Source: US Congressman. After attending the Partridge Military School, he studied law in Middletown, Connecticut. He was admitted to the bar and practiced law in Pennsylvania and Ohio. An industrialist pioneer, he ventured into business in the coal and salt industries and was responsible for building the first towboat in Meigs County. He was also the president of the Atlantic and Lake Erie Railway. Elected as an Opposition Party candidate, he represented Ohio's 11th District in the United States House of Representatives, served from 1855 to 1859, and again from 1861 to 1863. He was reelected in 1856 and 1860 as a Republican. In 1861, he was a member of the Peace Convention, where he and fellow delegates tried to prevent civil war. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1862 and returned to his home in Meigs County to resume business endeavors.