Born at Ayrshire, Scotland, June 18, 1836. He graduated at McKendree College in 1858, and came to America with his father's family in 1841, locating in Madison County, Illinois. In 1860 he was a teacher in a high school. He read law with Governor A. C. French and was admitted to the bar in 1862. When the War of the Rebellion began he enlisted as a private in Company G, of the One Hundred Seventeenth Illinois Volunteers, serving through the war and winning promotion to first lieutenant. He was in the battles of Pleasant Hill, Nashville and Fort Blakely. After the war he again taught in the schools of Alton. In 1868 he was elected to the Illinois Legislature, serving until 1870. At the close of his term he removed to Iowa, becoming a resident of Grundy Center where he engaged in farming and the practice of law. In 1883 he was elected Representative to the House of the Twentieth General Assembly. In 1886 he was elected a Representative in Congress from the Fifth District, serving two terms.