Representative from the District composed of the counties of Mason and Lake, was born in Washington County, Maine, August 16th, 1833. He was educated in the academies of his native county, and studied law in the office of Hon. F. A. Pike in the city of Calais, Maine. In 1857 he came to the West and located at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and was admitted to practice by the Linn County District Court, of Iowa, in 1860. In 1861 he was appointed by the Board of Supervisor of Linn County as High-Sheriff to fill a vacancy, and was subsequently twice elected by the people to the same position. In 1871 he was elected a member of the Iowa Legislature from Linn County, and was appointed by the Legislature as one of the Trustees of the Iowa State Agricultural College, which office he held until his removal to Michigan in the spring of 1874.