He was born on November 18, 1830, in Pearl Street in New York City, the son of a livery stable keeper.
He was apprenticed to carriage painter James Flynn, in Eighty-sixth Street near Third Avenue.
He became a lieutenant, and held this rank in the 19th Ward when the fight between the Municipal and Metropolitan Departments began.
Resigning from the force, he entered United States Weigher Dennis McCarthy's office as clerk, and remained there about a year.
After Tweed's fall, he joined the County Democracy, a faction of the Democratic Party opposed to John Kelly.