When Joel Williams was born on 28 January 1888, in Meadows of Dan, Patrick, Virginia, United States, his father, John William Williams, was 28 and his mother, Lucy A. Cox, was 29. He married Berta D. Gardner on 22 April 1916, in Meadows of Dan, Patrick, Virginia, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 3 daughters. He lived in Patrick, Virginia, United States for about 42 years. He died on 18 March 1970, in Roanoke, Virginia, United States, at the age of 82, and was buried in Patrick, Virginia, United States.