His father was a Presbyterian minister, and his mother was a sister of General John N. Cumming, with whom he lived for a time at Newark.
[3] He was an agent of his uncle and other New Jersey men, Jacob Burnet, Jonathan Dayton, and John Cleves Symmes.
On February 6, 1793, he was commissioned Lieutenant of the Hamilton County Militia of the United States Northwest of the Ohio.
In 1820, an act was passed to provide for three commissioners to be appointed to survey a route for a canal between the Ohio River and Lake Erie.
[4][16] The next year, he was a member of the Ohio House, and he made a speech before the legislature on January 12, 1821, advocating immediate construction of such a canal.
He left the House, went to his lodgings and died some hours later from what was known as "swamp fever", which he had contracted during his surveying expeditions.
[4][17] The legislature suspended business, and the entire membership of both houses escorted his remains to the edge of Franklinton, a Columbus suburb.