He was ordained as a minister in 1868 and was the pastor of a
Methodist Episcopal Church in
Madison, Wisconsin. He received his
Bachelor of Arts degree from the
University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1870 and moved to Massachusetts. to continue his education at
Boston University (
B.D., 1873;
Ph.D., 1881). In 1871, he was admitted to the New England Methodist Episcopal Conference as a deacon and preached at the M.E. church in
Nahant, Massachusetts. The following year, he was promoted to elder and was placed in charge of churches in
Roslindale and
Jamaica Plain. He then held pastorates at Roslindale (1872–1874),
Newton (1875–1876),
Cambridge (1877–1879), and the
Tremont Street Methodist Episcopal Church in
Boston (1880–1882). ==Boston University==