The Fifteenth Legislature of Minnesota: Biographical Sketches, St. Paul: Press Printing Company, 1873 lists his birth year as 1831. Toensing lists 1830.
He came to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1855. He moved to Northfield, Minnesota in 1856.
He "assisted in making the preliminary survey of the Minneapolis and Cedar Valley Railroad, and also in permanently locating it." (The Fifteenth Legislature of Minnesota: Biographical Sketches, St. Paul: Press Printing Company, 1873, p. 29)
His party affiliation was provided by The Fifteenth Legislature of Minnesota, 1873.