He was educated at the village school and was to become a cooper, but with the help of the poet Owain Myfyr went to All Souls College, Oxford, graduating in 1795.

He took Holy Orders and became a Church of England curate in the parish of Meifod, Montgomeryshire, moving in 1799 to Ysbyty Ifan, Denbighshire where he met and married his wife Mary.

In 1797 he had begun a survey of the agriculture and economy of North Wales, which was published in two volumes in 1810 and 1813.

This was followed in 1815 by a report on South Wales in collaboration with Iolo Morganwg (Edward Williams).

He was a keen supporter of eisteddfodau, where he won many prizes, and he played an important role in establishing provincial eisteddfodic societies.