Though his tenure was short-lived, George W. Williams may have been the first African-American physician to practice in Wilson.

He was a native of Raleigh, where his family appeared in the 1880 census: house carpenter Thomas Williams, 50, wife Anna Eliza, 38, and children: Lucy, 22, Maria, 20, Thomas, 18, John, 16, Walker, 13, Joseph, 10, George, 8, Theodore, 5, Peter, 2, and William, 8 months.

Williams graduated from Shaw University’s Leonard Medical College in 1896 and arrived in Wilson shortly after.

Raleigh Gazette, 13 February 1897.

Raleigh Gazette, 17 April 1897.

Raleigh Gazette, 5 June 1897.

Raleigh Gazette, 8 January 1898.

Dr. Williams quickly left Raleigh for Charlotte. In the 1900 census of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County: medical doctor George W. Williams, 25, wife Lizzie O., 25, with their boarders, the family of John and Emma Harris. In Charlotte’s 1910 census: physician George W. Williams, 36, and wife Lizzie, 38.

Charlotte Evening Chronicle, 5 March 1912.

Dr. Williams was buried in Raleigh’s Oberlin cemetery.