Settlers and businesses in the county: Tompkinson and family moved to Southern Illinois; a drug/essence business was inaugurured by W. H.; a grain-brokerage shanty was erected at the corner of Jackson and Milwaukee streets; the Rock River Paper Company was inaugurated; the East Side paper mill was started; Lawrence & Atwood enlarged their hardware business; a physician ended his drug business (1853–1858); a Janesville man turned to the insurance business; Eldred established a grocery business; Carle settled at Janesville opening a grocery store; Van Kirk began the grocery business; Smith opened the first jewelry store in Edgerton; Croft bought the house from Julius Burdick; Dr. Simon Lord came to Edgerton as the first physician to remain long; a merchant located at Edgerton; a Myers building was finished; a Third-ward square building was begun (completed 1859); a man was elected county judge in 1857 serving from 1858 for twenty-eight years.

The evidence

• “Tompkinson, however, for he was in every way a worthy and upright citizen. Soon after this unfortunate occurrence (in 1858), he with his family moved to Southern Illinois, where he soon sickened and died. William and Henry Skelly constructed a small two-story frame building on the site of Tompkinson's misfortunes, and have since conducted a general repair-shop for farming implements.”

  1879-history-of-rock-county/14-rock-county-ch08-janesville.md, PDF p. 560 / book p. 564

  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

  

• “Merrill started the first paper mill of this Rock river valley at Rockton, 111. Later he built a paper mill in Beloit, on the West Side, and in 1858 started the East Side paper mill. In 1867 they began manufacturing straw board.”

  1908-brown-rock-county/33-inventors.md, Vol. 2, PDF p. 290 / book p. 789

  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