Danial was born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania in January 18, 1856. His parents, Shara Price Williams and Danial Hale Williams the 2nd. When Williams was ten, his father passed away from tuberculosis.

Dr. Williams practice medicine in Chicago when there were only three other black physicians in Chicago. He worked with the Equal Rights League, a black civil rights organization.

Dr. Williams was appointed to the Illinois State board.

Dr. Williams practiced during an era when racism and discrimination prohibited African Americans from being treated in hospitals and black doctors employment in hospitals.

Dr. Williams sets up his practice on the Chicago south side. For a long time, African Americans were banned from being attended to in hospitals so Dr. Williams set up his own practice where he treated white and black people.

During the time Dr. Williams was still making history, he had to do open heart surgery on James Cornish who was admitted to the hospital with a stab to his chest. Without blood transfusion, x-rays and other modern medicine, he successfully sutured James. In 1894, he attended Freedmen's Hospital and cared for enslaved African Americans.

Dr. Williams left Freedman's Hospital and moved back to Chicago to work at Provident Hospital. Then, he worked at Cook County Hospital, the later St. Luke's, which is a larger medical institution.

Dr. Williams worked at Meharry medical college for 20 years, and in 1913, he became a charter member of the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Williams experiencing the stroke in 1926 and then died a few years later in 1931.