Born May 22nd, 1831, in Green county, New York. He graduated at Oberlin, Ohio, read law at Urbana, and was admitted to the bar at Columbus, Ohio, in 1857. He removed to Newton in November of that year. On April 28, 1859, he was married to Louisa J. Dixon. At the outbreak of the war he was in the Iowa State Senate, and after voting money and means to equip the boys in blue, he resigned his position and enlisted in the 40th Iowa Infantry, and was commissioned Major by Governor Kirkwood, and served with distinction at the front. His eminent legal abilities were used to advantage by Gen. Ashboth, who appointed him a member of the Division Court Martial, where he did his country great service. As a member of the Jasper County Bar he stood among the foremost, and as State Prosecutor stood in the front rank in the 6th District, and left a creditable record.