As a child he moved with his parents to South Weymouth, Massachusetts.

During the Civil War he served as a military drummer boy in the 4th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Heavy Artillery.

After the war he moved to Lynn, where he began working at a shoe factory.

After some time he set out on his own, and by the 1890s was a partner in Baker & Creighton, a large-scale manufacturer of shoes.

He was then elected to the Massachusetts Senate, where he represented the 1st Essex district for two terms (1892–1894).