After studying law, he was admitted to the
bar and opened a practice. He became
prosecuting attorney of Kanawha County and served from 1876 to 1884. He was elected in 1882 to the Forty-eighth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of
John E. Kenna. He won re-election to the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses and served from May 15, 1883, to March 3, 1889. He served as a judge on the criminal court of Kanawha County from 1890 to 1896, and as United States
consul to
Ciudad Porfirio Diaz (now
Piedras Negras),
Mexico, from 1897 to 1901. ==Death and legacy==