Jacques Le Vieux, dit Vieau (or Vieaux) (May 5, 1757 – July 1, 1852) was a
French-Canadian
French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fr ...
fur trader and the first permanent
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
settler in
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
. He was born near
Montreal, Quebec
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...
, Canada and died in
Howard, Wisconsin
Howard is a village in Brown and Outagamie counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 17,399 at the 2010 census. All of this population resided in the Brown County portion of the village. It is part of the Green Bay Metropolita ...
.
Biography
In , Vieau came to
Green Bay,
[ ] where he married Angelique Roy that same year. She was the granddaughter of
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
chief Anaugesa. They had at least twelve children together.
In 1795, Vieau settled at
Jambo Creek in Manitowoc County. While employed by the
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...
, 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
The Menomonee Valley or Menomonee River Valley is a U-shaped land formation along the southern bend of the Menomonee River in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Because of its easy access to Lake Michigan and other waterways, the neighborhood has historically ...
and became his winter residence away from Green Bay. A historical monument marks this location in
Mitchell Park as the first house in Milwaukee.
In 1818, 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.
In 2016, a tombstone for his grave was placed.
Legacy
The town of
Louisville, Kansas is named after Vieau's son, Louis Amable Vieau, Sr.
Vieau is the
eponym
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
of
Vieau Elementary School and also a street found in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The living descendants of Vieau are centered on Green Bay.
Notes
External links
Narrative of Andrew Vieau, Sr.The Menomonee Valley: HistoryHighlights of History in Wisconsin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vieau, Jacques
1757 births
1852 deaths
American people of Québécois descent
Canadian fur traders
American fur traders
American people of Canadian descent
People from Milwaukee
People from Green Bay, Wisconsin