He was raised there, but after the death of his mother in 1845, he fell mostly under the care of his older sister and her husband.
He was poorly treated in their home and left Ohio at age 13, going to live with his father in Illinois, who had remarried.
In 1855, he entered an academy in Waukegan, Illinois, and continued to advance his own education by reading law texts borrowed from nearby lawyers.
[1] In 1860, he moved to Allamakee County, Iowa, and read law at the office of Hatch & Wilbur.
During that time, in 1874, he was the Republican nominee for United States House of Representatives in Iowa's 3rd congressional district, but was defeated by Lucien Lester Ainsworth.
[1] He continued to make Waukon his primary home, but spent a great deal of time in California for his health.