1877 he resigned the registership of bankruptcy and returned to the practice of his profession, and opened an office at White Plains, having formed a partnership with M. M. Silliman. In 1881 he dissolved this partnership and returned to New York, although he had built up a large and lucrative practice in Westchester County, and there continued in the active practice of his profession up to the time of his death. His last birthday, on which he reached the age of sixty-seven, was spent in arguing a case before the Court of Appeals at Albany.

In 1849 he married Ellen E. White, a daughter of Ferdinand Elliot White, of Boston. She died in 1877, and he did not marry again.

In Westchester County he was one of the original incorporators of the Westchester Historical Society and one of its vice-presidents. At the time of his death, and for many years before, Mr. Williams was a member of "All Saints" Protestant Episcopal Church, at Briar Cliff, and was greatly interested in the temporary home for destitute children. He also took an active part in the meetings of the Bedford Farmers' Club. He died at his residence in Chappaqua on April 5, 1886, after a few hours illness, of neuralgia of the heart, in his sixty-eighth year, leaving four sons and one daughter surviving him. He was well read not only in the law, but in general literature, and in social intercourse he was a most kind, entertaining and courteous gentleman.

Reuben W. Van Pelt, late of Yonkers, for many years, especially in his early manhood, held a very high position both at the Westchester and the New York City bars. He was of very great capacity as a lawyer and early in his practice gained full recognition of his abilities. As a young man he made phenominal progress in his profession.