For most of his life he remained a farmer but resumed a role in federal politics from 1880 to 1881 as commissioner of Indian Affairs for President Rutherford B. Hayes.

[2] Returning to farming after graduation, he settled in Thorndale, Michigan, in 1848 and began a political career as town supervisor.

[2] They moved to Mary Ann's hometown of Birmingham, Michigan, in 1860, trading the Bloomfield farm for a mill there.

[3] After redistricting as a result of the 1860 census, Trowbridge ran as a candidate in the newly created 5th congressional district in 1862, losing to Democrat Augustus C. Baldwin.

[2] Trowbridge's political career briefly resumed in the last few years of his life, when his college friend Rutherford Hayes was elected President of the United States.