Note 32 — Front matter

(page page 32).—Rev. Eleazer Williams was an Episcopalian missionary to the Oneida Indians, some of whom moved to Wisconsin from New York in 1821-22. In 1853, Williams, who was imbued with a passion for notoriety, suddenly posed before the American public as Louis XVII., hereditary sovereign of France, claiming to be that son of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette who was officially reported to have died in prison after his parents had been beheaded by the Paris revolutionists. Although he was too young by eight years to be the lost dauphin, was clearly of Indian origin, was stoutly claimed by his dusky parents, and every allegation of his in regard to the matter was soon exposed as false, many persons of romantic temperament believed his story, and there are those who still stoutly maintain that his pretensions were well founded. Williams died in 1858, discredited by his church, but persisting in his absurd claims to the last. A considerable literature has sprung up relative to this controversy, pro and con; the most exhaustive account is W. W. Wight’s monograph, Parkman Club Papers (Milwaukee), No. 7.