He was an English immigrant to the United States and author of an American travel memoir.
[2] The family background was of liberal nonconformism in Hertfordshire, exemplified by his uncle Edward King Fordham.
He studied civil engineering under George Stephenson (a developer of the steam locomotive).
[2] He was well educated and articulate as evidenced by his Personal narrative of travels in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky : and of a residence in the Illinois Territory: 1817-1818 which was not published until 1906 (now out of print).
[2] On 16 Jul 1832 he obtained a licence to marry a widow, Priscilla Ebenezer Morris at Dover.