After leaving college he studied law, was admitted to the bar in Rochester, and engaged in his chosen profession, also devoting much time to politics as a leader of the Whig party in his neighborhood.
After some time he abandoned his legal and political career to study for the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
Having been admitted to orders, he was made the minister of a church in Albion, New York, where he remained two years.
While there, he was appointed a chaplain in the regular army and assigned to the charge of the Military Hospital in Germantown.
As his health was impaired by these two-fold engagements, he resigned his rectorship and devoted himself to the hospital until disease completely prostrated him.