Once Upon a House

1839

Biographical events dated only to 1839: a lawyer sold his Illinois farm and opened a law office in Beloit ; a minister toured the Territory for the American Home Mission Society and accepted a call to the First Presbyterian Church of Milwaukee ; another clergyman was called to St. John's Church, Marcellus, New York ; a marriage to Lydia S. Ellsworth took place in Berlin, Connecticut ; a marriage to Cornelia A. Reynolds took place ; a Beloit lawyer located there in practice ; a district attorney was appointed ; a sheriff of Rock County was appointed by Governor Dodge ; a settler came to Beloit to look at land ; a settler came to Wisconsin and bought 235 acres of government land ; the Walker brothers (Aaron, Jason, Alfred) came to Milton and took up large claims ; a father and oldest brother came to Wisconsin and built a large log house ; a father came to Rock County and entered government land in Milton township ; Ezra Goodrich came with his parents to Wisconsin ; settlers came from Jamestown, New York, to Janesville ; Norwegian families emigrated to America and to Newark/Clinton townships ; Ole Knudson Natesta built a small log house in Clinton township ; a widow Odegarden came to America with four daughters ; a man left Janesville going to Missouri ; a family removed from the Rock/Walworth county line to Indiana ; William returned to Bradford County, Pennsylvania, and married Alma H. Wright ; a family moved from Albany County to Rensselaer County, New York ; a settler located at Du Page County, Illinois ; a man came West and settled in the lead mines near Galena ; a blacksmith commenced business in York State ; a factory destroyed by fire in 1838 was rebuilt ; Edward V. Whiton moved into Janesville in 1839 or 1840 ; a man united with the Congregational church in Newburyport, Massachusetts ; a marriage to Susan Sorbor took place in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania ; a marriage to Amanda O. Daniels took place ; a marriage to Mary E. Blakoslee took place in Oneida County ; a marriage to Miss M. J. took place ; a marriage to Annie E. Lindsay took place ; a marriage to Mary Makin took place ; a marriage to Nancy A. Fordham took place and she came to Rock County ; a marriage to Lavina Cravath took place in Cortland County, New York ; a child, Mary Jane, died in 1839 ; Isaac P. Ferguson removed to Wisconsin and farmed in Johnstown Center ; a man came to Beloit and settled at Shopiere in 1841 ; Judge White moved into the city (1839 or 1840) .

The regionGrade A · 2 independent sources

The evidence

  • “In 1838, after a rigid examination by the Supreme Court of Illinois, he was admitted to the bar of that State, without liaving spent an hour in a law office or having received direction in his studies from any member of the profession. In 1839, he sold his farm in Illinois and removed to Beloit, Wis., where he opened a law office, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession, and enjoyed from the outset the patronage of a large clientage in the counties of Winnebago and Boone, in Illinois, and in Rock, Walworth, Green and Iowa Counties, in the then Territory of Wisconsin. In 1840, he was appointed Postmaster at Beloit, a position he retained some five years.”

    1879-history-of-rock-county/11-rock-county-ch05-press-institutions-tragedy.md, PDF p. 427 / book p. 431

    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

  • “Lewis, of Milan, Ohio, October 15, 1834. In 1839 he located at Beloit in the practice of his profession. In 1846 he was elected a member of the first constitutional convention from the county of Rock, and was elected by that body chairman of the committee on corporations, other than banking and municipal, and became prominent as one of the leading men of the convention.”

    1908-brown-rock-county/32-courts-and-legal-profession.md, Vol. 2, PDF p. 221 / book p. 724

    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

All of 1839 →Know a source for this? Tell us →