[1] He studied law with his uncle, Judge Samuel H. Harper, of New Orleans, and was admitted to the Louisiana bar in 1836.

His practice was attended with success, and in 1846 he was elected a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives,[2] and in 1847 was appointed Judge of the Second District Court of New Orleans, which office he retained for several years.

[1] He retired from practice in 1874, and the next year removed his residence to Lexington, Virginia, where he lived greatly respected for the rest of his days.

He married, March 16, 1841, Hetty H. McNair, by whom he had six children, of whom two daughters and a son survived him.

This article incorporates public domain material from the 1885 Yale Obituary Record.