Representative in General Assembly, Speaker of the House, 1721-27. Member of Governor's Council (Senate) 1723-1727. A man "of great personal dignity & self restraint, of rigid notions of parental perogative & authority, of the strictest puritanical views as to religious ordinances, of unbending integrity as a man & a public officer, & of extreme scroupulousness in his Christian Life." He "gave himself up to the practice of religion" & "used to keep days of private fasting to promote his spiritual welfare." {Pettit]635