Metcalfe was born in Adams County, Mississippi to parents who were descendants of English and Irish immigrants.

He continued to enjoy a successful career as a trial lawyer and after several years formed a partnership with Junius Rochester.

He decided to start a new partnership with Charles W. Turner and Andrew F. Burleigh specializing in business and commercial law.

[3] Metcalf remained active in law and politics into the 1910s before gradually retiring and moving to a country home in Kitsap County, Washington.

His body was buried in the Suquamish Memorial Cemetery at Port Madison Indian Reservation in Kitsap, County.