He was born on January 24, 1835, in Derby, Vermont, and he attended the common schools in that place till 1855, when, with his parents, he emigrated to Denmark, Iowa, where he entered an academy and commenced the study of Latin and Greek with the purpose of entering college.

[2] In the summer of 1857 he began the classical course at the University of Michigan,[2] where he studied with Andrew Dickson White, Cornell's first president, and from where he graduated in 1861.

In 1867 and 1868, was spent in Germany having studied in the universities of Bonn, Heidelberg, Leipzig, Berlin, and Munich, where his object was to observe the methods of advanced instruction; about four months were passed in Italy and France, chiefly in Rome and Paris.

[2] In 1869 and 1870 established an historical seminary which proved of great value in promoting the study of history and political science.

[1] He resigned his professorship in May, 1892, and in July of the same year he was elected president of the University of Wisconsin, where he remained until October 11, 1901.