A surveyor of Butler county, and afterwards appointed surveyor of Kansas, by President Buchanan

Was a citizen of energy an influence; was County Surveyor, elected sheriff in 1850; in Sept. 1858, President Buchanan appointed him Surveyor General of Kansas; served in the war of the Rebellion until after the battle of Pittsburg Landing when he commenced railroad contracting in Ohio, Indiana, and the west with headquarters at Leavenworth, Kansas; built the Lake Erie and Wheeling, Kokomo and Delphas Railroads, and at the time of his death being accidentally injured by a log rolling on his foot; was filling a contract for street railway structure at Fort Wayne; was an enterprising businessman.

Unmarried