William Wilson was born in 1842 in Manayunk, Pennsylvania.
He worked as a laborer in Pennsylvania before enlisting in the military in June 1863 and began his naval service during the Civil War on April 23, 1864.
He was incarcerated in the Massachusetts State Prison in 1866. Mr. Wilson remained there for 19 years and eight months until his death on March 26, 1886. He died of chronic tobacco-poisoning and acute Bright's disease at 43.
