After pursuing the study of medicine in the University of Pennsylvania in 1844 and 1845, he entered the Union Theological Seminary, New York City, in January 1846, and completed the course there in 1848.
[1] On October 2, 1848, he was ordained by the Fourth Presbytery of Philadelphia, and eight days later sailed from Boston to Madras, South India, as a missionary of the American Board of Foreign Missions.
He labored among the Hindus until compelled by loss of voice to return to America, reaching Boston in March 1853.
[2] Unable to preach, though otherwise in good health, he entered, in November 1853, the service of the American Sunday School Union (of which his father was one of the founders), in Philadelphia, and labored for three years as its Secretary for Missions.
[3] Before her death on September 6, 1861, they were the parents of at least six sons and one daughter, including:[4][5] On February 2, 1865, he married Mary Nataline Baynard (1829–1876), of Philadelphia.