Born and raised in the town of Brewer, opposite Bangor, Maine, dating his birth on the 16th of March, 1818. He was educated at the Bangor Seminary, read medicine and attended lectures in the medical department of Harvard University there graduating in 1847. He practiced two years at Surry and five at Searsport, Maine, and in March, 1854, found his way to the wild prairie on which the city of Grinnell now stands. At that date there was not shanty, not even a wigwam, on the site of the place. He came in company with Hon. J.B. Grinnell, H.M. Hamilton and three or four others, to found a Congregational town including all the business parts of the present city. He was soon made county surveyor, and laid out the town and fixed the boundaries of the farms. His hand was in every important work until the population had so largely increased as to demand his whole time in his profession. He was a director in the State Agricultural College, trustee of Iowa College, member of State Legislature and held other offices of honor and trust. On the 2d of October, 1849, Miss Nancy C. Clark, of Searsport, Maine.