Henry F. Janes made his claim where the city of Janesville now stands. Several passages give the date as January 15, 1836; one passage notes that February is the correct time.

The evidence

• “We then went over to where New Mexico was afterward laid out, explored there two or three days, and then to Hamilton's Diggings, and finally back again to Rock River. I then selected the claim that Janesville is built on, and marked it as my claim on the 15th of February, 1836, In my letter to the Janesville Gazette, I gave the time as the 1.5th of.lanuary through mistake, February is the correct time. By this time, I had become snow-blind, and had to lay by some ten days before I could see'to travel ; my friend went to work for Mr.”

  1879-history-of-rock-county/14-rock-county-ch08-janesville.md, PDF p. 545 / book p. 549

  Butterfield, C. W., et al. The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc. Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1879. Cornell University Library via the Internet Archive, archive.org/details/cu31924028871585.

  Grade A: Found on a page of one of our sources