[1] Once there he taught as an assistant teacher on Long Island at Flatbush in Erasmus Hall.

[1][2] He settled in Centreville where he studied law under judge Columbia Lancaster and was admitted to the bar in 1842.

[1] Waite then fought in the Cayuse War before leaving for the gold fields of California in 1849, only to return within a few years.

[4] Following an absence from the legislature he returned as a member of the upper chamber Council in 1857 and 1858 serving as a Democrat.

Wait's term began in 1859 and he served on the state's highest court until resigning on May 1, 1862.

[1] In 1891 he moved to Portland, Oregon, with most of his time in retirement spent managing his land holdings in the Pacific Northwest.