After graduating in 1834, he taught in Monson, Massachusetts, which lasted until 1835 and was then induced to go to Fayetteville, N C, as assistant to the Rev.
He continued in this charge until October, 1850, when he accepted a call to a Professorship in Davidson College, N C, where he remained for eighteen years.
In August, 1868, he returned to Statesville, and for two years acted as the Principal of Concord Female College, which he had aided in establishing.
However, the institution was subsequently sold for debt, by which means as well as by the results of the American Civil War he lost a large amount.
He had been in failing health for two years, and died after a week's illness, of pneumonia, at his home in Cool Springs, April 15, 1888, at the age of 79.