Stephen Mattoon

{{short description|American missionary to Siam}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Stephen Mattoon | image = Stephen_Mattoon.jpg | caption = Missionary to Siam (Thailand) | birth_date = {{birth date|1816|05|05}} | birth_place = Champion, New York | death_date = {{death date and age|1889|08|15|1816|05|05}} | death_place = United States | years_active= 1847 – 1885 | organization = Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | known_for = {{Plainlist | * Missionary to Siam * Translate the New Testament (Siamese language) * First U.S.A. Consul to Siam (appoints) }}

| spouse = Mary Lourie Mattoon, m. 1846 | children = {{Plainlist | * son George Lourie MATTOON (1850 – 1851) * daughter Mary Lourie Mattoon (1854 – ) * daughter Emma Williams Mattoon (1857 – 1931) }} | parents = Mr. Gershom Mattoon & Mrs. Anna Nancy Sayre Mattoon<ref name="Sketch of the life of Rev. Stephen Mattoon, D.D. written and compiled by his daughter Mary L. Mattoon July 1928">{{cite web|last1=Mattoon|first1=Mary L.|title=Sketch of the life of Rev. Stephen Mattoon, D.D.|url=http://cdm16324.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15170coll6/id/13|website=Online Computer Library Center|publisher=Online Computer Library Center|accessdate=14 April 2017}}</ref> }}

'''Stephen Mattoon''' (May 5, 1816 – 1889) was an American Presbyterian missionary who worked in Siam from 1847 to 1864. His works include the translation of the New Testament into the Thai language.

==Career== Mattoon served as a translator for Townsend Harris in spring 1856. Harris stopped in Siam to update the treaty between the US and Siam. Harris then proceeded to Japan for his appointment as envoy. Mattoon was then appointed as the first consul from the United States in Siam.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thailand-usa.com/history/history-diplomacy-relations-between-thailand-siam-united-states-of-america |title=History of Diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of Thailand (Siam) and the United States of America |work=Thai American Diplomacy History |publisher= Thailand-USA Portal and Hub |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100212104055/http://thailand-usa.com/history/history-diplomacy-relations-between-thailand-siam-united-states-of-america/ |archive-date=February 12, 2010 |url-status=unfit}}</ref>

After returning to the U.S., Mattoon was appointed in 1870 as the first President of Johnson C. Smith University, which was known as the Biddle Memorial Institute in 1870 and then as Biddle University during his tenure as president, till 1884.<ref name="Presidents of Johnson C. Smith University">{{cite web|title=Presidents of Johnson C. Smith University|url=https://www.jcsu.edu/happenings/events/founders-week/presidents-of-johnson-c.-smith-university |website=Johnson C. Smith University |publisher=Johnson C. Smith University |access-date=14 April 2017}}</ref> Mattoon's grandson Norman Thomas was the Socialist Party candidate for President six times.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Swanberg |first1=W.A. |title=Norman Thomas, The Last Idealist |date=1976 |publisher=Charles Scribner's sons |location=New York |page=4}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matton, Stephen}} Category:Presbyterian missionaries in Thailand Category:American Presbyterian missionaries Category:1889 deaths Category:1816 births Category:People from Champion, New York Category:19th-century American translators Category:American missionaries in Thailand Category:American missionary linguists