Frame Size: | 25.5 x 21 in. |
Price: | $1,200 |
Rare early painting of one of Milwaukee's founding fathers.
Original watercolor in great shape, with archival mat and new frame.
Solomon Laurent Juneau, (August 9, 1793 â November 14, 1856) was a French Canadian fur trader, land speculator, and politician who helped found the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was born in Repentigny, Quebec, to François and Thérèse Galarneau Juneau. Joseph Juneau, the founder of the city of Juneau, Alaska, was a cousin of Solomon Juneau.
Juneau had been summoned to the Milwaukee area by Jacques Vieau, a French-Canadian fur trader and the first permanent white settler in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1818 Jacques Vieau hired Solomon Juneau, based on the accounting prowess and Juneau's ability to deal well with the local native Americans. Juneau later married one of Vieau's daughters, Josette, and went on to found what was to become the City of 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.