Joseph4 Williams (John*, Joseph2, John1) was born in Poquetannock Conn., 23 Apr., 1723, and died in Brattleboro, Vermont, 19 Jan., 1776. He and his father belonged to the same military company, the Fifth in the Eastern Society. In May, 1746, he was made Ensign, in May, 1754, Lieutenant, and in October, 1758, Captain. He became a wealthy merchant in Norwich and his name occurs in numerous land transfers there. One of the earlier records is curious and worth quoting entire: "May 12, 1746. To Joseph Williams, son of Capt. John Williams, for £1600 bills of Public Credit, of ye old tenour, one certain messuage or farme, situate in the Southeast Society in Norwich, with dwelling house, one barn, one blacksmith shoop, one herdinge and fencing thereon, containing 155 Acres more or less." A later Norwich town record informs us that on Oct 3. 1771, Joseph Williams of Norwich for £932 lawful money conveyed to Jonathan Brewster his son-in-law, a certain tract or parcel of land "lying and being in Norwich, with house, barn and grist mill, containing 160 Acres, beginning at Poquetannock brook or river."

Soon after this he surrendered his other interests in Norwich and removed into the Hampshire Grants, later the State of Vermont. A number of Norwich citizens emigrated northward and settled towns in Vermont and New Hampshire. (Norwich, Vermont, owes its name to fond memories of the town by its founders, as does also its namesake in Massachusetts.) This region was only just emerging from an unbroken wilderness, and to the ordinary incidents and disagreeable features of frontier settlement was added the uncertainty of the tenure of land. New York claimed it as part of her territory and the Granite State on the east did the same. Joseph located in the township of Brattleboro, not far from the Connecticut River. Besides his wife, he probably took with him his six younger children, the youngest being not over four years of age. Out of a family of seventeen children only three sons carried down the Williams name: John settled in Wethersfield, Vermont; Joseph in Norwich, Conn.; and William Wheeler in the Western Reserve, where now lies the City of Cleveland, Ohio.

The great struggle for independence on the part of the Colonies had begun, and it was to continue until five of the sons of Joseph4 Williams had taken part in it, John, Frederick, Joseph, Benjamin and Isaac; Frederick and Benjamin at the cost of their lives.

The father did not live long in his new home, dying 19 Jan., 1776. His gravestone is to be seen to-day in the old cemetery on the top of the hill north of Centerville where stood the first meetinghouse of Brattleboro.