 He taught school, and graduated from the State Normal School at Indiana, Pennsylvania, in 1882.He studied law, was admitted to the Indiana County, Pennsylvania bar in December 1888 and commenced practice in Indiana, Pennsylvania.He served as postmaster of Indiana, Pennsylvania, from 1892 to 1893, as assistant United States attorney for the western district of Pennsylvania from 1898 to 1904, and as chief clerk and corporation deputy in the auditor general’s department of Pennsylvania from 1904 to 1909.