History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895, Part 5

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. cn
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago and New York, American Biographical Publishing Co
Number of Pages: 840

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HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE.

as has been said, are cold and dry; from the south- west they bring warmth from the heated plains of our continent. If they blow directly from the northwest or north, they are likely to be se- verely cold. The temperature in Milwaukee comes, under these influences, to be not rarely as low as ten to twelve degrees below zero, and it has even reached at times the excessive point of twenty- five. In summer the extreme heat has but very seldom indicated a hundred, and summers fre- quently go by without showing more than eighty-five degrees above zero. On the whole, those accustomed to Wisconsin, find its climate

pleasant and salubrious, and certainly Milwaukee is one of the most favored of its cities. The rolling surfaces, the vigorous vegetation, the dry frosty winter, the glowing summer, tempered by refreshing breezes, leave little to be desired, ex- cept by those who are morbidly sensitive or un- usually delicate.

The following tables show the mean tempera- ture at the city of Milwaukee for the last twenty- three years, as compiled by the Weather Bureau and also the mean rainfall, the prevail- ing wind, the highest temperature and the lowest :

METEOROLOGICAL DATA AT MILWAUKEE, WIS.

Data.

Jan.

Feb.

March.

April.

May.

June.

July.

August.

Sept.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Yearly .

Mean Temperature.

19.7

23,5

30.0

42.4

52.9

62.8

69.0

68.0

60.9

49.3

35.0

25.7

44.9

Mean Rainfall.

2.23

1.90

2.51

2.79

3.57

4.10

3.23

2.93

2.78

2.49

2.06

1.98

32.57

Prevailing Wind.

N W.

N.W.

N.E

S. E.

S. E. & S. W.

S. W.

S. W. N. W.

West.

Highest Temperature.

11th, 1871, 3d. 1874.

12th, 1882.

23d. 1878.

1871, and 7th, 1893.

30th, 1874.

28th, 1890.

16th, 1887.

11th, 1874.

7th, 1874.

2d. 1891.

7th, 1874. 11th, 1882. 1st, 1888.

20th, 1877.

59º.

600.

700.

820.

900.

950.

100°

98º.

94º.

87º.

700.

63º.

Lowest Temperature.

9th, 1875.

11th, 1885.

4th, 1884.

16th, 1875.

2nd, 1875.

15th, 1875. 2nd, 1879. 3d, 1882. 8th, 1885. 2nd, 1888.

2nd, 1882.

23d, 1875.

30th, 1876.

25th, 1887.

29th, 1875.

19th, 1884.

-25°.

-24º.

-8º.

12º.

25°.

40°.

490

420.

320.

15°.

-14º.

-22º.

Copied by C. E. Linney from the records of the Weather Bureau for a period of 22 and 23 years

Comparison with similar tables compiled by Mr. Lapham and printed in his book published in 1856, called "Wisconsin, its Geography and Topo- graphy," indicates, if the thermometers were cor- rect, that the weather was milder for the three years between 1842 and 1846 for which Mr. Lap- ham's observations are given. Thus, the mean temperature of January for those years is given by him at 21.77; of February, 28.24; March,

35.90; April, 51.85; May, 57.10; June, 63.80; July, 70.20; August, 68.03; September, 63.23; October, 46.98; November, 34.23; December, 27.10. The average rainfall for the year, as given by Mr. Lapham, was 27.96 inches, whereas the office now furnishes an average of 32.57. The maximum temperature at Milwaukee, as observed by him in those three years, was 94 degrees, the minimum was 24 degrees below zero.

My.Y. Trowbridge

CHAPTER IV.

THE FIRST SETTLER ON MILWAUKEE RIVER.

BY THE EDITOR.

T HE name Milwaukee is of Indian origin but there is much uncertainty as to its origi- nal form and the tribal source from which it is derived. The first mention of the name which is well authenticated, appears to have been made in 1761 by Lieutenant James Gorrell, a British officer stationed at Green Bay, who ren- dered it "Milwacky." Father Zenobe Membre who visited the Illinois country with La Salle, re- corded in his journal the fact that a tribe of In- dians dwelt at the month of the " Mellioke" river in 1679. This reference is supposed by some, to have been made to the site of the present city of Milwaukee, and if this supposition is correct, " Mellioke " should be recognized as the earliest recorded form of the word.

The Indians, with whom the early traders and missionaries came in contact, differed materially in their statements as to the origin and signifi- cance of the name. Augustin Grignon was in- formed that the name was derived from Man- wau, an aromatic root, and that Man-a-waukee was the proper form of the word, which signi- fied the place where the root grew. Louis M. Moran, an interpreter for the Chippewas, was authority for the statement that the name signified "rich or beautiful land " and should be rendered Me-ne-waukee. Joshua Hathaway, one of the more scholarly men among the early settlers of Milwaukee, asserted that the name was of Pottawatomie origin, derived from " Mahn-a- wauk-ee seepe," meaning a " gathering place by the river."

There are many evidences of the correctness of the view taken by Mr. Hathaway, most important of which is the fact that the site of Milwaukee, long before its discovery by white people-as well as thereafter-had been a popular meeting-place

or "council-ground" for different tribes of Indians. The Pottawatomies were the occupants of the country at the mouth of the river, and that one of the names given to the place, should be that which signified " meeting-place," in their language, is a reasonable and logical conclusion. That Mahn-a- wauk-ee was the name by which the place was designated by some tribes of Indians and Mellioke, the name given to it by others is probably true, and the blending of the two could easily have given us Milwaukee.

The question as to who is entitled to the honor of being handed down in history as the first set_ tler on the site of the present city of Milwaukee, is one which has given rise to controversies of such magnitude as to be entirely out of proportion to the importance of the subject, and by far too many of the statements made in this connection bear the imprint of intense partisanship, rather than of historic research. That Solomon Juneau was the magnet around which civilization clustered in the beginning, and that he laid the foundation of the settlement which has developed into the city of Milwaukee, is undeniably true. That his settlement here was ante-dated many years by that of another white man who, although he has left no impress upon the community, and can hardly be said to have contributed anything to the advancement of civilization, was an actual set- tler here, is equally true. Unlike the traders, who were in the habit of making temporary sojourns on the "council ground " at the mouth of the Milwaukee river, long before Juneau came, Jean Baptiste Mirandeau - or Morandeau - regarded this as his permanent abiding place, lived here with his family, and brought up a family of chil- dren, one of whom died in this city at an advanced age not many years since.

HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE.

Mirandeau was of French extraction, but whether he was born in France or Canada is uncertain ; and nothing is known of his early life. While it is probable that he came to Milwaukee originally in company with some of the old Indian traders, he does not appear to have been known as a trader himself, but, as early as 1795, was a settler on the present site of Milwaukee, where he built a cabin and engaged, to a very limited extent, in tilling the soil. There is testimony to the effect that he was a man of some education, and that he brought with him to Milwaukee a small collection of books, to which he devoted much of his time. A tinge of romance is given to his history by the statement-not well authenticated, however-that he plunged into the wilderness of the Northwest in his young manhood, to find surcease of sorrow when the course of true love failed to run smoothly with him, and that he found solace in the com- panionship of a Chippewa Indian woman, to whom he was legally married. Whatever may have caused him to immure himself in a Western wilderness where he seldom saw the face of a white man, Mirandeau appears to have adapted himself readily to his surroundings, and to have had no desire to return to the civilization he had left be- hind him. He established friendly relations with the Indians, and having a knowledge of " black_ smithing," made himself useful to them in the manufacture of knives, spears, and other things for which they had use, and in return for these and other favors he was promised by the Indians a large tract of land, to which, however, he did not live long enough to obtain title when the lands were ceded to the government.

The cabin in which he lived for many years was situated on the east side of Milwaukee river, and if the testimony of his daughter, Mrs. Victoria Porthier, can be credited, occupied the site of the present Mitchell Bank building. Juneau also re- sided on the same plat of ground at a later date, and hardly any other spot in the city can claim equal prestige as historic ground. Ilere Mirandeau lived with his squaw wife, and reared a family of ten children, all but two of whom reached the age of adults. Here, too, he did work for the Indians, as a blacksmith, and undoubtedly earned for him- self the title of "first artisan" of Milwaukee. His

death occurred in 1819*, and he is said to have been buried somewhere on the plat of ground now bounded by Wisconsin, Broadway, Milwaukee and Mason streets. After his death his wife took up her residence with the Indians and died some years later at Muskego. The younger children of his family also remained with the Indians and removed with them to the country west of the Mississippi river in 1836. Victoria Mirandeau, the fifth child of Jean Baptiste Mirandeau, married Joseph Porthier, and after living some years in Chicago, returned to Milwaukee, where she con- tinued to reside to the end of her life, dying at an advanced age and surviving all but one of her own large family of children.

As to the character and accomplishments of Mirandeau, much has been written which can hardly be more than mere conjecture on the part of those who have dealt with this subject. He left no family or other records to throw light on the mystery of his existence, and the members of his family who had grown up among the Indians and were unable to read or write, could give little information to those who sought to learn something of his career, in later years. Solomon Juneau was the only white settler of Milwaukee who ever had a personal acquaintance with him, and as his impressions of the man were never given to the public, there are no avenues of in- formation open to the historian whoseeks material for a faithful pen picture of Mirandeau. While some assert with a positiveness born of conviction that he was a man of liberal education-a sort of scholarly recluse in the wilderness-others de- clare with greater vehemence that he was an in- temperate camp follower of the Indians, with few of the attributes of citizenship, who allowed his children to grow up as ignorant as their savage neighbors, and who has left behind no evidence of his own intelligence. To settle this question is not within the realm of possibility at this late date, nor is it of material consequence as a matter of history. As the first white settler of Milwau- kee, he is of interest only as a sort of land mark, inasmuch as no portion of the subsequent devel- opment has been traceable to his influence or ex- istence.

*One authority says Mirandean died in 1820.

CHAPTER V.

THE COMING OF JUNEAU, FOUNDER OF THE CITY.

BY THE EDITOR.

T HE man who sits down to write the history of Milwaukee to please his readers need hardly go farther back than to the time of Solomon Juneau's first coming to the place where the city has since been built. It was he who made the first survey of the village, who became its first president, was the first postmaster, donated the first public square, and later on, when the village had grown to a city, was its first mayor. He came to the place as an Indian trader, and lived nearly all his subsequent life in the town of his adoption. Before Juneau's time there was noth- ing much of Milwaukee but the river and the lake, the blue sky overhead and the bluffs and the swamps and the marshes round about, and the dark, unexplored wilderness surrounding it on the west and called a part of the North west territory. The name of Milwaukee and the name of its prin- cipal founder are as inseparably connected as the name of Watt and the steam engine are inter- locked for all time. Juneau's life, public services and picturesque career are part and parcel of the city's history, and it can be truthfully said that before Milwaukee there was not much of Juneau, and before Juneau there was nothing at all of Milwaukee. At that time Wisconsin, which is now one of the most prosperous states in the Union, with a population of over one and a half millions, was an unexplored wilderness, possessed by savage tribes of Indians, and at certain points along the Mississippi river and Lake Michigan visited at intervals by Indian fur traders and Catholic missionaries. It was still known on the map as a part of the Northwest territory which had been ceded by the State of Virginia to the Federal government, although it had been at-

tached to Michigan territory by an act of Congress passed in April of 1818. There was no civil gov- ernment and no one to govern. Bishop Berkley may have had Solomon Juneau and his hardy class of adventurers in mind when he wrote his famous line:

" Westward the course of empire takes its way,"

for Juneau was the first to raise the banner of civilization on the west shore of Lake Michigan, and to lay the foundations, broad and deep, for the splendid empire whose watchword is "Liberty, Religion and Law." With the single exception of Mirandeatı, Juneau's predecessors had been simply Indian traders, with no intention of making a per- manent home and spending their days here.

Of Juneau's history before coming to Milwau- kee but little is certainly known, the most of it being shrouded in mystery. Like many other men in public life, his early career seemed so un- eventful and unimportant to his fellow citizens that no effort was put forth to preserve the record, and it was not until his position and acts had made him famous that his history was thought to be worth writing or preserving. What is defi- nitely known of his early history may be briefly stated. Laurent Solomon Juneau was born on the 9th of August, 1793, at L'Assumption Parish, a few miles from Montreal, Canada. His parent- age was French. His name has had almost as many ways of being spelled as that of William Shakespeare, being rendered Juno, Junot, Juneau, Jeauno and Juneaux; but Juneau was his own way of spelling it and the one that was in use by his family. His baptismal certificate was written in French by the priest who performed the rite, and is as follows :

HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE.

"The ninth day of August, 1793, by us sub- scriber, priest of the parish of Repentiguy, Lower Canada, was baptized Laurent Solomon, born this day, afternoon, of the legitimate marriage of Francis Juno, surnamed Latulippe, and Maria Galeeno; both not knowing how to sign their names, were interrogated pursuant to ordinances. L's LAMOTTES, Priest."

Juneau's certificate of naturalization is signed by Peter B. Grignon, clerk of the Circuit Court of the United States, and was issued in the town of Green Bay, county of Brown, and territory of Michigan, June 15, 1831, so that it appears he did not become a citizen of the United States until he had resided within our national domain more than thirteen years. He is first heard of in the West in September of 1816, at Mackinaw, where he met his future father-in-law, Jacques Viean, for the first time, and entered his employ as a clerk.

Although Viean never established his home at Milwaukee, and hence cannot properly be termed one of the pioneer settlers here, his history is of interest in this connection because he spent much of his time here, both before and after Juneau's coming, and some of the members of his family were born here. It is said that Jean Baptiste Mirandean, the first permanent white settler on the site of Milwaukee, came here at his sug- gestion, and it is certain that his acquaintance with this region dates back further than that of any other man with whom the early settlers were brought into contact. He was born in Montreal, Canada, May 5, 1757, of French parentage, and leaving Canada about the time our Revolutionary War broke out, made his way into the wilds of the Northwest, for the purpose of engaging in the Indian trade. He is first heard of at Mackinaw, and next in Green Bay. Here he entered into the ser- vice of some Indian traders, with whom he worked until he became expert in the fur trading business, learning the language of many of the tribes and ac- quiring an extensive acquaintance with the chiefs and others who wished to trade with the whites. His great capacity and success attracted the atten- tion of John Jacob Astor and the agents of the American Fur Company, who kept Vieau well informed as to the prices of different kinds of fur, and thus enabled him to trade greatly to his own advantage. He first opened a store in Green Bay, and later another one in Milwaukee, in which goods that suited the Indian trade were

kept, to be exchanged for the furs and peltry of the aborigines. Vieau generally spent his winters here and his summers in Green Bay, where his family resided and where he cleared up a fine farm for those days. His wife was the daughter of a sister to the famous chief Puch-wau-she-gun, and was one quarter French and three quarters Menomonee Indian. Mrs. Vieau's father was not an Indian but a Frenchman, and from the foregoing statement it appears that however much the chil- dren of Jacques Vieau may have talked, dressed, lived and appeared like Indians, it is reasonably cer- tain that not more than three-sixteenths of their blood was Indian, and that was Menomonee. These children were as follows: Madeline, who died at Stevens Point, Wisconsin, in 1878, as Mrs. Thibeau, aged seventy-eight; Paul, who died in Kansas in 1865; Josette, who died as Mrs. Solomon Juneau in 1855; Jacques, Jr., who died in Kansas in 1875; Joseph, who died in Green Bay in 1879; Louis, who died in Kansas in 1876, chief of the Pottawatomies, and a millionaire; Amiable, Charles, Andrew J., Nicholas and Peter J. The two last named were born in Milwaukee; the others were born in Green Bay, except Mrs. Juneau, who was born in Sheboygan. Andrew J. Vieau once had a large store in Milwaukee, and Jacques, Jr., was well known to many of the early Milwaukeeans, hav- ing built and kept for many years a hotel, which stood on the east side of East Water street, mid- way between Michigan and Huron streets, and which was called the "Cottage Inn." He died in 1853, at the age of ninety-six years, and his wife was one hundred and five years of age at the time of her death. The rough life they led among the Indians does not appear to have cut short their days.

Vieau's trading-post, or store, was located two miles up the Menomonee, where the Green Bay trail crossed the river, on ground now owned by the estate of the late Charles H. Larkin, and near the site of the present stock-yards. Vieau at one time intended to become an actual settler, and took measures to pre-empt the quarter section on which his log-house stood, but the government land office set aside his claim on the ground that the lands south of the river were not subject to pre-emption at the time he made the entry. The ruins of his cabin and fur repository were objects of interest in 1836, and are well remembered by many "old-timers."

THE COMING OF JUNEAU, THE FOUNDER OF THE CITY.

After working for Vieau two years at Green Bay Solomon Juneau came to Milwaukee in September of 1818, as an agent of the American Fur Com- pany, to take charge of a trading post at this point. Two years later, in 1820, he married Vieau's fifteen- year old daughter, Josette, and in the fall of that year brought his young wife to the place where he was to found a city a few years later. During the first two years of his married life he and his wife resided, with other members of the Vieau family, at the trading post on the Menomonee river, and it was not until 1822 that he moved into the cabin which became historic as his first home, on the site of the present city. The struct- ure, or structures rather, were a combination of dwelling, and store rooms, built of tamarack logs, in close proximity to each other, and located near the present intersection of East Water and Wis- consin streets. In this rude shanty the " father of Milwaukee " began housekeeping in primitive style, and here he began trading with the Indians on his own account, and laid the foundation of a fortune which slipped from his grasp in later years. In 1835 he built a frame dwelling, on the site of the present Mitchell Bank building, and during the later years of his life lived in a more preten- tious residence at the corner of Juneau avenue and Milwaukee street, the site being that now occupied by the handsome residence of Mr. John Black. This building-familiar to some of the present generation of Milwaukeeans as the "Juneau homestead "-interesting as a relic of the pioneer era, now stands on North Water street near the Van Buren street viaduct. The first frame structure of any kind erected in Milwaukee was built by Juneau, in 1834, near his log store- house and dwelling, at the intersection of Wiscon- sin and East Water streets. Its dimensions did not exceed 12x16 feet, but, nevertheless, it served, at different times, the purposes of a jail, a justice's office, a recorder's office and a school room. During the first sixteen years of his residence here, Juneau was undisturbed by white adventurers, other than those who, like himself, were engaged in the In- dian trade, or the hunters and trappers who paid him occasional visits. He carried on a profitable trade with the Indians, becoming conspicuous among the men engaged in a trade which then represented all there was of commerce in the Northwest, and as agent of the American Fur Company he sustained intimate relationships to

John Jacob Astor, Ramsey Crook, and other members of the famous fur company, who had great confidence alike in his sagacity and integ- rity.

In personal appearance he was a remarkably fine looking man both in his early life and in his ma- ture manhood. Standing full six feet in height, straight as an arrow, broad chested and of splen- did muscular development, he had black curly hair, clear, dark eyes, and a face that would have attracted attention in any assemblage of men. His fine physique, his courage, tact, and good judgment made him a favorite with the Indians from the start, and in a few years he had acquired an alınost unbounded influence over those who laid claim to the lands of this region, or who were attracted to his trading post at Milwaukee.

Prior to 1834 it is not probable that he had ever seriously considered the project of founding a town here, although it must be admitted he had selected an admirable location for his trading post, had negotiated with the Indians with a view to acquiring their title to lands lying between Mil- waukee river and the lake, and may have had aims and ambitions other than those of the typical Indian trader. However this may have been, it is certain that when a quartet of hardy adventurers arrived here late in 1833, to be followed by a dozen or more new settlers in 1834, he was quick to perceive the trend of events, and prompt to take advantage of the earliest opportunity to acquire title to the land upon which a hamlet was already springing into existence. When the land office was established at Green Bay in 1835, and the first sale of Wisconsin lands ceded by the Indians to the government, took place, Juneau purchased the northeast quarter of section twenty-nine, in township seven, range twenty-two, a portion of which lay between Milwaukee river and the lake, and the remainder west of the river. Soon after making this purchase he exchanged the land which he had acquired west of the river, for a portion of the southeast quarter of the same section lying east of the river, which had been purchased by Byron Kilbourn, and thus came into possession of land having a mile of river frontage on one side and the same extent of lake frontage on the other side. He added to this tract of land by purchas- ing other claims, so that in 1835 he and his part- ners (Morgan L. Martin of Green Bay and Michael Dousman of Mackinaw, who had acquired an in-

HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE.

terest in his realty holdings), were the owners of all the lands south of Division street on the east side of the river. In this connection it is of inter- est to note the fact that, in the fall of 1833, Mar- tin had purchased of Juneau a half interest in the lands to which he had then only a "squatter's" claim, for five hundred dollars. The price which Juneau accepted for this interest indicates that no visions of a future city in this location, had at that time dazzled his eyes, and it is possible that the project of laying out a town here, originated with Martin and Dousman, both of whom were conspicuous among the pioneers of Wisconsin for their enterprise and sagacity. Martin came here in the summer of 1833, and looked the ground over carefully, taking into consideration the facil- ities for harbor improvements and other essen- tials to the building up of a lake shore city, and the result was his purchase (in which Dousman shared) of a half interest in Juneau's claim, the following autumn.

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History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895, Part 5

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. cn Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Chicago and New York, American Biographical Publishing Co Number of Pages: 840

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. cn
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago and New York, American Biographical Publishing Co
Number of Pages: 840