After Massachusetts natives Orson Desaix Munn and Alfred Ely Beach purchased the Scientific American, Wales became its managing editor from 1848 to 1871.

[2][3] An opponent of Tammany Hall, Wales was appointed president of the New York City Department of Parks when reform-minded Republican mayor William Frederick Havemeyer took office in 1873.

After Havemeyer died in office, Wales ran for mayor on the Republican ticket, losing the 1874 general election to Democratic nominee William H. Wickham.

Immediately after the election, acting mayor Samuel B. H. Vance appointed Wales president of the New York City Department of Docks, where he served from 1874 to 1876.

The portrait is in the collection of the Union League Club of New York, which Wales served as a vice president and chair of the executive and financial committees for many years.