Joseph Huntington and later at the Master Tisdale's School in Lebanon, Connecticut, and graduated from Yale College in 1781.

He delivered the Latin oration in June 1782; it is still preserved in the Yale University Library.

He was elected New Haven city clerk in 1790 was appointed clerk of the District and Circuit Courts of the United States for the District of Connecticut and served until November 1803, when he resigned, having been elected to Congress.

He declined to be a candidate for reelection, and was again appointed to his former clerkship, but was removed by Judge Edwards in 1806.

He was president of the board of commissioners that located the Farmington Canal, and was Mayor of New Haven.