In 1852, the family went to live on a farm given to his father by his grandfather a mile east of Dandridge on the French Broad River.

During the Civil War he was very anxious to join the Confederate army, and on two occasions left school for the purpose of enlisting.

In 1874, without having completed his university studies, he went by way of Europe to Brazil with Charles Fred Hartt, then professor of geology at Cornell.

In 1879, he accepted a position as assistant engineer and interpreter for the São Cyriaco Gold Mining Company of Boston, and spent a year near Serro, state of Minas Geraes, in the diamond regions of Brazil.

In 1881, he returned to the United States, but was sent back to South America by Thomas Edison in search of a vegetable fiber for use in his then newly invented incandescent electric lamp.

He retired January 1, 1916, due to an age limit established by the university and was named President Emeritus.

He published a grammar of the Portuguese language, based on his work in Brazil, which went to multiple editions.