He served as sheriff of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, from 1854 to 1860, and as prothonotary of Northampton County from 1861 to 1867. He was adjutant of the Thirty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers in 1863. He was appointed assessor of internal revenue in March 1867 and served until May 1869. He was chairman of the Democratic State committee of Pennsylvania in 1869 and 1870, and a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions from 1876 until his death.