A native and lifelong resident of Washington County, Mr. Main has been for many years the owner of one of the leading jewelry stores and watch repair establishments in Wakefield. He is also successfully engaged in the radio business and in both of these lines he enjoys a very large trade, his success being the result of his energy, his well known integrity, and his strict adherence to the highest business principles. He enjoys a very large acquaintance in the community, where he is generally regarded as one of the most popular, substantial, and useful citizens.
William I. Main was born at Arcadia, Washington County, Rhode Island, July 20, 1887, a son of William G. and Emma Frances (Whitman) Main. His father, who was born at Norwich, Connecticut, was for many years and until his death success fully engaged in the ice cream manufacturing business in Wakefield, being the proprietor of Main’s Ice Cream Company. Mr. Main’s mother, who is still living and a resident of Wakefield, was born in Rhode Island. Having been educated in the public grammar and high schools of South Kingstown, Washington County, Mr. Main, at the age of seventeen years, entered the employ of George H. Taylor & Company, well-known jewelers of Providence, with which he remained for four years. During this period he learned the jeweler’s and watch-maker’s trade in the most thorough manner and, in 1907, he established himself in the jewelry and watch-repairing business at Wakefield under his own name. He has continued in it ever since then and his establishment for many years has been one of the most popular and best known in the city. Since 1922 he has also been engaged in selling radios and in servicing these instruments, meeting with marked and well deserved success in this undertaking as well. He is a member of the Junior Order, United American Mechanics. In politics he is an independent, while his religious affiliations are with the Protestant Episcopal Church. Devoting practically all of his time to his business and to his family, Mr. Main has comparatively few outside interests, his chief hobby being radio and everything pertaining to it.
Mr. Main married, in 1922, Katherine Ordway, a native of New York City. Mr. and Mrs. Main have no children and make their home at Wakefield.
Source: Carroll, Charles. Rhode Island: Three Centuries of Democracy, vol 3 of 4. New York: Lewis historical Pub. Co., 1932.