[2] He was raised and educated there, emigrating to the United States in 1855, and settling at Stoughton, Wisconsin, where he worked in grain trade.
[2] Later that year, he was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly on the Republican ticket, representing southeast Dane County.
He invested heavily in land around Lake Minnetonka, where he primarily resided, and served a term as Superintendent of the Poor in Minneapolis.
[2] Williams suffered from stomach cancer and died at his home, 912 2nd Avenue, South, in Minneapolis on the morning of December 30, 1899.
Two of Williams' grandchildren, Willis and Ethel Peck, died in the Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago.