 For most of his life he remained a farmer but resumed a role in federal politics from 1880–81 as Commissioner of Indian Affairs for President Rutherford B. Hayes.Trowbridge was born in Horseheads, New York to Stephen Van Rensselaer Trowbridge (1794–1859) and Elizabeth Conkling (1797–1873) In the first year of his life, he moved with his parents and siblings in 1821 to Oakland County, Michigan, where his family settled a farm in present-day Troy.He had eleven siblings, including mechanical engineer and general William Petit Trowbridge (1828–1892), and fellow general Luther Stephen Trowbridge (1836–1912).