 He graduated from Western Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh.After serving with the Presbyterian church of Delaware, Ohio, for two years, he arrived in Dengzhou (today part of Penglai City, Shandong) with his wife Julia Brown Mateer in early January 1864 and continued to work as a missionary in China for 45 years.He was the chairman of the committee for Bible translation and presided over the translation of the widely circulated Chinese translation of the Holy Bible, "The Chinese Union Version".