Joseph Williamson was born in Canterbury, Connecticut on August 5, 1789, the son of a Revolutionary War veteran and one of eight children.
He graduated from the University of Vermont in the class of 1812 and followed his brother, William D. Williamson of Bangor, into the practice of law, being admitted to the bar in that city in January 1816.
Williamson moved almost immediately to Belfast and opened a law office. In 1820, he was appointed County Attorney for Hancock and held that office until the organization of the County of Waldo in 1827 when he received the same appointment for the new County which he held until 1832.
He served in the Maine Senate from 1832 to 1834 being elected President of that body in the latter two years. In 1839 he ran unsuccessfully for Congress, shortly after which he withdrew from the Democratic party and became a Whig.
In addition to his political and legal careers, Joseph Williamson was a successful businessman, banker and newspaper editor.
He died in Belfast of what apparently was a heart attack on September 30, 1854. The second brother to be President of the Maine Senate, Joseph Williamson was one member of a remarkable Maine family.
Joseph Williamson, Jr., became like his uncle, a noted Maine historian while his grandson, Robert B. Williamson of Augusta, served fourteen years as Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Court.