Senator from the Fourth Senatorial District, composed of Lucas and Wayne counties, was born at Donegal, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. He was educated in the public schools of his native county and at Sewickley Academy. In early manhood he engaged in teaching, following this profession for several years in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Read medicine in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, and afterward attended medical lectures at Cincinnati, Ohio. Began the practice of his profession in Pleasant Unity, Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1861, and remained there for two years. After leaving Pennsylvania, he practiced for a short time in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and in the summer of 1865 he came to Lucas county, Iowa, where he has remained ever since. In the spring of 1866 he opened up an office for the practice of his profession, in which he has continued up to the present. In 1872 he took a course of lectures in Bennett Medical College of Chicago, receiving his degree from this institution. In 1896 he took a post-graduate course in the New York Post-Graduate Medical School. Served as president of the Iowa State Eclectic Medical Society in 1875-1876, and re-elected to the same position in 1894 and again in 1895. Has been a member of the National Eclectic Medical Association ever since its reorganization in 1870; local surgeon for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway for many years, and president of the Board of Examining Surgeons for Pensions during President Harrison's administration. In connection with other business interests, upon the organization of the State Savings Bank in 1890 he was made its president and has since remained in that office. Elected Senator in 1906. A Republican in politics.