Born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, Price attended common schools as a child and engaged in agricultural pursuits on his father's farm for several years.

He worked as a bookkeeper for a large commission house near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and equipped himself for mercantile life.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood appointed Price paymaster general of Iowa troops to whom he advanced large sums of money.

In 1876, voters in the Second District returned Price to the House of Representatives, where he served two additional terms (from 1877 to 1881).

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress