Born near Bloomfield, Ontario, of Loyalist descent, Williams graduated from Picton High School in 1902 and was a teacher for three years before starting University.
In 1912, he received a Ph.D. degree from Yale University where he studied stratigraphy and paleontology under Charles Schuchert.
[1] In 1912, he joined the Geological Survey of Canada and worked in Ontario on the regional stratigraphy of Ordovician and Silurian formations of the Bruce Peninsula, the Manitoulin Island, and the James Bay area.
In 1921, he became an associate professor of paleontology and stratigraphy at the University of British Columbia (UBC) where helped to build the Department of Geology.
In 1926, he was made a full professor of paleontology and stratigraphy and was appointed head of the Department of Geology and Geography in 1936.