William Franklin Ramsey was born in Bell County, Texas.

He attended the local schools of nearby Johnson County, Texas, where his father's mercantile business brought the family.

[1] Ramsey won the election to that seat in November 1909, and served in that capacity until 1911, when he resigned to accept an appointment from Campbell to the Texas Supreme Court.

[1][2][3] Ramsey "served conspicuously on the bench, some of his rulings handed down in the higher courts of Texas attracting considerable attention".

[3] Ramsey remained in Austin, where he resumed the practice of law, in partnership with his son, S. D. Ramsey, until 1916,[2][3] when he moved to Dallas, Texas to accept an appointment as Federal Reserve Agent of the Eleventh District, and chairman of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.