William Wales was born on July 9, 1845 at Wexford, Ireland. His parents moved to Liverpool, England, when he was a small bay. He had a colorful career before he came to the Carrington and surrounding area in 1907. He had been apprenticed as a shipwright, served in the English army in Malta, Africa and India. In England he served as a prison guard and later as an overseer of a poor farm at Lancaster. While at Lancaster he married a London girl, Elenor Gibbs. They had one child, a son, Henry. When Mrs. Wales died the child was adopted by her sister. He never saw the child again.

He came to Canada in 1892, taking a job as a woodsman in the Hudson Bay area, he was employed by a railroad company. In Carrington and later in Bordulac he worked as a carpenter and mechanic, also a grain buyer. He owned several houses in Bordulac.

He died in March 1932.

Source: A History of Foster County 1983 Page 12B