Born in Edwardsville, Illinois; employed on steamers plying the Mississippi and Missouri rivers prior to immigrating to Utah in 1850; traveled to California in 1851 in company with Parley P. Pratt, the Hammonds, the Woodburys, the Perkinses, and others; settled in new Latter-day Saint community of San Bernardino, California; served as clerk for the settlement; returned to Utah in 1858; subsequently settled in Provo; died in Salt Lake City. (See Beattie and Beattie, Heritage of the Valley, 447; Lyman, San Bernardino, 455; Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, 414; “The Mormons in San Bernardino,” in Carter, Our Pioneer Heritage, 4:481; GQC journal, Feb. 3, 1852.)