You’ve probably seen the TikToks. Or the Reddit threads. They usually start with a grainy image of a book cover from the 1800s and a caption like "Time travel is real."
Honestly, it sounds like a bad movie plot. An obscure Victorian author writes about a wealthy boy named Baron Trump who lives in "Castle Trump" and travels to Russia. Then, that same guy writes a political thriller about a populist outsider who wins the presidency and causes the collapse of the American republic.
The author’s name was Ingersoll Lockwood. And no, he wasn’t a psychic. He was a lawyer from New York with a very dark sense of humor and a front-row seat to the chaos of 19th-century politics.
Why Everyone is Obsessed with Ingersoll Lockwood The Last President
History is full of weird coincidences, but this one feels... different. When people talk about Ingersoll Lockwood The Last President, they are usually referring to a short pamphlet-style novel published in 1896 titled 1900; or, The Last President.
It starts in New York City. The date is November 3, 1896. A populist candidate—a "political outsider"—has just won the election. The city is in a state of absolute uproar. Mobs are organizing. People are screaming. The book describes protesters marching up and down Fifth Avenue, threatening to "plunder and despoil the houses of the rich."
Sound familiar?
💡 You might also like: Passive Resistance Explained: Why It Is Way More Than Just Standing Still
The "outsider" in the book is actually based on William Jennings Bryan. He was a real-life politician who shook up the status quo in 1896 with his "Cross of Gold" speech. Lockwood wasn't predicting 2016; he was satirizing the very real fear that the wealthy elite felt during the rise of the Silverite movement. Basically, he was writing a "what-if" nightmare for the 1% of the Gilded Age.
The "Baron Trump" Connection
You can't talk about the "Last President" without mentioning Lockwood’s other books. This is where it gets truly bizarre. Between 1889 and 1893, Lockwood wrote a series of children’s books:
- The Travels and Adventures of Little Baron Trump and His Wonderful Dog Bulger
- Baron Trump’s Marvellous Underground Journey
The protagonist? A "precocious" and "restless" boy named Wilhelm Heinrich Sebastian Von Troomp. He goes by Baron Trump. He lives in a place called Castle Trump. In the stories, he is guided by a man named "Don," who is the "Master of Masters."
It’s easy to see why the internet lost its mind. You have a kid named Baron, a building called Trump, a mentor named Don, and a journey that starts in Russia. But here’s the thing: "Baron" was a common title of nobility, and the name Trump (or Von Troomp) appears in German and Dutch history.
Lockwood was a diplomat. He lived in the Kingdom of Hanover. He was soaking up European folklore and aristocratic tropes. He wasn't looking at a crystal ball; he was looking at his passport.
📖 Related: What Really Happened With the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz
What Most People Get Wrong About the 1896 Prophecy
Social media loves a good conspiracy. It's fun to imagine Lockwood as a time traveler or a secret society member. But if you actually sit down and read the text of The Last President, the "prophetic" shine starts to dull a bit.
For one, the book doesn't actually mention a guy named Trump as the president. The president in the book is Mr. Bryan.
The story is a critique of populism, socialism, and the abandonment of the gold standard. Lockwood was a conservative lawyer. He was terrified that the "common people" would take over and destroy the economy. The "Last President" isn't a hero; he’s the person Lockwood thinks will break the country.
The book ends with the literal destruction of the U.S. government. It’s a tragedy. It’s meant to be a warning to Victorian voters: "Don't vote for the populist, or this will happen."
The John Trump Connection
There is one more layer to this onion. Some theorists point to John G. Trump, Donald Trump’s uncle. He was a brilliant physicist at MIT. After Nikola Tesla died in 1943, the FBI called in John Trump to examine Tesla’s papers.
👉 See also: How Much Did Trump Add to the National Debt Explained (Simply)
The theory? John Trump found Tesla’s secret plans for a time machine and... well, you can fill in the rest. It makes for a great YouTube documentary, but there's zero evidence that John Trump found anything other than technical notes on X-rays and radar.
The Real Legacy of Ingersoll Lockwood
Lockwood died in 1918, mostly forgotten. He spent his final years as a recluse in Saratoga Springs. He even wrote a poem before he died about how he was "overladen with conceits" and ready to "push off."
He probably would have been baffled to know that 100 years later, people would be dissecting his children’s stories for clues about the 45th president.
The reality is that history rhymes. The 1890s were a time of massive income inequality, distrust of the "elites," and a media landscape that felt increasingly polarized. Sounds a lot like today, right? Lockwood didn't predict the future; he just described a cycle of American politics that we seem to repeat every century.
How to Fact-Check These Claims Yourself
If you want to see if the hype is real, you don't have to take my word for it. Here is how you can verify the details:
- Read the Original Texts: Both 1900; or, The Last President and the Baron Trump novels are in the public domain. You can find them for free on Project Gutenberg or the Internet Archive.
- Look Up the Author: Check the New York Times archives. They have an obituary for Ingersoll Lockwood from October 3, 1918. It confirms he was a lawyer and a writer.
- Contextualize the Politics: Search for the "Election of 1896." You'll see exactly who William Jennings Bryan was and why a New York lawyer like Lockwood would have been terrified of him.
Instead of looking for a time machine, look at the patterns. Lockwood caught a vibe. He saw a country tearing itself apart over money and power, and he wrote a story about it. It just so happens that we’re reading that story again in a very different world.
If you're interested in more historical oddities, your next step should be looking into the actual 1896 election—it explains about 90% of why Lockwood wrote what he did. Reading the primary sources will show you that while the names are a wild coincidence, the themes are just part of the American story.