Gaston (William) arrives is born in Killingly, Connecticut.

The son of Alexander and Eliza Gaston, William Gaston and graduates from Brown University and comes to Boston in approximately 1845 to study law with Judge Francis Hillard. He lives on Linden Street. After entering politics, he serves as mayor of Roxbury, mayor of Boston (1871-72), and governor of Massachusetts (1875-76), then goes on to found the law firm Gaston Snow & Ely Bartlett. Gaston dies on January 19, 1894, and is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery.