William McLean, who changed the spelling of his name to MacLean, was born on August 10, 1897 in Quincy Ward 3, Norfolk, Massachusetts to Samuel and Helen McLean. He attended art school in Boston. His New England childhood led to a lifelong love of the countryside and rural life and eventually he bought a home in New Hope, Pennsylvania, and settled there to live and paint.

MacLean was art editor of the American Legion's magazine Legion during the 1920s, and, as Bill MacLean, created the comic strip Double Trouble for King Features Syndicate. His own family-his children-and his home became his subjects. He also created etchings and lithographs of New England snow scenes. Other prints record the landscape of Pennsylvania and Prince Edward Island in Canada.

MacLean's works have been exhibited in major art showings throughout American including exhibitions at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Salmagundi Club in New York and the Bucks Country Group at New Hope Pennsylvania.

25 of his prints were published through the Associated American Artists (AAA) in New York between 1937 and 1947.

William MacLean died in April of 1978 in New Haven, Connecticut.