He graduated from Harvard College in 1817, and soon after took charge of an academy in Lancaster, Massachusetts.

Between 1819 and 1821, he was the tutor in mathematics and natural philosophy at Harvard, and in 1821 was chosen principal of The English High School for Boys in Boston.

In 1823 he opened the Emerson School for Girls in the same city, which he conducted until 1855, when he retired from professional life.

[1] Later he was appointed by Governor Everett chairman of the commissioners for the zoological and botanical survey of Massachusetts.

[4] After her death on July 10, 1832, he married Mary Rotch Flemming on November 24, 1834.