- Death of a Pioneer of Wisconsin
Messrs. Editors: I observed in your paper of last Thursday an account of the death of old Jacques Vieau, extracted from the Green Bay paper. As there are several errors in that account, and as the public are interested in knowing accurate particulars concering those names will pass into history as the pioneers of our young and rapidly growing state, I feel at liberty, from my long accquaintance with the deceased, to give you a correct statement.
Jacques Vieau, was of French extraction and was born in Lower Canada. He came to Wisconsin in 1786, and he resided nearly the whole of the time at Green Bay, where he owned a fram (sic), and was an Indian trader. I have known him for thirty-four years. He was fifty-six when I became acquainted with him, and consequently was ninety when he died. Mr. Vieau married at thirty-six, and lived with his wife to the day of his death. His amiable wife still survives him at the good old age of seventy-two, in the enjoyment of health and all her faculties.
Mr. Vieau was an industrious, upright and honorable man; and highly respected for his many virtues by all who knew him. At one time he had accumulated , by his industry, prudence and economy, a handsome property, but reverses came and swept it away, and at the time of his death he was poor.
The changes that have occurred in this state since I first became acquainted with Mr. Vieau, seem more like a dream than reality. At that time Green Bay and Prairie du Chien were the only places in the state that bore any trace of civilized life. All the rest was an unbroken wilderness. Here and there, at great distances, was a solitary hut, in which lived some restless pioneer, ever retreating as civilization advanced, and following the sports of Nimrod and the disciples of Walton, with a success that amateurs of the pressent day do not dream of.
In 1836 Wisconsin was organized as a territory, having before that time been known as a part of that tract known as the north westren territory. The only inhabitants where Milwaukee now stands, was a log house, on the present site of Ludington's store. It was built by a man amed Le Clair-I remember not how long ago.
Indians belonging to the Chippewa, Pottawotamie, Ottawa and Menomonee tribes ranged through the vast forests, and over the wide prairies. Now all is changed. the old settler is lost in the progress of improvements. Cities, teaming with a busy population, now stand where I have stood in what was a solitary wilderness. The lake, that now bears so many vesselts upon its bosom, was then unruffled save by storms-the rivers that were then undisturbed save by the light canoe are now beaten ito foam by the factor wheels. A younger generation occupy the Indian's hunting grounds and cover them with yellow grain. The old settlers, like Vieau, have passed most of them long since, to their last homes. They were a brave and hardy and industrious racc(sic, and those who occupy their place should not forget them.
Solomon Juneau
News,
Watertown Chronicle
Wed, Jul 28, 1852 ·Page 2
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Jindra and Chaloupka Families
1770 - 1852 (82 years)
