Susan Campbell's
Potawatomi Genealogy
Sha Note, my Potawatomi third great grandmother, married Louis Vieux, whose mother was Menominee and whose father was the first white man to settle in the Milwaukee area. Not much is known about Sha Note or her mother-in-law, except that their many children must have kept them busy. The family stories that follow focus on their husbands, but they help me to imagine the lives of Sha Note and Angelique. - Susan
Jacques Vieux
I have traced my family's history back, on the French side, to the St. Onges province of France at the time of the Huguenot uprisings. I have seen the family name spelled variously Vieau (as it is in Wisconsin, pronounced "VO"), Vieux (commonly seen in Kansas and Oklahoma, pronounced "VIEW"), Jarveau, Jarveaux, Jambeau (used in connection with Jacques Vieux, possibly a contraction of the name), View and Viau. An early narrative states that originally the family name was DeVeau but I've not been able to document this.
It was during the uprisings that members of the family made their way to Quebec where Jacques Vieux, my 4th GreatGrandfather, was born outside Montreal on May 5, 1757 (a date which conflicts with some but is the one that comes up most often in my research).
Jacques' primary trade was the fur business. Early on he worked as a courier de bois, travelling the rivers and lakes gathering, selling and trading furs. Following the Revolutionary War, in 1781 according to his obituary, he emigrated from Canada, working as a voyageur, and later became an employee of the Northwest Company; somewhere between 1790 and 1795 he began establishing trading posts from Green Bay to Racine, WI, making his winter home in Milwaukee-- where his name can still be found. A plaque located in Mitchell Park in Milwaukee, near the site of the original cabin, reads, "On this site, the first permanent fur trader JACQUES VIEAU IN 1795 built his cabin, the first house in Milwaukee. Here also was the crossing of the Green Bay-Chicago trail. This tablet was erected under the auspices of the Old Settlers' Club of Milwaukee County 1925."
In 1786 Jacques married Angelique Roy, daughter of Joseph Roy and granddaughter of Menominee chief Ahkenepoweh. The wedding took place in Green Bay WI, where Joseph Roy/Roi's home (now known as the Roi/Tank Cottage) can still be seen at Heritage Hill Park. Angelique's birthdate is given as February 2, 1756. Between them they parented twelve children, listed as: Madeline, Paul, Josette (thought to be Jacques's daughter by another wife), Jacques Jr, Louis, Joseph, Amable, Charles, Andrew, Nicholas, Peter, and Mary.
Jacques died in the town of Howard WI on July 7, 1852 according to his obituary printed in the Green Bay "Advocate" of July 8, 1852. He was buried in the French Catholic cemetery, later called Allouez. Angelique 's obituary can be found in the March 24, 1864 issue of the Green Bay "Advocate", her age given as 99 years. This date is inconsistent with that offered by her son Andrew as is her age but as I've seen nothing else I will leave it as is. Her obituary describes Jacques as "the first white man that settled in Milwaukee." Angelique is also buried in the Allouez Cemetery outside of "Shanty Town" near Green Bay. I visited the cemetery in 1982 but found that their old records had been destroyed by fire and the part of the cemetery pertinent to my research was buried in weeds and missing its stones.
Louis Vieux, Sr.
Louis Vieux Sr was born November 30, 1809 in Milwaukee, WI (conflicting records say possibly nearer Chicago). He worked with his father Jacques and brother Jacques Jr. at the fur trade. He married Sha Note, otherwise known as Charlotte in 1832.
Sha Note was the daughter of Chesaugan, a headman of the St. Joseph Band whose signature can be found on as many as 5 Potawatomi treaties, including the 1795 Treaty of Greenville. Chesaugan and 3 other members of the family were forcibly removed from Twin Lakes IN to Linn County Kansas in September 1838 on what came to be called the Trail of Death. At the time he owned 8 acres of land, planted in corn, outside Chief Menominee's village. It was confiscated and burned. After the Removal, he remained in Kansas and is presumed to have died near Indianola, north of Topeka. I've been able to discover no more about him.
Sha Note was born in 1820. She was twelve or thirteen when she married twenty-year-old Louis in 1832. She and Louis became the parents of seven children: Jacob, Sophia, Louis Jr., Archangel, whom I believe changed her name to Margaret and was married 3 times, Madeline, Ellen, and Rachel. There may have been two more children, Joseph and Zoe.
Jacob married Elizabeth Goslin. Their daughter Charlotte married Hiram Thorpe and became the mother of Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe.
Louis Sr. and Sha Note were among the Potawatomi who "chose" to remove themselves prior to the removals then taking place throughout Indian Country. They moved first to Council Bluffs, Iowa ca. 1832 and resided there, probably with Billy Caldwell's Band, until 1846 when they moved to Indianola, KS, on the banks of Soldier Creek. Sha Note died here in 1857; her body was later moved to the Louis Vieux Cemetery where she now rests beside Louis Sr. The cemetery is located on a hillside just east of the river, with a stone-lined shelter, possibly constructed in 1926, at the bottom of the hill near the path; a guest registry was there the last time I visited in 1997. Between the cemetery and the river is the old Cholera Cemetery, a pioneer cemetery wherein are buried those who died of cholera on their way West.
Sometime following Sha Note's death Louis moved once again, to the banks of the Vermillion River, outside Louisville, KS (Louisville and Belvue were both named for him according to legend). There he established a river crossing on the Oregon Trail; his daughter Rachel spoke of seeing the wagons passing in front of their home. In addition to providing transportation across the river, Louis also sold grain and fresh horses, bought belongings which the pioneers decided not to carry with them further (reselling them in St. Louis, he was said to have bought and sold some items several times!) and provided assistance to the travellers going West. He made upwards of $300 a day at this site. The stone foundation on a nearby garage is said to have been the original foundation of Louis' stables. Across the river, on the Louisville side and surrounded by a fence, stands the remains of the Louis Vieux Elm, once the largest elm tree in the U. S. but now due to Dutch elm disease and lightning strikes a mere shadow of what it once was. The ill-fated Donner party was remembered by Louis' daughters as among those who camped at the Vermillion Crossing; Kit Carson and John Fremont also camped there.
Louis also served as a "caller" for the U. S. government. As the result of treaty negotiations, the government made payments to the Potawatomi for lands they were forced to leave back East. Louis worked at the old paystation in St. Marys KS calling out the names of the people waiting outside; they were then allowed to enter to receive payment. He also served on the Potawatomi tribal council, travelled to Washington DC on the tribe's behalf, and signed the treaty dividing the Kansas Potawatomi into two Bands, the Prairie Band who remained in Kansas and the Citizen Band who went to Oklahoma.
Louis chose to stay in Kansas, yet on the 1863 roll of the Citizen Band Potawatomi is listed as its first member. In 1867, when the Citizen Band removed to Oklahoma, Louis recorded a patent for 315 acres of land on the Potawatomi reservation in Kansas; it included his homeplace on the Vermillion. And there he stayed.
Louis married for a second time following Sha Note's death, though the date is unknown. Mary was born in 1832 and died April 11, 1859 in childbirth. Her twin daughters followed shortly thereafter, on June 5 and June 11. They are all buried in the Vieux Cemetery.
Louis' third marriage was to a woman known as "Mary L." She outlived him and was later married to Augustus F. Hiser; she is buried in the Catholic Cemetery one mile north of Wamego KS.
When Louis died May 3, 1872 he left behind a 200-page will listing land holdings (half the town of Louisville, most of Belvue, farmlands and shares in 2 grist mills), personal property, grocery records (he had an affinity for canned oysters and chocolate!) and guardianship papers for several children. His marker is the tallest monument in the Vieux Cemetery. According to a newspaper account a procession of over 800 people accompanied his remains from Louisville to the Vieux Cemetery. His obituary in the Kansas "Reporter" dated May 9, 1872 tells of the death of "one of our oldest, most respected and useful citizens--everybody's friend...."
Louis and Sha Note's daughter Rachel was my GreatGreat Grandmother. Although I never learned much about her, a photo of her, in a large oval frame, resides in my dining room with one of her husband Ben and, centered above them, a photo of the 5 sisters, daughters of Louis and Sha Note. Rachel was educated in St. Marys KS at the Catholic school. After she and Ben were married on August 13, 1865, they lived outside of Rossville, KS, where they had a farm. They were the parents of two daughters, Lucinda Rebecca and Rhoda Ann, who lived to maturity; triplets Henry, Benjamin and Lewis, stillborn March 31, 1874; Thommias, who died young, and is buried in Dale, Oklahoma, not far from his mother's allotment; and Margaret who died at the age of 2. The triplets and Margaret are buried in the Vieux Cemetery.
I was told that Benjamin had a fondness for horses and on one memorable day, when there was a sale going on in town (presumably Rossville), he sent his wife and daughters on ahead of him in the wagon. From a secret location in their home, he removed an amount of cash he'd been saving and mounted his horse to meet up with his family in town. He never made it; he was ambushed along the way and the money stolen. I never learned if they found out who did this or when it actually took place. Rachel lived on after him raising her daughters. She died in 1931 and is buried in Rossville Cemetery.
Rachel and Ben's daughter Lucinda was my GreatGrandmother. She lived and died in Rossville, Kansas. From what I have gathered, she was a strong Catholic woman who, as a girl, rode bareback across the plains with her long, dark hair flying behind her. As an older women, she took a liking to smoking a pipe and I've heard stories of how local children would sneak up to peek in her window to see a woman smoking a pipe! Her house is still standing in Rossville, on the banks of Cross Creek--where the fishing is still good. I revisited it in 1997.
Two of Louis Vieux's brothers, Andrew and Peter, were interviewed about their lives. These memoirs are available in the library of a wonderful website, the Wisconsin's French Connections, as is the text of Jacques Vieux's license "to Barter, Trade & exchange all goods, wares, & merchandise ... on the waters of Lake Michigan, Milwaukee with any Indian or Tribe of Indians..." and a wealth of other material on early French immigration and interaction with Native Americans.
There is a family tree available that includes many more names, dates and places. An abbreviated version may be found in the family tree section of this web site. If you'd like a copy of the family tree, let me know. And if you have more information on the Vieux/Vieau family you'd like to see posted (or on YOUR Potawatomi family) please submit it for posting on this site. We'd love to add your family!
Susan Campbell
January 26, 1998
