He moved to Calaveras County, California at age seventeen by crossing the Great Plains.

Williams went with Governor Lewis R. Bradley to Austin, Nevada the next year during the Reese River excitement.

[2] On November 5, 1878, he was elected member of the Nevada Assembly, where he and W. B. Taylor represented Nye County.

[2] Williams represented Nye County during two regular sessions until his mandate ended in November 1884.

[2] In February 1890, Williams became a charter member of the Board of Trade of Nye County.