[1] He moved to Putney, Vermont, at the age of ten, and received limited schooling as a youth.
[5] He was elected as a Democratic-Republican candidate to the Tenth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James Witherell.
He was reelected to the Eleventh and Twelfth Congresses and served from September 6, 1808, to March 3, 1813.
[6] He served in the United States Army during the War of 1812 as a hospital surgeon from April 6, 1813, to June 15, 1815,[7] when he was honorably discharged.
He was reinstated on September 13, 1815; appointed post surgeon April 18, 1818, and resigned on December 31, 1818.