USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > Pioneer history of Milwaukee > Part 42
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A new wood and hay ordinance was passed December 14, 1853. Wm. R. Perry was the first inspector under this ordinance.
CHRIS. DEXHEIMER.
This gentleman (for he is such in every sense of the word) came to Milwaukee from Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, with his parents, in June, 1846, when only 14 years of age. The parents went directly into the country leaving the subject of this sketch to find employ- ment in the city, in order to earn not only his own living, but at the same time to aid them as well in securing a home in this land of their adoption, which like a dutiful son, he did to the best of his ability. The first few years of city life gave him his full share of the rough that fell to the lot of most of the German lads of that early day. His first venture for wealth was the attempt in connection with John Goodman, to introduce a newly discovered burning fluid for lamps. It was not however, a success, (probably) as we find him in 1857 engaged in the soda water business in company with a Mr. L. Hopkins. This however, soon played out as it proved to be too weak a beverage for the stomachs of the average Milwaukeean of that day. His next venture was as an employee in the Post Office in 1861. Here, as the miners would say, he struck it rich. This was under John Lockwood. Here his genius was soon discovered, and he was at once placed in charge of the mail- ing department, which position he held for 18 years, retaining it through all the changes of administration that the country has under gone, until he has become one of the fixtures of that office. For the last three years he has had charge of the stamp department. Mr. Dexheimer has good clerical ability ; has a quick eye, seldom if ever
.
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MILWAUKEE UNDER THE CHARTER.
makes a mistake (or miscount) when selling stamps or counting money ; he is trustworthy always, and will do no act that is dis- honest or mean. The writer's long acquaintance with him has given him a good opportunity to learn all his good points, (bad ones he has none). He is a staunch republican, and has been an active member of the party since its first organization. He was also a member of the volunteer fire department for four years under that veteran fireman, Peter Van Vechten, Jr., and has made a record for honesty, sobriety, and usefulness that any man in the city might well be proud of. He is yet in the prime of life and usefulness, and let us hope that his well known face and pleasant voice may be seen and heard at the window of the stamp department of the Post Office for many years to come.
CORRECTION.
It was stated on page 308, when speaking of the Pioneer Sash, Door and Blind factory of Z. Clayton, on N. W. corner of Wiscon- sin and Marshall streets, that it was pulled down long ago. This is incorrect, it is yet standing, but in a dilapidated condition, and used as a stable ; it stands directly in rear of of No. 236 Wisconsin Street.
The following has been given here as a curiosity and as a sample of spelling, and might properly be termed an orthographical kaleidoscope :
MILWAU-kee-MILWAU. kie-MILWAU-ky-MILWAU-key-MILL-WALK-ee !
Says he to me, Sir-ee ! They are wrong about Mill-walk-ee,
In spelling it Milwauk-ee, Or, what's the same to me, To write it Milwauk-ie,
Or (what a " native " says to me) To print it Milwau-ky On the strength of orthography,
Or (what a locksmith hinted me) To spell it thus, Sır-Milwau-key,
The way to do it correctly- The proper way, is Mill-walk-ee.
57
HURON STREET.
.
.8 1 .
HAIM A AHOL TWOHT P .WW HX WHITTAM MAI .H 2AND
DIAGRAM Of the west 1/2 of Block (7), Third Ward, between Michigan and Huron Streets, as it appeared in 1835-6-7-8.
MIFIERAS SIREFI
1
Lọt 12.
Lot 11.
Lot 10.
Lot 9.
Lot 8.
Lot 7.
EAST WATER STREET.
T'wo of these buildings (viz:) The " Cottage Inn," nd the Juneau Homestead, were as the reader has already seen, erected in 1835, see vol. 1, page (25,) and vol. 2, page 179 aik 1; The others in 1836, see vol. 1, page 41. The one on the corner of Huron Street being occupied at that time by Hon. W. A. Prentiss, and the other (the one-story one) by Col. A. B. Morton, the old register in the land office. These cuts are fac similes, only that the Prentiss house had a stove pipe in place of a brick chimney (as is shown in the cut.)
CERTIFICATE. We, the undersigned hereby certify that the above diagram is a fac simile of that part of Kast Water Street between Michigan and Huron Streets, as it appeared in the years above mentioned,
E. W. EDGERTON,
HORACE CHASE, WM. A. PRENTISS. ELISHA STARR,
WM. S. TROWBRIDGE, MATTHEW KEENAN.
URIEL B. SMITH, JOHN B. MERRILL, ENOCH CHASE DANIEL, WELLS, JR. GEO. ABERT LOTAN H. LANE,
WM. P. MERRILL. MORGAN L, BURDICK, CHAS, H. LARKIN,
JOHN C. SMITH.
HURON STREET.
.SI JOLI
10.
"and eget>>> set (: siv) emblind best to ow!' 1, erected
... . W .noH vd smis todt is beiquoso ghiod 199012 nowH
(.tuo odt ni nwode ei
APPENDIX.
MILWAUKEE'S FIRST PERMANENT WHITE SETTLER.
JUNEAU vs. MORANDEAU.
The slanderous statements made concerning the home life of Solo- man Juneau and wife, on page 65 of a book called a history of Mil- waukee, published in 1881, by an association known as the " West- ern Historical and Publishing Co., of Chicago," as well as the unjust attempt made in said book to oust Mr. Juneau from his rightful place as the first permanent white settler of our fair city, and to sub- stitute one Jean Baptiste Morandeau in his stead, together with the charge of his defrauding the heirs of said Morandeau out of their land, a claim based upon the statements-or pretended statements- of a daughter of the said Morandeau, Mrs. Victoria Porthier, which statements, as will be seen she has since publicly denied ever having made, aroused a feeling of the deepest indignation in the hearts of the citizens of Milwaukee generally, while in those of the old settlers who knew their utter falsity, (and to whom the memory of Solomon Juneau and wife was almost a sacred thing,) it was intense, and led to a newspaper discussion in which the Hon. Morgan L. Martin, of Green Bay, as well as many of the most prominent citizens of Mil- waukee individually, and the " Old Settlers" and " Pioneer " asso- ciations of Milwaukee county, officially, took part, resulting in showing the falsity of that gentleman's claim to the honor of being
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Milwaukee's first permanent white settler, as well as the charge of his heirs having been defrauded out of their inheritance by Mr. Juneau. "Vide " the proceedings of said associations herewith an- nexed and marked "A."
Also of the falsehoods stated on page 65 of said history, concern- ing the home life of Solomon Juneau and wife, being fully disproved by the statements of Mrs. Theresa Juneau White, [ marked B]; E. Goodrich Loomis, [marked C]; Uriel B. Smith, [marked D]; Peter and Amabel Vieau, [marked E]. The letters of William S. Trowbridge and Elisha W. Edgerton, hereunto annexed, and marked F and G, while for the disproval of the claims made in said history, for Morandeau as having been a native of " Old France," of " elaborate education," extreme " polish " and " gentility," on page 63, and of high "social " and " family con- nections," and intended for the " priesthood," page 65. And as having an immense " library,"* pages 63 and 66, so useful to a man who spent his time in following the Indians about front place to place, as well as to the Indians themselves, who are known to be great " book-worms," and always restless, unless, (as one of the overland stage drivers once remarked, when leaving a part of his mail out on the plains,) they get plenty of truck to read. The searcher after truth, if a historian, is referred to Mrs. Porthier's denial marked H, the affidavits of " Jean Baptiste Le Tendre" and Josette Morandeau, (of Topeka, Kansas,) hereunto annexed and marked I and J, and in the light of which, " presto," this Bedouin of the wild west, this
*If there is one statement in said history concerning this man Morandeau more ridiculous than another, it is that library story. It puts the story about the two cows brought from Chicago, which were such a novelty to the Indians, page 60, (and repeated again on page 70, ) as well as the one about the " wheat fields," the product of seed brought from Quebec in a powder horn, page 64, all in the shade. One can understand how a man who might possess a small modicum of the wonderful virtues claimed for him, or even some " graceless scion " of a noble house, (in order to evade the penalties of the law,) might have fled to the wilder- ness, and have made when there a mis-alliance with a squaw, but such an one would have had just as much use for, and have been just as likely to have brought into this great Northwest any time during the last century, a "top buggy " as a library, for to have brought such a thing here in a " birch canoe," the only way it could have been done, would have cost a fortune, (unless it was transported in that powder horn along with the wheat, ) and would when here, have been as useless to its owner as a $10,000 service of silver plate. That story is too thin to be entertained for a moment even by a Chicagoan, and certainly no Milwaukeean believes it, not excepting the one who wrote it. " A library !" Bah !
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gentleman of "extreme polish " and " gentility," of high " social" and " family connections," and " elaborate education," this " pseudo priest," this scion of an "ancient house," who turned his back upon his " ancestral chateau," in " Labelle France," came into this new world, where he married an " Ottawa Squaw," is stripped of all his borrowed "plumage," and stands before the world as a " sans-culotte," in fact, a common "Canadian Engage," and a badly demoralized one at that, also in no sense fitted for the priesthood. So much for their boasted or pretended history.
The claim made for Morandeau as the first permanent white set- tler of Milwaukee, could with equal justice be made for Alex Le Fram- boise, John B. Beaubian, Stanislaus Chapeau, Laurient Filley, Claude, Alex. and La Fortune, sons of Le Framboise, Jean Baptiste Le Tendree, Le Claire, Joseph Shaunier, Capt. Thos. Anderson,* or or any of the numerous roving traders who ever spent a winter here. This attack upon the home life of Mr. and Mrs. Juneau, on page 65 of said alleged history, was a dastardly deed, and should (as it did) entitle its author or authors, to the contempt of every citizen of our fair city. There is not the faintest shadow of anything like proof to sustain it, written or unwritten. And if there had been, its publication (under the circumstances) was as devilish as it was cruel. Neither is there anything like proof to sustain the claim made for Morandeau, as the first permanent white settler of Mil- waukee, (although the attempt made to confer that honor upon him would appear to be the principal object in publishing that small pamphlet of 1663 pages) based wholly upon the pretended state- ments of this Mrs. Porthier, who cannot tell her own age, and who,
*Capt. Th. G. Anderson, a British officer, an extended sketch of whom ap- peared in Vol. IX, Wis. State Hist. Publication for ISS3, from the able pen of Hon. Lyman C. Draper, (and who was in command of " Fort Mckay," as the Post at Prairie du Chien was called after its capture by the English, undler Capl. Mckay, in July, 1814, ) had formerly been an Indian Trader, and as such, spent the winters of 1803-4 and 1805 at Milwaukee, where he mentions finding " Le Claire " and " Le Framboise," but makes no mention of Morandean, as he doubtless would have done, had such a " paragon" of loveliness as the history makes him out to be, resided there, (with that immense library, ) which is a strong proof that Morandean had no permanent residence at Milwaukee, or for that matter, any where else ; and fully corroborates the statement of his daughter Josette, upon that point. Capt. Anderson was subsequently in charge of the British Indian Department at Drummond's Island, on Lake Huron, for a number of years, and died at " Port Hope," on Lake Huron, Feb. 16, 1875, aged go years. Ile was a Scotchman.
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if that history is correct, was born twice,* and who left the "chateau Morandeau" when only seven years of age for a home in the Kenzie family at Chicago. Neither did she visit Milwaukee again for a period of 24 years, during which time her intercourse with her fam- ily (if any) must have been very limited, as there does not appear to be any evidence that Morandeau visited Chicago, except in 1812, during all this long period. As these slanderous statements have by the publication of that alleged History become a matter of public record, it is but proper that their refutation should be made as pub- lic. Neither is the man yet born who can wield a pen of sufficient power to " oust " Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Juneau from the warm place they occupy in the hearts of the people of Milwaukee, or HIM from the rightful honor of being it FIRST PERMANENT WHITE SETTLER.
THE PIONEER AND OLD SETTLERS ASSOCIATIONS TAKE ACTION.
At a meeting of the Old Settlers and Pioneer Associations of Milwaukee county, held June 25, 1881, the following proceedings were had :
The meeting was called to order by the President, Hon. Alex. Mitchell, who on taking the chair, announced that the object of the meeting was to consider and take action as an association, on cer- tain misstatements in regard to the late Solomon Juneau and his family, contained in the History of Milwaukee, recently published by the Western Historical Co., of Chicago.
A communication from the Hon. Morgan L. Martin, of Green Bay, addressed to the Association, giving a detailed account of his early acquaintance and intimate connection with Mr. Juneau and his family, as well as the hospitality he with others had enjoyed un- der their friendly roof, and utterly disproving the statements made in the above book, was then read and ordered to be entered in full upon the records of the Association.t
*According to the " History," she was born first on the West Side, as the 5th child, m 1800, (page 70); and secondly, on the East Side, as the 6th child, in 1805, (page 63.) This is the first case of a second birth on record, i. e., in mod- ern times.
+As the sentiments contained in Mr. Martin's letter are substantially embodied in the resolutions passed by the Association, it has on that account, been omitted. It can be found as has just been stated, spread in full upon the records of the Association, as well as in the files of the Milwaukee Sentinel, of June 26, ISSI.
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APPENDIX.
A statement prepared by the Hon. William A. Prentiss, and signed by himself, Matthew Keenan, Elisha Starr, Daniel Wells, Jr., Alex. Mitchell, Charles H. Larkin, William P. Merrill, Asahel Finch, Jr., Franklin J. Blair, John B. Merrill, Wm. Jackson, Jas. S. Buck, Geo. Abert, Chauncey Simonds, Samuel Marshall, David Ferguson, Harrison Ludington, Royal D. Jennings, Peter Van Vechten, Jr., A. Henry Bielfeld, Charles F. Ilsley, Chas. T. Bradley, Frederick Wardner and Edgar C. Jennings, all okd settlers, contradicting the statements in said History, in regard to the situation and condition of Mr. Juneau's house and store, was also read and fully endorsed by all the members present, after which the following resolutions prepared by Hon. John l'. McGregor, were read, and after a full discussion, were unanimously adopted as the sentiments of this Association :
(A.)
Resolved, That the following declarations be published as an ex- pression of the deliberate and well-founded convictions of the mem- bers of the Association, viz :
Our attention having been drawn to certain statements in the " History of Milwaukee," lately published by the " Western Historical Company," in regard to the late Solomon Juneau and his family- more particularly on pages 65 and 69-which represent Mr. and Mrs. Juneau to have been substantially savages in their manner of life, and intimate that Mr. Juneau by dishonest and fraudulent prac- tices, obtained title to lands that justly belonged to others ; and hav- ing further noticed that great pains have been taken in said book to disparage Mr. Juneau's claims to be considered the first regular per- manent white settler at Milwaukee, we desire to place on record the following declarations :
While doubtless many French Canadians, in the prosecution of trade with the Indians, were established for longer or shorter terms, and more or less permanently, at the point where Milwaukee now is, and while it is perhaps of no special credit to Mr. Junean, that he happened to be located here as a trader at the time the advance of the settlement of the new continent reached the western shore of
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APPENDIX.
Lake Michigan; still the fact remains indisputable that Laurent* Solomon Juneau was the first citizen of the United States to settle permanently at this point, to become a land owner, and to make permanent improvements in a civilized way, and that he was the founder of the city of Milwaukee.
II. While no evidence whatever is furnished by the author of the book in question, to sustain his insinuations, that Mr. Juneau ob- tained his title to land in Milwaukee by fraud and subornation of perjury ; and his insinuations to that effect appear utterly gratuitous and unfounded; we declare that Mr. Juneau's character as an ex- ceptionally honest and honorable man, in all the relations of life, is too well established, and tóo generally known to all who had deal- ings with him to admit of any stain or doubt being thrown on it, by such unfounded assertions; in fact they are utterly incredible.
III. We declare that there is not the slightest foundation for the assertion that " Mr. and Mrs. Juneau were practically Indians," and that " they dressed and ate like Indians," or that they lived in squalor and filth, as described in the book. We assert on the con- trary, that Mr. and Mrs. Juneau were " practically " civilized and refined white people, and lived in comfort and decency, as is attested by those yet alive who enjoyed repeatedly the hospitality of Mr. Juneau at his trading post, and who now come forward to testify not only to the heartiness of that hospitality, but to the neatness and refinement of his household; and many of us can bear witness to the continual courtesies and kindnesses shown to early settlers by the Juneau family, which stood on a position of perfect equality with the families of other residents of Milwaukee. The virtues of Solomon® Juneau are too well known to require special vindication at our hands. We cannot understand why any historian of Mil- waukee should endeavor to make it appear that the first gentleman chosen Mayor of our city was a squalid savage; nor can we under- stand the brutal disregard of the feelings of the surviving members of the Juneau family and their friends, shown by the coarseness of the language employed to misrepresent and belie that family ; and
*Mr. Junean's full baptismal name was Laurent Solomon, but he always omitted the first part, and his signature (as far as the writer knows) was simply "Solomon Juneau,"
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we resent and denounce the statements above referred to as at once gross perversions of the truth, and violations of decency.
ALEXANDER MITCHELL, President. CHAUNCEY SIMONDS, Secretary.
(B.)
To the Editor of the Sentinel:
In the " History of Milwaukee," recently published by "The Western Historical Society," is an article purporting to be the life of my father-Solomon Juneau-in which appear such malicious misrepre- sentations of actual fact, and such deliberate falsehoods, that I am constrained to ask space in your columns for the correction of this fabrication, (instigated, as I firmly believe, by malice and envy,) and a statement of facts in vindication of the life, and in reverence for the memory of both my father and my ever beloved and honored mother.
The article commences with saying that "Solomon Juneau, in this work, will be considered the second permanent settler in Milwaukee." To this 1 make no rejoinder, since it is of secondary importance, except that in the estimation of those who are in possession of all the facts concerning the first settlement of Milwaukee, my father is entitled to the first place. The writer of the article predicated his statements upon the "recollections" of a Mrs. Porthier, who, by her own confession, cannot remember her own age. Not a particle of the information is derived from any authentic source; neither was it submitted to myself or any other member of my father's family, for approval or correction, before publication.
Next, we are informed that "Jacques Vieau was the means of bringing him here and starting him in business." This statement is utterly false. My father was never brought here by Jacques Vieau, and had no connection with him in business or otherwise after his marriage to my mother. He was " started in business " by the " American Fur Company," and was its authorized agent for a long term of years, his store and dwelling being located at the corner of East Water and Wisconsin Streets, near the old Van Cott jewelry store. The "dwelling, store and storehouse for furs " were not, as
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APPENDIX.
this article tells us, " all in one," but each was distinct and separate, though in close proximity to each other.
The writer goes on to say that " Mrs. Juneau, who was at least three-eighths squaw, had almost absolutely nothing with which to keep house. And if it had been otherwise, her position would not have been a delightful one for the mistress of any of Milwaukee's elegant residences to-day. The stinking skins which her husband was obliged to keep stored in the house, together with the odors given off by the quantities of fresh meat and fish kept on hand, which frequently became pretty rank before being consigned to the spit combined to make a perfume not wholly unlike that arising from a modern glue factory. This stench delighted the nostrils of the sur- rounding swarms of Indians, as well as of the packs of wolves and clouds of flies which it attracted."
In reply to this I will say that my mother was one-fourth Menom- onee and three-fourths French; that she never lacked the actual necessaries for housekeeping, and had many of its comforts, which, with the coming and going years, and prosperity in business, grew into absolute luxury. Her " bridal outfit" was after the old-time fashion among all civilized peoples-a feather-bed, quilts, comforts, blankets, etc. She was a most painstaking, tidy and careful house- keeper, and no such noisome " odors" as those named ever tainted the atmosphere of the house in which she dwelt; neither were " rank meats " or " fish " ever " consigned to the spit " by her. The store- house, where were packed the " skins," was at least sixty feet from the dwelling, and the store for blankets, etc., stood between them, thus interposing an impenetrable screen against all that savored of putrefaction, which was but a weft of the writer's foul imagination, and may be taken as an index of his taste. He wrote for money, not for truth.
The unhesitating coarseness of the next paragraph chills my blood with horror, and I forbear any further comment on the article except to characterize it from beginning to end, with the small exception of the date at which my father came here, utterly and maliciously false.
If, as is said by another writer, my mother saved the lives of scores of the earlier residents of Milwaukee by her interpositions and en-
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treaties, such service cannot be forgotten by those who still live, and to them I leave the vindication of her name and fame.
In closing I may quote the words of one of Milwaukee's noblest women concerning her, and one who knew her as intimately as was possible for any one outside her own family : "She was a lady in the best sense of that term ; shy and retreating in her nature, distancing all except those who compelled her love."
THERESA JUNEAU WHITE.
Milwaukee, June 11, 1881.
(C.)
To the Editor of the Republican :
Having read a communication written by Mrs. Theresa Juneau White, under date of June 12, 1881, I referred to my copy of the " History of Milwaukee, published in 1881, at Chicago, A. T. Andrews, proprietor." After several days consideration, I believe it a duty to denounce certain statements regarding Laurent S. Juneau in said volume, as abominably and absurdly false. Even were there a shadow of truth in them, what man would desecrate a perished household to wound the living who were born under its roof? An historian ! God save the mark !
As by this time most people have looked up the passage as I did, no repetition of it is requisite further than to state that this Chicago history paints the Juneaus as living amid stenches and garbage and penury, as cannibals might subsist, or a lazar-house furnish lodgings. It is a very distasteful task to vindicate a man of Juneau's noble spirit and kindness of soul against a vicious lie, touching the menage of his cottage ; but it is right to do so if practical-for nothing could be better appointed, better managed, neater or more cleanly, than the food and every other necessary and comfort in his little family. Whatever there was on the land or in the water in line of eatables came to him of the best, and in famous abundance.
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