William Allen Wall was born to a prominent Quaker family of New Bedford. His father was the master of a Quaker school, ran a hardware store, and promoted cultural activities in the city.

Wall seems to have inherited from his father an appreciation of art and may have received instruction from him in watercolor and pencil technique. His father passed away when Wall was fourteen years old. As one of the oldest of five children, it was necessary for him to take an apprenticeship to help his impoverished family. He became the apprentice of John Baily, a maker of watches and clocks in Hanover, Massachusetts. By 1822 Wall had established a business of making and selling clocks in New Bedford.

He married Rhobe Taber Russell of the Russells Mills section of Dartmouth. In 1826 he endeavored to support himself and his family as an artist. He worked for Thomas Sully and Sully urged him to seek training in England. In 1832 Wall went to Europe and he traveled with Ralph Waldo Emerson on the continent. Emerson recorded in his journal their adventures in Italy, France, and Switzerland.

Wall returned to New Bedford and renewed his work in portraiture. This form of art work was not the only type that intrigued him, however, he began to produce historical subjects and landscapes. In both of these interests he chose subjects predominantly related to New Bedford. Wall left an invaluable record of nineteenth century New Bedford. During his lifetime of eighty-four years, Wall never achieved recognition as an artist of great accomplishment, nor did he gain tremendous monetary reward for his work. Wall's greatest appreciation has come since his death. His paintings constitute a rich pictorial history of New Bedford's nineteenth-century past.