His father was a prominent citizen of Brunswick, a Harvard educated lawyer, banker, and long-time trustee of Bowdoin College.

Following his graduation he began studying medicine at the Bowdoin Medical College, but in 1851 he opted to go to Europe and entered as a student at the University of Berlin.

[2] In 1853 he returned to the United States and Bowdoin as a tutor and professor of modern languages, as well as the office of university librarian.

In 1859, the same year as his graduation from Harvard, he became the pastor of the Independent Congregational (Unitarian) church at Bangor, Maine, a position he held until 1869.

[4] This would, however, ultimately be fulfilled several years after his death at the bequest of his daughter's will in 1908 with the printing of the first issue of the Harvard Theological Review.