After his father's death, he moved with his mother to Stockholm in 1760 and was admitted on 15 August 1761 to Stockholm's orphanage, handed over on 26 July 1764 to the pin-making elder Hans Folkman. Then in 1770 he was an apprentice and in 1780 a companion to the printer Carlbom, in 1790 he was an extra caretaker in the Book Auction Chamber and was then a book auction broker. In the 1780 mantal length for Stockholm assumed as married, but the spouse's name is not mentioned in the estate register.