After his father’s death, he moved to Stockholm with his mother in 1760. On August 15, 1761, he was admitted to Stockholm’s orphanage and was transferred to Hans Folkman, a pin-making elder, on July 26, 1764. In 1770, he became an apprentice, and in 1780, he joined Carlbom, a printer. By 1790, he had become an extra caretaker in the Book Auction Chamber and later became a book auction broker. In the 1780s, he assumed the mantle of a married man in Stockholm, but his spouse’s name is not mentioned in the estate register.