Eleazer Williams

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

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

Main article: Lost Dauphin Park

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

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

• Iontatretsiarontha, ne agwegon ahonwan igonrarake, ne raonha ne songwaswens : A caution against our common enemy. Albany, New York: Albany Religious Tract Society by Churchill & Abbey. 1815. OCLC 15462861.
• Life of Te-ho-ra-gwa-ne-gen : alias Thomas Williams, a chief of the Caughnawaga tribe of Indians in Canada. Albany, New York: J. Munsell. 1859. OCLC 3444222.
• The salvation of sinners through the riches of divine grace: two homilies pronounced at Oneida Castle in the audience of the Oneida Indians at their eighth triennial anniversary since the conversion of six hundred pagans of that tribe to the Christian faith, on the 8th of August 1841. Green Bay, Wisconsin Territory: Republican Office. 1842. OCLC 277220738.
• Selections from the Psalms and Hymns according to the Use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. New York: Protestant Episcopal Tract Society. 1853. OCLC 6135762.

Citations

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.
3. Hauptman 2008, p. 90.
4. Hauptman 2008, p. 91.
5. 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.
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.
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. 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

• Hauptman, Laurence (2008). Seven Generations of Iroquois Leadership: The Six Nations Since 1800. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-3165-1.
• "Williams, Eleazer 1788–1858". Dictionary of Wisconsin History. Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
• Sylvain, Phillipe (1985). Williams, Eleazer (Éléazar). University of Toronto. Retrieved 2011-04-26. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
• Wight, William Ward; Chicago Historical Society (1903). Eleazer Williams not the dauphin of France: a lecture read before the Chicago historical society December 4, 1902. Fergus' historical series. Fergus Printing Company. Retrieved 2011-04-26.

External links

• Eleazer Williams at Find a Grave