Thomas L. Williams was born in Greeneville, Tenn., September 7, 1838, and is the son of Dr. Alexander and Catherine (Dickson) Williams. The father was born in Surry County, N. C., in November, 1793, and died in Greeneville, Tenn., in August, 1852. The mother was a native of Greeneville, Tenn., and was born in 1802, and died in 1870. She was the daughter of William Dickson, an early settler of East Tennessee. She was the mother of six sons and four daughters, of which family there are now (1887) living only three sons, viz: William D., Joseph A. and our subject, who was reared in Greeneville, and educated at Greeneville, Knoxville and Chapel Hill, N. C. At the outbreak of the war, he left college at Knoxville, and entered the Confederate Army, in Company E, Sixteenth Battalion, Buckner’s Legion, and afterward was transferred to Vaughn’s Brigade. He became captain, and was paroled as such, and surrendered at Anderson Court House, S. C. Such was the prejudice against him in his native community, which was principally of Union sentiment, that he was forced to leave his native county, and went to Baltimore and elsewhere. About six years after the war he settled in Greene County, and has farmed ever since, He owns and cultivates a portion of the Greeneville College farm, and is a practical farmer. In 1870 he married Mary Simpson, daughter of Hon. Richard F. Simpson, of South Carolina. She was born March 1, 1842, and is the mother of nine children, of whom only six Dow (1887) live, viz: Eliza S., Richard F., William D., Thomas L., Maria L., and Anna Simpson.
