William Yale was a tin ware merchant, politician, Justice of the Peace, and the largest manufacturer in Meriden, Connecticut. He was the oldest son of Revolutionary War patriot Samuel Yale Sr., founder of the Yale manufacturing dynasty of Connecticut. He also served in the Connecticut State House of Representatives from Meriden in 1825, and did business with the Griswolds. His entreprises were succeeded by his son, Gen. Edwin R. Yale, proprietor of the U.S. Hotel and Mansion House in New York.

James Murray Yale was a clerk, and later, a Chief trader for the Hudson's Bay Company, during the late North American fur trade, as they were competing with the Montreal-based North West Company and the American Fur Company of John Jacob Astor. During his career, he would negotiate and compete with Americans, French Canadians, Russians, and Indians for market shares. He is best remembered for having given his name to Fort Yale, British Columbia, which became the city of Yale during the gold rush, and later on, became the name of the Yaletown district of downtown Vancouver.