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" and was 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).
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.
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]
lost dauphin park.
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