His mother died shortly after and he was raised by his paternal grandmother, Sarah Gilliam, in Milledgeville, Georgia.

At the age of fifteen, he contracted tuberculous arthritis that caused his right leg to permanently stiffen at a 90-degree angle.

He passed the bar at the approximate age of nineteen before practicing one year of law in Georgia.

He co-founded the newspaper The Cotton Plant in 1829 and became the first prosecuting attorney for San Felipe shortly after.

Williamson died in Wharton County, Texas on December 22, 1859 after a long illness.