He received his early schooling from his mother, then attended a private school in Washington which prepared him for college. He graduated from Lehigh University in 1880 with degrees of Analytical Chemist (A.C.) and Engineer of Mining (E.M.), and was employed by the Cambria Iron Company of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, as assistant chemist. In the following year he took a Position with the Roan Iron Company of Chattanooga, Tennessee, whereafter a brief period as chief chemist, he became superintendent of both the open hearth and blast furnaces. He married Harriette deWitt Coppee on 28 December 1881 at South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Dr. Henry Coppee, President of Lehigh University.

He became general manager of the Cardiff Iron Company in 1891 but the following year he went to the Antrim Iron Company at Mancelona, Michigan, where he was general manager of all the extensive Iron mining interests of the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Mining Company at Ishpeming, Michigan. Under his management the mining industry flourished and in 1908 he was elected to the office of director of the Company and in 1916 he was elected Vice President.

During his life at Ishpeming he contributed greatly to the welfare of the locality, having served as head of several political organizations and been a member of the road, library, public works and bank boards for over twenty years. He chose the policy of 911Safety First for Life and Limb," for his Company. In 1916 Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, appointed him a member of the "Board of Directors for Indus trial Preparedness." He was a member of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, a member of the Mining Metallurgical Society of the American Iron and Steel Institute, and a member of the American Mining Congress. He also belonged, to the University Club of Chicago and the Aztec Society of' Washington. He was an ardent Episcopalian and was a Vestryman of Grace Church in Ishpeming from 1903 to 1928, and held several offices in the Diocese of Marquette from 1920 to 1926. He was a conscientious and loyal Mason, and a member of every Body of both the York and Scottish Rites. In New York City on18 September 1917 he was crowned a Sovereign Grand Inspec6or-General of the Thirty-Third and Last Degree.

Among his dominating characteristics were purity of language and cleanness of mind. His niece, Edith Duncan Field' remembers him as a kindly, much beloved uncle with a keen sense of humor. He was of medium height, about 5'9”, tall, stood erect with understanding grey eyes. He wore a short, neat Van Dyke beard and mustache, which was gray in later years, he was conservative and well dressed. He to of the family that he was "normal, his brother Louis was a genius and his brother Richard was beyond a genius.