David Williams was born around 1844 in Ohio to Robert and Lydia Williams. His father was a farmer who owned $2,200 of real estate in 1850. Robert died sometime in the 1850s. He attended school in Ashland County, Ohio, and began working as a laborer by 1860. He enlisted in the Union army on February 14, 1862, and mustered in as a private in Company E of the 54^th Ohio Infantry later that day. The regiment took part in the Battles of Shiloh, Corinth, and Chickasaw Bayou, the Siege of Vicksburg, the Atlanta Campaign, and the Carolinas Campaign. He mustered out in Little Rock, Arkansas, on August 15, 1865. He died sometime after the war.