Williams, born February 11, 1857 at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, New York, was the son of Civil War General Thomas Williams and Mary Neosho Williams. His father died in the Battle of Baton Rouge in 1862. Gershom published his father's personal papers. His grandfather was John R. Williams, the first mayor of the city. Williams' great-grandfather, Thomas Williams, settled in Detroit in 1765 and the Williams family remained there from that time. Prior to Detroit, the Williams family had settled in Albany, New York in 1690. His paternal ancestors were Roman Catholics who at some point converted to the Episcopal Church. His mother was the daughter of Dr. Joseph Bailey, who served in the U.S. Army. Her Dutch ancestors were from the Hudson River Valley area and New England. Williams was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. He had a brother, John R. Williams and sister Mary Josepha Williams. Josepha, was a physician and like her mother, Mary Neosho WIlliams, a significant landowner in Evergreen, Colorado. Josepha was married in 1896 to Canon Charles Winfred Douglas, Following his father's death in 1862, Williams lived in Newburgh, New York where he was confirmed by Rev. Horatio Potter.
Education
He attended private and public schools before attending and in 1871 graduation from the Newburgh Academy Williams had jobs as a timekeeper and bookkeeper before winning a two-year scholarship to Cornell University. During that time, from December 1874 to the spring of 1875, he traveled through Europe. He graduated from Cornell University in 1877. Williams received a Master's Degree in 1889 and a Doctor of Divinity in 1895 from Hobart College. He moved to Detroit in 1877 to work ina law office and settle his father's estate.
Career
Religious
On December 29, 1879, Williams was admitted to the bar in Michigan. He was ordained a deacon by Bishop Harris in 1880 and served at St. John's in Detroit. Then, until 1884, he was rector at the Church of the Messiah. After that, he continued to serve as a rector at St. George's until 1889. During this time he was a church journalist and in charge of the African-American church, St. Matthew's. He had positions at St. Paul's in Buffalo and All Saint's in Milwaukee before becoming administrator and archdeacon in the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan in 1891. Williams was elected first bishop of Marquette on November 14, 1895 and consecrated May 1, 1896. He was on the commission appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in pursuance of resolution 74 of the Lambeth Conference of 1908 on the relation of the Anglican Communion to the Church of Sweden. Williams traveled to Sweden in 1920 in advance of the Lambeth Conference to ascertain Scandinavian Church relations Williams was deputy of the General Conventions twice. He sat on the commission and was Bishop-in-Charge of the American Churches in Europe, officiating at the service dedicating the Church of the Holy Trinity in Paris as the Episcopal cathedral in Europe in 1923. He also sat on commissions to revise the hymnal and to create a Swedish version of the Prayer Book. Williams translated the Common Prayer Book from English to Swedish. Williams resigned October 1919 due to a long-standing illness.
Military and political
Williams played a key role in Michigan's statehood as the president of the Constitutional Convention of Assent. Williams organized and was the state's first Major-General of the Michigan state troops. He was chaplain to the Fourth Regiment of the Michigan state troops for four years, beginning December 18, 1883. He was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion.
Williams married Eliza Biddle of Detroit in 1879. She descended from the Biddle family of Philadelphia. Her father was William S. Biddle of Grosse Ile, Michigan and she was granddaughter of John Biddle, an early mayor of Detroit and Congressman. Her mother was Susan D. Ogden and her maternal grandfather was Judge Elias B. D. Ogden of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Lily was sister to Dr. Andrew P. Biddle, General John Biddle, and First Lieutenant William S. Biddle, Jr. The couple had seven children: Susan, Thomas Victor, Dayton Ogden, Cecil, Rhoda, John, and Mary Josepha Williams. He died April 14, 1923 in Paris, France.
