[2] He took courses at Andover and, reportedly, wanted to an Oriental scholar but, instead, joined his father's hardware firm at 14 Merchants Row in 1838.

[1] In 1840, he was admitted as a partner in his father's firm and traveled to Baltimore with the Boston delegation to attend the ratification meeting of the nomination of General Harrison for the presidency.

In 1856, he was appointed a trustee of the Boston Public Library and was elected its president in 1868, serving for twenty-two years until his retirement in 1888.

She was a first cousin of the well-known lawyer and banker Daniel Sargent Curtis who owned the Palazzo Barbaro in Venice.

Together, they were the parents of six children, four of whom survived infancy:[2] In 1864 he bought the "old Greenleaf estate in Quincy" where he replaced the original house and spent most his time.