William Williamson was born in Isle of Wight, Virginia in about 1730. In 1750 he married Martha Green in Amelia County, Virginia, and the couple eventually settled in Bute County, North Carolina. The Williamsons owned seven enslaved people and in about April 1768 one of their enslaved people, a man named Daniel, used poison to kill William Williamson. Daniel was later found guilty of the crime.