W. J. Williams & Son owned and operated sawmills at Jefferson and at Nard for some years. In 1880, in the Census, the mills were listed at both places. A 1893 newspaper account reported only the Jefferson sawmill, which was cutting 20,000 feet daily.
The Jefferson sawmill probably began as the W. J. Sedberry site, which W. J. Williams and J. A. Dalzell owned it by 1873. It was a complete sawmill for the time, milling lumber, lathes, and shingles. The mill was a steam-powered circular sawmill, capable of cutting several million feet of lumber annually. In 1880, the Census reported that its d capital value was $8,000. With a work force of twenty men, who put in ten-hour shifts summer and winter, the sawmill cut 1,200,000 feet of lumber from supplies and sawlogs worth $7,000 during the six months the plant operated. The men earned $1.25 to $3.00 daily and they earned a total wage of $3,000. The gross value of production totaled $13,200.
By 1907, W. Thomas Williams was manufacturing only shingles at Jefferson.