The Willard family (Josiah F. Willard, wife and children) came from Ohio to Wisconsin, locating two miles below Janesville on the east side of Rock River (340 acres of wild land purchased).

The evidence

• “Mr. Willard came to Wisconsin in 1846, and located some two miles below Janesville, on the east side of Rock River, where he purchased three hundred and forty acres of wild land, upon which he made practical demonstrations of his theories of agriculture. ' As early as 1850, though the country was then quite new, he succeeded by unwearied and continued efforts, in organizing the Rock County "Agricultural Society and Mechanics' Institute," of which he was elected President ; and by liberal contributions of both time and money he succeeded, beyond the expectations of its most sanguine friends, in placing the Society on a permanent basis. Before this Society, in 1853, he, as its President, delivered an able address, which was published in the " Volume of Transactions of the Wisconsin Agricultural Society" for that year.”

  1879-history-of-rock-county/11-rock-county-ch05-press-institutions-tragedy.md, PDF p. 437 / book p. 441

  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

  

• “Mr. Willard had come here from Ohio with his family, including Frances, then seven years old, in 1846, and settled on a farm a little ways south of where the school for the blind is now located, where he lived until November, 1858. He was trustee of the blind asylum from 1852 until 1858.”

  1908-brown-rock-county/26-history-of-janesville.md, Vol. 2, PDF p. 29 / book p. 543

  Brown, William Fiske, editor. Rock County, Wisconsin: A New History of Its Cities, Villages, Towns, Citizens and Varied Interests, from the Earliest Times, Up to Date. Chicago: C. F. Cooper & Co., 1908. 2 vols. archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon01brow, archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon02brow.

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