and diplomat from Rhode Island. He served as pastor of the Union Colored Congregational Church in Newport, Rhode Island from 1869 to 1898. He served three terms in the Rhode Island General Assembly from 1885 to 1889, becoming the first African American to serve in the state legislature. In 1896, President William McKinley appointed him U.S. Consul to the Danish West Indies at Saint Thomas, where he served until 1903.