When Warrey was a child, the family moved to Binghamton, New York, where his father worked at contracting and building.
Education was a part of his family history, as a number of his mother's relatives had been leading professors in Amherst College and other universities in the east.
In 1880 he moved to Wyandotte County in Kansas where he worked as a carpenter and as a member of the local police force, and studied law in his spare time.
This added strain caused his health to deteriorate, so he began carpentry work full-time and later became foreman of a crew for the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis Railway Company.
[2] Warrey was a member of the Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Modern Woodmen of America.
Washington I. Warrey's health never did improve, so in August 1884 he moved to Fargo, then part of Dakota Territory.