He was the founder of the Erie Furnace Company, later known as The Arcole Iron Works in Madison, Ohio in 1825. The Iron Works was located south of the mouth of the Arcole/Cunningham creek. He built a blast furnace located on fifty-two acres at the corner of Dock Road and on the south side of North Ridge Road in Madison Township to refine bog ore found in the swamps along the creek.

The works was, at one time, the largest industrial site in Ohio. Iron stoves, kettles, hollowware, and other heavy castings were made at the foundry. This company manufactured five tons of iron daily. A store was operated in connection with the furnace, which annually inventoried over $150,000 of stock.

He was the founder of the Great Western Iron Works which opened at Brady's Bend, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania in December 1839, manufacturing "strap rails" for railways.

In 1844, the iron works was acquired by the Brady's Bend Iron Company, which added a second, third and fourth blast furnace along with additional forges and rolling mills. In 1846, the Brady's Bend Iron Company became the first iron works west of the Alleghenies to produce T-Rails, using the Bessemer process, which became the industry standard.

The company had been known for its innovations since it founding and built the first vertically integrated rolling mill in the United States. This pioneering time and labor saving design would eventually be adopted by all rolling mills. He was the superintendent of the Company from 1839 to 1848.

The Brady's Bend Iron Company was, at one time, the largest of the U.S. iron industries plants of the 19th century.

When left Brady's Bend, he along with his cousin, E. Burritt Gray, purchased Valley Furnace (Orleans Furnace). The furnace was built by his cousin, Wellington Gray Lee, in 1848. It evidently changed hands very soon after it was built because a newspaper account in 1850 speaks of E. Burritt Gray of Orleans Furnace who was half-partner of the firm of Raymond and Gray, owners of the furnace. Valley-Orleans was round, made of cut stone and had four openings.

It was said of him that he had the capacity of great undertakings and brilliant leadership. He was one of the founders of the city of Toledo, Ohio.

He major figure in the Ohio state abolitionist movement and Underground Railroad, as well as other progressive causes. He was part of the Vigilance Committee that formed in 1850 to resist the Fugitive Slave Law.

He was a conductor, agent and station master in the Underground Railroad and was associated with his. Brother -in-law, Horace Ensign (was a conductor, agent and station master), Emerson Wadsworth Brewster (station master), James G. Birney, John Rankin (abolitionist), Dr. Patrick Wells Gray (a son of Diantha Burritt and John Gray), Joshua R. Giddings, Benjamin F. Wade and William Lloyd Garrison.

His work as the superintendent of the Brady's Bend Iron Company gave him the opportunity to travel to every State and territory in the Union and take an important role in the Underground Railroad.

One who knew him well said: "He was a fine looking man, very gentlemanly and genial, with a remarkable mental and moral development."

He was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Bowling Green, Wood County, Ohio. After the death of his wife, he was buried in Madison, Lake County, Ohio along side her.