He initially worked as a trapper until he acquired 10 acres (4.0 ha) of land from Allison Phelps and began to farm.

[2] He built the stone house in 1854 and brought his family from Ohio the same year.

His daughter and son-in-law, a lawyer named D. W. Dow, were the next people to live in the house.

The floor plan of the house has never been altered and it did not have electricity until the restoration committee had plug-ins installed.

This article about a property in Franklin County, Iowa on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub.