Settlers came to Beloit in 1846: a Connecticut-born settler (40 acres in Sec. 7), a Herkimer Co. N. Y. settler (120 acres in Sec. 21), William Shaw of Ireland (farm outside the city), and a teacher seeking occupation.

The evidence

• “O. Beloit; born in Windliam Co., Conn,, in 1814; in- 1837, moved to Hillsdale Co., Mich., and remained there nine years, farming; in 1846, he came to Beloit and bought forty acres land in Sec. 7 ; he built residence and barns, and otherwise improved it. He married, in Michigan, in 1841, Sarah L.”

  1879-history-of-rock-county/18-bios-beloit.md, PDF p. 729

  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

• “Y., Miss Mary H. Kimball, and in 1846 came to Beloit, Wis., seeking occupation more congenial to his inclinations than teaching, but disappointed at not finding a door open for his mechanical turn of mind, he became the successor of the Rev. L.”

  1908-brown-rock-county/34a-biographical-1.md, Vol. 2, PDF p. 323 / book p. 820

  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