William F. Birmingham was the first child of Daniel and Ellen Collins Birmingham, born in 1851 in Baltimore City, probably at the Falls Road address. In 1860, at age 9, William was attending school in Towsontown Md. In 1870 he worked as a Laborer along with his father on the Somerset to Mineral Point railroad in Somerset County Pennsylvania. After William's father Daniel died in 1872 the family left Somerset and moved about 35 miles south to Cumberland, Maryland, where his father's brother, James, and his family lived. It is likely that William became the main wage earner for the Birmingham family after his father's death. Around this time the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad Company had erected several large manufacturing facilities in Cumberland to produce rails and other rolled products. In June of 1880, William was employed as a Fireman at the rolling mill. The rolling mill was located on the eastern side of Cumberland, just a short distance from Birmingham's house on Orchard Street.
In 1889 William F. Birmingham married Ann Canty, an Irish immigrant who had arrived at New York in 1872. William would continue to work at the rolling mill, and later at the Cumberland Iron Steel Shafting Company. In 1900, William and wife Annie had six boarders living with them at the 22 Orchard Street home, while his mother Ellen, her son John and daughter Catherine, lived next door at 24 Orchard. William and Ann Canty Birmingham did not have any children.
William F. Birmingham died at his home after a short illness on the early morning of October 4, 1905. He left behind his wife Ann Canty, three brothers and three sisters: John, James and Dan of Pittsburgh, Pa, and Mrs Mary E Young, Kate and Mrs Maggie O'Neill, of Washington, Pa. A requiem high mass was held at St Patrick's church.