Born in
Saratoga, he was taught by his father and employed for a time as a clerk in
Detroit and later as a bank clerk in
Albany, New York; while in the latter position he studied
theology. After
ordination his first pastorate was in
Poughkeepsie in 1848. He officiated in
Cleveland, Ohio for three years, in
Buffalo from 1855 to 1860, and in
Philadelphia from 1860 to 1866. During the
Civil War he served in Virginia with the
United States Christian Commission in 1862, and was
chaplain of the Forty-seventh Regiment, National Guard of New York, in 1869. He continued his ministerial duties in
Brooklyn from 1866 to 1880, and was elected as an
Independent candidate to the Forty-seventh Congress, holding office from March 4, 1881 to March 3, 1883. He appointed by President
Chester A. Arthur a commissioner to inspect the
Pacific Railroad, after which he resumed a pastorate in Brooklyn. He died there in 1886; interment was in
Green-Wood Cemetery. ==References==