Alexander La Framboise

Alexander La Framboise, was a French trader who came to Milwaukee in 1785. He had previously traded at Mackinac. He built his log cabin about a half a mile from the river mouth in a Menominee village ruled by Chief O-nau-gee-sah. The river mouth was then south of Jones Island, called Ile du Mort, "Isle of the Dead," by the French. There he traded and peaceably until 1791, when he fell prey to some Indian political intrigue, and found it wise to move back to Mackinac.

Chief O-nau-gee-sah had a rival in an Indian poet, Pee-shah-no, who returned from fighting under Charles de Langlade in the Revolutionary War in 1780 and became a literary light of greater brilliance in the Milwaukee of that time since any local poet since.

According to Wheeler's "Chronicles," Pee-shah-no, jealous of O-nau-gee-sah's power, stirred up trouble between the chief and La Framboise. The trader had to retire from business, with as much of his stock as had not already been stolen, and managed "by the most consummate dexterity to depart in peace with his scalp in its original position"

La Framboise still considered Milwaukee a rich market, however, and in 1802 sent his brother, Joseph La Framboise, to reopen the post. Joseph found the La Framboise name still unpopular, apparently, for the post failed and he moved back to Mackinac in 1804.