His father, serving in the Continental Army at Morristown, New Jersey, died of disease just before his birth.
His mother was living at the time with her brother-in-law, Dr. Samuel Ware, in Sunderland, Massachusetts.
Her cousin of the same name was the inspiration for the founding of the first school for the deaf in the United States.
He received a license to preach from the Berkshire Association in 1804 and was ordained as a pastor in Wilton, Connecticut.
He became embroiled in the Old School-New School Controversy that divided the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.