Solomon Laurent Juneau

Statue of Juneau in Juneau Park, Milwaukee

The same statue of Juneau in Milwaukee, c. 1890

Solomon Laurent Juneau, or Laurent-Salomon Juneau, (August 9, 1793 – November 14, 1856) was a fur trader, land speculator and politician who helped found the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was born in Repentigny, Quebec, Canada to François and Thérèse Galerneau Juneau, who had emigrated from Alsace, France four years prior.

After landing in Mackinac in 1816, Juneau worked as a clerk in the fur trade before becoming an agent for the American Fur Company in Milwaukee. Juneau settled an area east of the Milwaukee River called Juneautown (present day East Town) in 1818, which later joined with George H. Walker's Walker's Point and Byron Kilbourn's Kilbourntown (present day Westown) to incorporate the City of Milwaukee. In 1831, Juneau began learning English and set in motion the naturalization and citizenship process. By 1835, he was selling plots of land in Juneautown. He built Milwaukee's first store, first inn, and was recognized for his leadership among newcomers to Milwaukee. In 1837 he started the Milwaukee Sentinel, which would become the oldest continuously operating business in Wisconsin. He was the first mayor of Milwaukee from 1846 until 1847 and its first Postmaster.

In 1820 Solomon Juneau married Josette, the daughter of Jacques Vieau, a fur trader who had built a trading post overlooking the Menomonee River Valley years before. Josette was the oldest of 12 children, and she was Menominee and French by ancestry.^[1] Through her alliances to the tribe, and the relationships fostered through Juneau's business in fur trading, it is reported that he was popular with the Menominee.^[2] After the treaty of 1848 between the United States and the Menominee, Juneau registered his wife and children as half-breeds of the Menominee Nation. In his later life, Juneau and family relocated to Dodge County, Wisconsin, where they founded the village of Therese, named after Juneau's French-Canadian mother. Josette Juneau died there in 1855, Solomon died one year later in Keshena, Wisconsin, on a visit to the Menominee tribe. Six Menominee chiefs served as pallbearers at his funeral. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

His nephew is Joseph Juneau who founded the city of Juneau, Alaska.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Solomon Laurent Juneau at Find-A-Grave

References

1. ^ Gurda, J. (1999). "Josette and Solomon Juneau, Frontier valentines: Living proof that love can and did abide." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sunday, February 7, 1999.
2. ^ Kellogg, L.P. (1961). "Juneau, Solomon Laurent." Dictionary of American Biography. Malone, Dumas, ed. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Wisconsin Historical Society
• Josette and Solomon Juneau