No name was better known or respected in all the western valleys.

His father, a man of some means, had left him a reasonable competence.
Certain old records of Cumberland County speak of his unusual gifts, the best of which was, perhaps, modesty.

He had once entertained Sir William Johnson at his house and had moved west, when the French and Indian War began, on the invitation of the governor, bringing his horses with him.

For years he had been breeding and training saddle horses for the markets in New England.

On moving he had turned his stock into Sir William's pasture and built a log house at the fort and served as an aid and counselor of the great man.