Josette Viaux was born on April 16, 1803, in Fort Howard[1] to Jacques Vieau, a French Canadian fur trader for the North West Company,[2] and Angelique Roy, a Menominee woman and relative of Potawatomi Indian leaders Ahkanepoway (her maternal grandfather) and Anaugesa.

[7] Accounts report that Juneau prevented a Potwaomi revenge attack on a settlement on Potawatomi lands by keeping an all-night vigil.

She hosted many ministers who passed through the area, provided nursing care to locals, and taught domestics and Christian doctrine to young women to help them find work.

The Juneaus built a summer home in Theresa, Wisconsin, to be nearer to the Menominee community, where they retired in 1852.

[10] Today, residents of Theresa, a village Solomon Juneau had founded and where the couple had lived, celebrate her and her husband's accomplishments on the local holiday of Founder's Day.