William "Bill" Wilcox was born on Robinson Creek, Pike Co., KY on February 10, 1852. He was a son of Samuel and Barbara (Houck) Wilcox.

In 1893, William's older brother, Francis Marion Wilcox, wrote a journal in which he included the following humorous story regarding William's birth. The Wilcox family moved to Pike Co., KY in 1850 and for the next two years lived there on Shelby Creek. They "then moved to what is known as the Old Johnny Edwards place or High-House place. This house was made of hewn logs and was a full two stories high with an additional log structure used for a kitchen. There at this place, on or about February the 10th, 1852 our brother William was born and my blue game rooster met an untimely death that caused my tears to flow freely, yet brought me an appeaser in a silver quarter dollar presented to me by my Grandfather, Isaiah Wilcox. On account of this untimely taking of my game rooster and although paid for him, I could not relish our Bill or esteem him as a young baby brother for quite a while. Yet as time rolled on, we found our Bill to be a good boy and was glad that he had come to stay with us."

When he was ten years old, William Wilcox moved with his family to Carter Co., KY, where they settled on Deer Creek. In 1875, William married first to Ellen Frances Heaberlin (1852-1895), a daughter of Samuel and Martha (Dickenson) Heaberlin. In about 1879, William and Ellen moved from Carter Co., KY to MN, where they remained for a short time before moving to Butler Co., IA by 1880. By 1881, William and Ellen moved back to Carter County, where he settled near his mother's home on Deer Creek. William remained there for the rest of his life. In 1895, his first wife died from tuberculosis, and in 1899, he married secondly to Anna D. Harris (1877-1941). Anna was a daughter of James A. and Elizabeth "Betty" (Salyers) Harris. Her brother, Joseph Harris, had married William Wilcox's oldest daughter, Lula, from his first marriage. William was a well-known carpenter and Holiness preacher in the Deer Creek area of Carter County. He died on May 30, 1930, at the age of 78. He was first buried in the Wilcox Cemetery on Deer Creek. In 1966, the graves from this cemetery were moved to East Carter County Memory Gardens, Grayson, KY.