US Senator. He made a fortune in the energy business becoming one of the nation's early oil producers and refiners as well as a coal operator and railroad builder. He was born in Lewis County, Virginia (now West Virginia) and educated in nearby Sutton. As a teenager the ambitious young man was the assistant county clerk for Braxton County. At the age of eighteen he went to the US Military Academy. After spending two years as a cadet there he resigned to study law and after being admitted to the bar returned to Sutton to begin his practice. His popularity was seen in the young attorney being selcted to become the prosecuting attorney for both Braxton and Nicholas counties. In 1858 he moved to the Ohio River town of Parkersburg where he became one of the nation's wealthy industrialists. Beside his successful business ventures in oil refining, he became an organizer and president of a Parkersburg bank. He is considered an early pioneer in the railroad business building several small railroads in West Virginia that connected to larger railroads thus opening up an avenue for transporting large amounts of West Virginia coal. In 1868 and 1872 the Democrat twice failed in his attempt to be elected governor of the relatively new state of West Virginia. However, in 1880 he won the election for US Senate and served West Virginia from 1881 to 1887. After serving one term he returned to Parkersburg to practice law before being elected to the US Senate a second time to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John Kenna . He served from 1893 to 1895. In 1895 he left public service while continuing to promote West Virginia and Parkersburg through his business interests and civic contributions. He died in Baltimore, Maryland while returning to Parkersburg after a family trip.