Born at Gustavus, Trumbull County, Ohio, February 1, 1821. He attended the public schools of that section until he was fourteen years of age when he entered Farmington Academy. After leaving school he engaged in stock raising and in 1850 removed to Iowa, locating in Lee County. In 1858 he removed to Cass County which was then largely unsettled, making his home in Lewis, the old county-seat. He was an active promoter of improved stock and the best methods of farming. For twenty years he was a prominent member of the State Agricultural Society, often a director and for three terms president. He has held many minor public offices, being originally a Whig and later a Republican. In 1871 he was the Republican candidate for Representative in the Legislature in the district composed of the counties of Cass, Adair and Montgomery, and was elected, serving in the Fourteenth General Assembly. For more than fifty years he has been prominently identified with industrial interests of Iowa.