The first store in the village of Footville was opened by John D. Chambers, and the first birth on the village site occurred in the Hohensheldt family.

The evidence

• “The first store in the village was opened in 1845, by John D. Chambers, who did a thriving business.”

  1879-history-of-rock-county/16-rock-county-ch10-villages.md, PDF p. 689

  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

  

• “The first store was opened by John D. Chambers in 1845 ; the first postoffice was established in 1849 ; and one of the first doctors was a Swede named Smedt. The church has always been represented here, the Methodists establishing a circuit in 1847, and about the year 1860 the Congregationalists established a church.”

  1908-brown-rock-county/31-smaller-cities-villages-towns.md, Vol. 2, PDF p. 162 / book p. 669

  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 · may repeat 1879-history-of-rock-county, so not counted as independent