After teaching in Missouri, he traveled to the Oregon Country with Jason Lee and helped establish the Methodist Mission.
He was also involved with the Willamette Cattle Company before returning to Missouri where he became a lawyer and was on officer in the militia fighting against the Mormons.
[1] In 1834, missionary Jason Lee was heading west to start a mission in the Oregon Country when he was passing through Missouri.
[3][5] That fall the group started building a mission along the Willamette River north of present-day Salem, Oregon.
[8] In California, he was the Whig Party's candidate for Congress in the 1852 election, losing to Milton Latham.
[8] He served as a Whig legislator in the California State Assembly after winning election to the lower chamber in September 1854.