Born in New York. He studied at the Madrid (Spain) School of Mines. Upon his return to New York in 1854, he began to prepare a book on the history of precious metals. Married Emily Joseph in 1861. She died in 1912. Married Alice Demorest. He had a daughter.

He was employed as director of the Bureau of Statistics 1866 to 1869. He attended the International Statistical Congress in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1872. He died at Little Falls, New Jersey.

He wrote A History of the Precious Metals from the Earliest Times to the Present in 1880. A second edition was printed in 1901. Author of The History of Money in America From the Earliest Times to the Establishment of the Constitution in 1899.

bio: ApCAB; DAB; NCAB 4, 11; TCBDA; WWWA-1