Early in his life, he belonged to the civic/vigilance committee The Duquesne Greys.
After leaving the mayor's office he entered the private sector, developing a canal freight business in Ohio before moving further west and starting a successful furniture company in Iowa.
By the middle of the century he returned to Pittsburgh to manage the Monongahela Navigation Company.
He was also treasurer of a local Pittsburgh bank.
He died in 1887 in Pittsburgh, aged 78, and is buried in Allegheny Cemetery.