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Eleazer Williams

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Eleazer Williams, attributed to Giuseppe Fagnani, 1853
1854 portrait

Eleazer Williams (May 1788 – August 28, 1858) was a Canadian-American clergyman and missionary of Mohawk descent.[1] In later years he claimed that he was the French "Lost Dauphin," a claim that made him a pretender to the throne of France.[2]

Williams was born in Sault St. Louis, Quebec, Canada, the son of Thomas Williams, and was educated at Dartmouth College. He published tracts and a spelling book in the Iroquois language, translated the Book of Common Prayer into Iroquois, and wrote a biography of Chief Te-ho-ra-gwa-ne-gen (Thomas Williams).

Missionary career

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1853 portrait

In 1815, Williams joined the Episcopal Church. In 1817, Bishop John Henry Hobart appointed Williams to be a missionary to the Oneida people in upstate New York.[3]

In 1820 and 1821, Williams led delegations of Native Americans to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where they secured a cession of land from the Menominee and Winnebago tribes in the Fox River Valley at Little Chute and along Duck Creek.[4] Historians have disputed the significance of Williams' leadership to this migration compared to that of the Oneida people themselves, including Oneida leader Daniel Bread.[4] The following year Williams made his home there and was married to a Menominee woman named Madeleine Jourdain. In 1826 he was ordained a deacon.[5][6]

In 1839 and afterwards, Williams began to make the claim that he was the French "Lost Dauphin".[7] During the 1850s he openly became a pretender to the throne of France,[8] but he died in poverty at Hogansburg, New York.[5]

Williams was buried at Saint James' Cemetery in Hogansburg on August 28, 1858. In 1947, his remains and tombstone were moved to Holy Apostles Cemetery in Oneida, Wisconsin.[9] His tombstone at Oneida indicates that he was a Freemason.

Legacy

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Williams' plot of 19 acres (7.7 ha) of land at his Wisconsin home was designated Lost Dauphin State Park by the state.[10] It was later taken off the list of state parks and the house was burned.[11] It remains designated as Lost Dauphin Park with the land remaining state owned.[12] The flagstone foundation of the house remains visible.[12]

Publications

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Title page for Gaiatonsera ionteweienstakwa
  • The Book of Common Prayer, according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America : Translated into the Mohawk or Iroquois language, by the request of the Domestic Committee of the Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church. New York: H.B. Durand. 1867. OCLC 697994178.
  • Gaiatonsera ionteweienstakwa, ongwe onwe gawennontakon. A spelling-book in the language of the seven Iroquois nations. Plattsburgh, New York: F.C. Powell. 1813. OCLC 24897454.
  • Good news to the Iroquois Nation: a tract, on man's primitive rectitude, his fall, and his recovery through Jesus Christ. Burlington, Vermont: Samuel Mills. 1813. OCLC 15441682.
Title page from Iontatretsiarontha, ne agwegon ahonwan igonrarake, ne raonha ne songwaswens = A caution against our common enemy

Citations

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  1. ^ Hauptman, Laurence; McLester III, Gordon (2002). Chief Daniel Bread and the Oneida Nation of Indians of Wisconsin. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-3412-3.
  2. ^ "Eleazer Williams, Chief or the 'Lost Dauphin'?". Oshkosh Daily Northwestern. July 25, 1931. p. 2. Archived from the original on May 27, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  3. ^ Hauptman 2008, p. 90.
  4. ^ a b Hauptman 2008, p. 91.
  5. ^ a b Williams, Eleazer 1788–1858.
  6. ^ Sylvain 1985.
  7. ^ "Eleazer Williams, Chief or the 'Lost Dauphin'?". Oshkosh Daily Northwestern. July 25, 1931. p. 2. Archived from the original on May 27, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  8. ^ Wight & Chicago Historical Society 1903.
  9. ^ "Remains of Famed Indian Missionary to Go to Oneida". Monroe Evening Times. April 22, 1947. p. 8. Archived from the original on May 8, 2016. Retrieved May 4, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  10. ^ "Lost Dauphin State Park". Wisconsin State Park System. Archived from the original on 2017-10-30. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  11. ^ "Oneida history". Oneida tribe. Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  12. ^ a b Godfrey, Linda S.; Hendricks, Richard D.; Moran, Mark; Sceurman, Mark (2005). Weird Wisconsin: Your Travel Guide to Wisconsin's Local Legends.... Sterling Publishing Company. pp. 54–55. ISBN 0760759448. Retrieved August 10, 2017. lost dauphin park.

References

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