He was born in Brookville, Indiana but raised a native of Polk County, Iowa.

[1] He served as postmaster of Des Moines from 1871 to 1877, and was twice offered an ambassadorship (to Switzerland in 1869, and to China in 1890), but declined both.

[2] On April 18, 1902, he was appointed by Theodore Roosevelt as surveyor of the Port of New York.

[5] He died at the home of his son Grosvenor in Newark,[6] New Jersey with his wife by his side.

[7] This biographical article related to politics in the United States is a stub.