William J. Uren was born at the Madison mine in Michigan's Keweenaw County on December 4, 1863, to Richard and Jane Uren. After attending the public schools, in 1880 he began working at the Lake Superior Native Copper Works at Houghton, and engaged in the smelting and manufacturing of copper. From 1882 to 1885 he worked at the Wolverine mine as a general miner. In 1886 he enrolled in the Michigan College of Mines, graduating in 1888. By 1889 Uren was associated with the Tamarack-Osceola Copper Manufacturing Company in Dollar Bay, and in the same year became connected with the Mineral Range and Hancock and Calumet Railroads in Hancock, Michigan, as a Civil Engineer. In 1895 he was employed by the Lake Superior Iron Works in Hancock, and in 1899 with the Trimountain and Elm River Mining Companies as Assistant Superintendent. In 1903 he began working for the Ahmeek, Isle Royale, Osceola Consolidated, Seneca and Tamarack Mining Companies as Assistant Superintendent, and in 1905 was appointed General Superintendent of these companies. William J. Uren passed away suddenly in his office at the Seneca Mine in 1925.