The son of Jesse Williams and Christiana Dill Williams. Jesse Williams was a well known manufacturer and builder in Richmond. T.C. Williams attended Richmond College from 1846 to 1849. He became a clerk in the office of James Thomas, Jr. He then formed a partnership with R.A. Patterson in a tobacco business which was very sucessful. He continued to work with Mr. Thomas and was promoted to a partnership in that tobacco business as well. During the course of the Civil War most Richmond factories were being used by the Confederate government and the tobacco business was transfered to Danville, Virginia. During those years T.C. Williams lived in Danville looking after the intersest of his firm. After the war he returned to Richmond where he lived the rest of his life. He was also the head of a company that manufactured cigar and tobacco boxes. He also had interests in railroad companies and other enterprises. He contributed to many benevolent causes, especially those regarding education. He was one of the most wealthy men of his time in Richmond. He was a director of the National Bank of Virginia and a member of the Executive Committee of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical Society. He was a devoted member of the First Baptist Church of Richmond. In 1881 he was elected a Trustee of Richmond College. He was a liberal and regular contributor to the College. The present Law School of the University of Richmond gets its name from him. Thomas C. Williams was married to Ella Peatross of Caroline County, Virginia. They had four surviving children, including T.C. Williams, Jr. and Adolph Dill Williams, Richmond financiers. Mr. Williams died at his home on West Franklin Street. The Trustees, Faculty and students of Richmond College atteded his funeral as a body.