When he was 15, the family moved to Syracuse, then a small frontier hamlet, where his father had a dry goods and grocery store.

After 10 years' practice, his portraits "were never stiff, or clumsy, or cold; but gradually grace, and ease, and warmth, and high feeling, stole into the forms on his canvas…"[1] Needing the stimulation of the city, he returned to New York in 1845, where Trumbull approved of his progress in painting.

[1] The following year he was elected to the National Academy of Design, which was a measure of recognition and helped him attract more clients.

His method is mature, his drawing firm, his color fresh and clean, and his likenesses excellent, though somewhat lacking in sentiment.

[2] He also painted figure pieces, including Don Quijote and Falstaff, and one landscape, The Head of Skaneateles Lake.