Stephen Williams was ten years old when he was captured along with several family members and over one hundred fellow residents of Deerfield, Massachusetts, during a 1704 raid on the town by French and Indigenous soldiers. He survived an 18-month captivity in Canada and returned to New England. Like his father, Deerifeld’s Reverend John Williams (1664-1729), Stephen attended Harvard College and became a minister in Longmeadow, Massachusetts.