Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1905-09-20
PETER J. V|EAU IS DEAD
Milwaukee, First Son SucCumbs
to Paralysis.
HE WAS IS YEARS OLD.
His Father Was First Trader in This
Section and Solomon Juneau
Was His Clerk.

MILWAUKEE, Wis, Sept. A.
Peter J. Vieau, Milwaulee's first son
born of French-American parentage, died
at { o'clock Wednesday evening, at his
home at Muskego Center, Waukesha
county, aged Sc years. The funeral will
be held from the Vieau home Saturday
morning at IL o'clock, to the Catholic
church in the town of Franklin. Inter
ment will be at the old cemetery there.
Nearly week ago, Mr.. Vieau was
found IN an unconscious condition at his
home, where he had been living alone
for years. A neighbor, in passing the
place, discovered the old resident and
medical attendance was Immediately
summoned. Mr.. Vieau was suffering
from stroke of paralysis, and just how
many hours he had lain alone and I'M"
conscious could not be determined. From
that time he continued to sink slowly
until the end. Mr.. Vieau had lived
alone from choice, and his sons, resi-
dents of Milwaukee until a few months
ago, had made frequent efforts to have
him return to this city and reside with
them. For more than a quarter OF a
century a resident of the dense forests
Of the early days of this part OF the
4 country, before Wisconsin became even
a territory, be preferred to live alone,
after the death of his wife, at his little
home at Muskego Center, rather than
move to Milwaukee.
Last Link to Pioneer Days.
In the death of Peter J. Vieau the last
French and Indian occupants of the SOIL
of this part of Wisconsin and their
Anglo-Saxon successors, covering a
period from the early days of the Nine
teenth century to the present Twentieth
century, has been severed. When the
picturesque Vieau, son of the first
| French-American resident of Milwaukee,
took the trail and followed his fathers"
into the great unknown there passed not
only a most interesting, unique and
heroic representative of the days when
| white civilization first dawned along the
swampy Menomonee, but also some
what remarkable character, a man edu-
Gated beyond his fellows of the early
| part of the Nineteenth century, and one
| of the very earliest types of the French
American nativity, which formed the
earliest American civilization in this part
/ Of the country.
Son of Milwaukee's First Merchant.
Peter J. Vieau was the eleventh son of
| the great pioneer trapper and fur agent,
! Jacques Nieau (whOse real name was
| slightly changed in order not to stand for
! veal" as it unquestionably did, accord
| ing to his mother tongue, the FRENCH.
The son, Peter, first beheld the light of
| day at his fathers one-story log hut,
which occupied a site at the top of the
! large knoll, where is today the crossing
of Florida street and Seventeenth ave-
nue., his birth being on January 10,
1920. The father built his little log hut
| there in 1895.
He was younger brother of Mrs
| Solomon Juneau, who was the eldest
daughter of Jacques Vieau. When but
! 8 years of age the boy was taught to
read by clerk in his fathers log fur
| house, at the foot of the knoll, and at
the edge of swampy marsh into which
| the Indians pushed their canoes when
! transporting furs to the "great dealer"
The clerk was Michael lie Pellieaur, a
| young French-Canadian. When years
of age Peter was sent to the mission
school at Green Bay, presided over by
John V. Suydam, who later started the
| Green Bay Intelligencer, said to be the
! first regular newspaper printed in what
is now Wisconsin.
Becomes an Excellent Printer.
After attending school there for three
printing office under Mr.. Suydam as
devil" There he became an expert
typesetter and all-around printer, and
| he remained in the office until 1886.
when Albert G. Ellis sold the paper to
Z. Latham Sholes later the inventor of
the Typewriter and for some years edi-
tor of the Intelligencer. Peter then en-.
tered the service of a merchant at
Green Bay, and during the subsequent
three years clerked for several business
men at "Shanty Town. leaving Green
Bay IN 1889 and returning to Milwau-
kee. Here he clerked for several mer.
chants in the hamlet among them Mon
roe d Page and David George, con-
tlnuing i'll that service until 1871.
Bay, where he took charge of his faith
er,s store remaining there until 1855.
after which he moved to Theresa,
| Dodge county, to work for his brother
in-law. Solomon Juneau. One wear
later. or in 1856, he moved to Muskego.
Wh!ch place he made his home and re-
NAMED until his death.
Holds Public Offices.
In 1857 Mr.. Vieau was annointad
S9eputy sheriff of Waukesha county by
enerl1 Israel Castle, an office he held
III ABOUT three years, when he was
elected town clerk of Muskeeo in 1854
This office he held until 1886, when hn
was elected justice of the peace an
once Which he continued tn hold nm to
the time of his death. w ~
II all MS varied dealings with his fol-
t tI" men. ana with a record of more
d daa4 a quarter a Of a century as a resi-
N vleau lived and died a man of the
Sstiiclest proDlty. During his entire life
ne :. enjoyed the confidence and esteem
81 ond in set A1nSio-saxon residents who came
~ oettieu around him in the wears of
tne pioneer settlement of this state
II person, he was of medium size but
was man of remarkable muscular de-.
nodes v1Jee Of a; result of his early-day
open as the Indians lived. As to to me me
mother moth having been a prominent ia Its
G Sleeu anoIan and daughter of a noted
Spoke Many Tongues.
and ig Indis SPOKE n,u!ently French. English
Chippewa, Menomonee, PottaWattamie
or Wlnnebago tongue with equal finen ,ls
ana accuracy. In later years he was