This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  This information was supplied by his granddaughter, Mrs. J. E. Balson and compiled by his great grand daughter, Bunny (Carolie) McLaughlin
William Houghton Sprague Pearce (W.H.S.)
W. H. S. Pearce was born in Boston on August 5, 1864 to Mary Anna Sprague Pearce and Shadrach Houghton Pearce who ran a successful Chinese importing business. He was descended from many of Massachusetts's founding and historical figures. His grandfather was Charles Sprague, an early American poet known as the "Banker Poet of Boston". His great grandfather, Samuel Sprague, was a Patriot of the Revolutionary period and a participant in the Boston Tea Party who served under George Washington. He also is descended from Richard Warren, a Mayflower passenger and signer of the Mayflower Compact and The Rev. Peter Hobart of Hingham.
William was a graduate of the English High School in Boston, Massachusetts in 1882. In a Letter of Recommendation from the headmaster he is described as "a young man of unexceptionable moral character and a very good scholar" whom he could "confidently recommend as one who, in everything and under all circumstances, will do his best for his employer". He married Miriam Dix Badlam in Dorchester in 1889 and raised three children, (Harold, Charles and Miriam), in Newton, Massachusetts.
Although 13 years his junior he remained close to his older brother, the noted American expatriate painter, Charles Sprague Pearce. Charles moved to Paris in 1873 at the age of 22 to study in the atelier of Leon Bonnet and pursue a career as a painter. Although separated by an ocean the two brothers remained in close contact through a series of four decades of letters and several personal visits. These letters exchanged thoughts and ideas, painting techniques of composition, values, lighting, painting styles and pricing until the death of Charles in France in 1914. Will often sent his older brother photographs of his work asking him for advise and criticism.
William grew up in an artistic and cultured family that encouraged his interests in literature, art and music and he pursued them his entire life. He enjoyed the newly developing art form of photography and played both the violin and cello. He was employed by the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company which provided him a steady income and the opportunity to support his family while continuing to paint. Many of his paintings hung in his office, and they were often used for the banks yearly calendars. His works were exhibited at the Boston Art Club and Newton Club and he sold a good amount of his work. He had a talent with limericks and stories and wrote a number of whimsical children's books and a book of limericks under the pseudonym of Carol Vox. These books were illustrated by his friend, the well known illustrator and painter, H. Boylston Dummer.
He spent many summers at a large family country residence in Walpole, Massachusetts painting the scenic vistas. He is also known to have painted in Rockport with his friends, Lester Stevens and Marshall Johnson, Provincetown, the Berkshires and the Lynn marshes. Although best known for his landscapes he did some portrait work of his wife and daughter, Miriam. A favorite and reoccurring theme of Williams was cows, a subject he studied and painted at great length. His grand daughter remembers him keeping a stuffed cow's head in his studio in Newton that he used as a model and also of him using a mirror to look at his subjects instead of looking at them directly. Every evening he would go to the back yard where he had a platform and paint a sunset.
William Houghton Sprague Pearce died in Boston in 1935 on April 16.
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Biography from Bradford Trust Fine Arts:
|  William H.S. Pearce, known as "Will", descended from a number of prominent Colonial Massachusetts families. He was the younger brother of the famous expatriate artist, Charles Sprague Pearce. Unlike his brother, he had a traditional career with the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company in Boston which divided his attention away from developing as a full-time artist. Further, he failed to market his work, perhaps because he was financially comfortable and the New England Mutual used his work for annual calendars and other marketing pieces.
Now that years have passed, his work is becoming available from members of the family and the art world is now able to appreciate the quality of his work. Will was a dedicated artist with a studio at his home on Newtonville Ave, in Newton, MA. He was recognized by the art community during his life and exhibited at the Boston Art Club from 1891 to 1900. He was commissioned by Henry Ford to paint not only the Wayside Inn, but also a portrait of Ford himself. Unfortunately, Will often did not sign his work, so much of his output has remained unrecognized.
Will loved to get out to the country and shore when his three children were young, often to the North Shore to paint with his friends Marshall Johnson and Lester Stevens. Later, he seemed to be financially comfortable, owning property in Walpole, Buzzards Bay, and Provincetown. It is in Provincetown, in the period from 1910 to 1915, that he concentrated on painting, sometimes with George Elmer Browne, while remaining in contact by letter with his brother Charles for artistic advice and support
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