Mark Harris was a United States Representative from Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

. He was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts

Ipswich, Massachusetts

Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,987 at the 2000 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island...

 on January 27, 1779. He attended the common schools, then moved to Portland, Maine

Portland, Maine

Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...

 (then a district of Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

) in 1800.

He engaged in mercantile pursuits. Harris was elected a member of the Massachusetts State Senate in 1816. He held several local offices, and was elected as a Democratic-Republican

Democratic-Republican Party (United States)

The Democratic-Republican Party or Republican Party was an American political party founded in the early 1790s by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Political scientists use the former name, while historians prefer the latter one; contemporaries generally called the party the "Republicans", along...

 to the Seventeenth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Ezekiel Whitman

Ezekiel Whitman

Ezekiel Whitman was a United States Representative from Massachusetts and from Maine. He was born in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts on March 9, 1776. He graduated from Brown University in 1795...

. He served from December 2, 1822, to March 3, 1823. Harris resumed mercantile pursuits, then was elected a member of the Maine House of Representatives

Maine House of Representatives

The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 members representing an equal amount of districts across the state. Each voting member of the House represents around 8,450 citizens of the state...

 in 1830. He served as treasurer of Cumberland County

Cumberland County, Maine

Cumberland County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of 2010, the population was 281,674. Its county seat is Portland, and is the most populous of the sixteen Maine counties, as well as the most affluent. Cumberland County has the deepest and second largest body of water in the...

 1824-1832 and 1834-1840. He also served as Maine Treasurer for a brief time.

He moved to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

in 1842 and engaged in mercantile pursuits there where he died on March 2, 1843. Interment was probably in Old Eastern Cemetery in Portland, Maine.