954 



WILLIAMS 



[b. a. e. 



he was questioned by several ministers 

 regarding his studies. While here he met 

 Father Chevreux, to whom he was intro- 

 duced as an Indian youth studying for 

 the ministry. The Father questioned 

 him, it is said, as to the practice of the 

 Indians in adopting French children, as 

 Williams appeared to him to have French 

 blood. It is possible that at this inter- 

 view Williams first conceived the idea 

 that he could successfully personate the 

 Dauphin of France. In 1807 he v/as at 

 Hartford, Mass., where he met President 

 Dwight, who gave him some salutary ad- 

 vice; and in May of the following year a 

 Dr Lyman urged him to become a mis- 

 sionary to the Indians, a suggestion which 

 met with Williams' hearty approval. It 

 was in this year that Mr Ely, his friend 

 and benefactor, died, and with his death 

 closed the first scene of Williams' life 

 among civilized surroundings. He lived 

 at Mansfield and Long Meadow until Dec. 

 22, 1809, when he was placed under the 

 tuition of Rev. Enoch Hale, of Westhamp- 

 ton, Mass., under whose guidance he re- 

 mained until Aug. 1812. During this 

 period he was commissioned to make a 

 visit to the St Louis or Caughnawaga In- 

 dians to learn what the prospect was of 

 introducing Protestantism among them. 

 In 1810, owing to the condition of his 

 health, Williams abandoned his studies 

 and traveled in the S. , where he met his 

 future friend and bishop, Dr Hobart. 

 Again visiting his family at Caughnawaga 

 in the following year, he conversed with 

 their Indian neighbors about the 

 Pi-otestant faith, but the Roman Catholic 

 priests warned them not to listen to his 

 instructions. Nevertheless, the attention 

 shown encouraged him to enter on what 

 was to be his life work. 



Early in 1812 Williams went to Canada 

 as an agent of the American Board of 

 Missions, arriving at the Sault St Louis 

 on Jan. I'S; but he found it diflBcult to 

 change the religious beliefs of the jieople. 

 He continued his missionary tour until 

 March, when the chiefs and counsellors 

 made him a chief of the Iroquois at 

 Caughnawaga, being given the name On- 

 warenhiiaki, probably meaning 'Tree 

 Cutter.' In July he returned to West- 

 ham pton. At the beginning of the War 

 of 1812, Williams, being regarded as a 

 suitable person to aid in preventing the 

 Indians of his tribe from espousing the 

 cause of England, was appointed Super- 

 intendent-general of the Northern Indian 

 Department. He was assigned to duty 

 with Gen. Dearborn, but was transferred 

 to service with Gen. Jacob Brown, under 

 whom he acted in a confidential capacity, 

 obtaining through the Canadian Indians 

 valuable information regarding the move- 

 ments of British troops. At the battle of 



Plattsburgh, N. Y., Sept. 14, 1814, he was 

 wounded. At this time he had not com- 

 pleted his theological studies. In Nov. 

 1820 Gen. A. G. Ellis went to Oneida 

 Castle, N. Y., where Williams had resided 

 for about 3 years as a catechist in the Epis- 

 copal Church,- in order to aid the latter in 

 teaching school. For this service Wil- 

 liams was to repay Ellis by instructing 

 him in Latin, Greek, and French. Instead 

 of being learned in these languages, how- 

 ever, Ellis found that Williams was igno- 

 rant of them, and that he had really been 

 induced to live with Williams in order 

 that the latter might be instructed in the 

 rudiments of English. Ellis lived with 

 Williams about 4 years, during which 

 period the latter made no appreciable 

 progress, not being able then, says Ellis, 

 "to compose five lines of the English de- 

 cently." Nevertheless, during his resi- 

 dence among the Oneida, Williams, by 

 his persuasive eloquence in the native 

 tongue, had induced the old Pagan party, 

 numbering about three-fourths of the 

 tribe, to abjure paganism. He had fur- 

 ther induced them to grant him 100 acres 

 of land for his own use and to sell several 

 hundred acres more to the state to provide 

 a fund to build a church and a school- 

 house. The proceeds of the sale, amount- 

 ing to about $4,000, were placed by the 

 governor in the hands of Judges Wil- 

 liams and Miller, of Utica, to secure 

 faithful application of the sum to the pur- 

 pose mentioned. Williams, however, 

 managing to obtain control of the expend- 

 iture of the monev, erected a church at 

 a cost of $1,200 or $1,400, for which he 

 submitted bills covering the entire sum 

 of $4,000, but in such equivocal shape 

 that they would not bear examination, 

 whereupon the two trustees resigned 

 their trust. For many years the Oneida 

 charged Williams with malfeasance, but 

 the matter was never adjusted or ex- 

 plained. In Oct. 1820 Rev. Jedidiah 

 Morse, w^ho had traveled through the 

 N. W. as far as Green Bay, Wis., presented 

 to Williams a project for removing the 

 New York Indians to the country w. of 

 L. Michigan. Williams was ripe for such 

 a venture, even claiming later that he was 

 the originator of the scheme. In a coun- 

 cil with the Oneida, which Morse called 

 to discuss the proposal, Williams acted as 

 interpreter. After the council was over, 

 Morse asked Williams for a copy of the 

 speech of the Oneida chief in reply, 

 which was strongly adverse to Morse's 

 proposal. Several days later Williams 

 completed a fictitious speech, misrepre- 

 senting the answer of the Oneida, to 

 which he forged the names of their 

 chiefs. In the following year the chiefs, 

 again in council with Morse, when Wil- 

 liams was not present, repudiated the 



