He emigrated to Upper Canada with his family in 1836, settling in Bytown (later known as Ottawa).

He studied law in the office of local Ottawa lawyer Augustus Keefer.

He was elected a bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1860 and was made a QC in 1863.

[3] Following Confederation he advised Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald on the establishment of the Supreme Court of Canada.

He died in 1909 at the age of 84 and was buried in Ottawa's Beechwood Cemetery.