Jacques Vieau

Jacques Le Vieux, dit Vieau (or Vieaux) (May 5, 1757 – July 1, 1852) was a French-Canadian fur trader and first permanent white settler in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was born near Montreal, Quebec, Canada and died in Howard, Wisconsin.

Monument in Mitchell Park

Vieau came to Green Bay in 1786[1] and married Angelique Roy there that year. She was the granddaughter of Potawatomi Indian chief, Anaugesa. They had at least twelve children together.

He settled at Jambo Creek in Manitowoc County in 1795.[2] While employed by the North West Company, Vieau established a fur trading post in the area that would become Milwaukee in 1795, along with outposts at Kewaunee, Manitowoc and Sheboygan. His Milwaukee cabin was built on top of a bluff overlooking the Menomonee Valley and became his winter residence away from Green Bay. A historical monument marks this location in Mitchell Park as the first house in Milwaukee.

The town of Louisville, Kansas is named after his son, Louis Amable Vieau, Sr.

In 1818 Jacques Vieau hired another French-Canadian named Solomon Juneau, who later married his daughter Josette and went on to found what was to become the City of Milwaukee.

A tombstone for his grave was placed in 2016.[3]

Vieau is the eponym of Vieau Elementary School and also a street found in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The living descendants of Vieau are centered on Green Bay.

Notes
  1. "Death of a Pioneer of Wisconsin". Watertown Chronicle. July 28, 1852. p. 2. Retrieved May 1, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "Descendants of Vieau to Unveil Marker". Manitowoc Herald-Times. June 9, 1922. p. 4. Retrieved May 1, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. Srubas, Paul (September 17, 2016). "Early settler finally gets his due". Green Bay Press Gazette.
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