In 1867 he graduated at the Philadelphia Divinity School, and was admitted deacon by the Right Reverend William Henry Odenheimer, D.D., Bishop of New Jersey, in Trinity Church, Newark, on June 21.

[1] Immediately upon admission to the ministry, he offered himself to the Right Reverend George H. Randall, D.D., Bishop of Colorado, to serve as missionary in his jurisdiction; and during August, 1867, he journeyed across the plains, a considerable portion of the journey being by stagecoach, to Denver, and thence to Black Hawk and Central City, in the mountains west of Denver.

His wife was born on December 27, 1842. he was advanced to the priesthood in St. Mark's Chapel, Black Hawk, Colo., August 8, 1868, by the Right Reverend George M. Randall, D.D., Bishop of Colorado.

[1] In 1870 he was called to the rectorship of the Church of the Nativity, South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and there remained eleven years, until he became Bishop of Pittsburgh in 1882.

During that time he held several offices in the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania, and was Assistant Secretary of the convention for ten years.

He also visited California, and on another occasion, via the Canadian Pacific, made the trip to Alaska, and returned by way of Oregon and Yellowstone Park.