boffmax] ELEAZER WILLIAMS 23 



Morse, where he spent nearly three weeks, and preached the lirst protestant sermon 

 ever delivered at that place. 



During the year 1810-17 a remarkable personage appeared among the 

 Oneida Indians; this was no other than Eleazer Williams, a descendant 

 of Beverend John Williams, of Deerfleld memory, but who claimed to 

 be the Dauphin of France — Louis XVII. General Ellis ' says of hiin: 



In the summer of 1816, he made a tour in the State of New York, among the several 

 tribes of the Six Nations. The Oneidas received him with kindness and attention. 

 They were more inclined to civilization, and a party of them to Christianity, than 

 any other tribe of the Six Nations. 



Whether Mr. Williams borrowed the idea from Dr. Morse, the Mo-he-kun-nucks, 

 or the Ogden Land Company, or whether it was, as he stoutly maintained, original 

 in his own mind, certain it is, that some time in 1818, ho began to broach cautiously 

 among his Indian people a proposition of removing all the Indians of that State, is 

 well as many of those of Canada, and the Senecas at Sandusky, to the neighborhood 

 of Green Bay, and there unite them in one grand confederacy of cantons, hut all 

 under one federal head; the government to lie a mixture of civil, military, and 

 ecclesiastic, the latter to he pre eminent, . . . 



Having secured this point among the Oneidas, he visited the other tribes of the 

 Six Nations, and by holding out dazzling promises of future glory and aggrandize- 

 ment, he enticed a few young men of each tribe to enter into his scheme. He next 

 addressed the War Department, in imitation of the Stoekbridges, soliciting its 

 countenance and assistance to enable a delegation of twenty from the several tribes 

 of the Six Nations to visit the Western tribes, for the purpose of obtaining a cession 

 of country for a new home. The response of the Department was favorable, having 

 doubtless been inilnenoed by other parties moving for the same objects. 



Thus, it is to be observed, that whether singular or not, there was a combination 

 of influences, dissimilar iu motive but perfectly consonant, in purpose, all operating 

 at the same moment iu urging a removal of the New York Indians to Green Bay. 

 Each one of the parties claimed the eclat of originating the scheme: we incline to 

 the belief, however, that they all. the Laud Company, the Mo-he-kun-nucks ami Mr. 

 Williams, might, and probably did conceive, at pretty near the same period of time, 

 the idea of a new home for these Indians in the West. 



The late Honorable Lyman 0. Draper, 2 formerly secretary of the 

 Wisconsin Historical Society, referring to this subject, says: 



Rev. Eleazer Williams, with a deputation of the Oneidas, lirst visited the Green 

 Bay region with a view of finding a new home, in the summer of 1820. Reporting 

 favorably, in August, 1821, Williams again repaired to Green Bay, himself as the 

 deputy of the St. Regis Indians, accompanied by a delegation of Oneidas, Stock- 

 bridges, Ououdagoes, Senecas, and Munsees, who made a treaty with the Menomonees 

 and Winnebagoes, and purchased a considerable territory from them. In September 

 1822, this territory was largely increased by an additional purchase. The New York 

 Indians emigrated from time to time in bands, and settled on their purchase. 



There has recently been called to my attention an editorial notice of 

 Eleazar Williams, in The Xation (N. Y.) for May 31 , 1894, which elicited 

 a communication to the same periodical for June 14, 1894. After a 

 few preliminary remarks, the letter continues: 



As early as 1810, Eleazar Williams called himself ••Count de Lorraine" and 

 wore a large tinsel star. My grandfather was acquainted with the man and fully 



1 Op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 418, 419. 



2 Coll. Hist. Soc. Wisconsin for 1854, vol. i, 1855. p. 68, footnote. 



