Chapter 4 · Being written
the Blodgetts
This chapter is still being researched and written. While it is, here is what the record already holds for 1836–1843.
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On the land and in Beloit
- 1836Black Hawk and his braves forded the Catfish River on the site of what is now the village of Indian Ford.The propertyGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1836The emerging settlement combined American agricultural colonization with commercial use of Turtle Creek.The propertyGrade B · 1 independent source
- 1836Meacham came to Beloit, looking for a more expanded field of effort.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1836Turtle was settled by Wm. Smith, Horace Rice and Hudson Case, who by mutual agreement claimed Cross's Grove.The propertyGrade A · 1 independent source
- March 1836Robert A. Kinzie purchased at government entry all the lands within the limits of the town of Kushkanong.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- March 9, 1836Judge William Holmes and family arrived in the Rock River valley; they stopped at Thibault's cabin at Beloit — the first recorded visit of white women.The propertyGrade A · 1 independent source
- Spring 1836The first land in the Rock/Fulton area was broken and cropped with buckwheat by John Inman, producing a fair yield.The propertyGrade A · 1 independent source
- May 1836Caleb Blodgett came exploring the site of present Beloit and returned in June; he found Thibault living there with two wives.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- June 1836Blodgett returned to the Turtle Creek site and, according to the same county history, spent the summer and fall of 1836 breaking land for a farm and preparing for his family.The propertyPublished on the researcher's review
- Summer 1836Dr. Heath located and built on the south side of the river, opposite Wisconsin City.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- September 9, 1836Governor Dodge issued a proclamation apportioning council and house members among the counties, directing an election for the second Monday of October and requiring members to convene at Belmont on October 25.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- Fall 1836Erastus Giles came from Roscoe, Illinois, to Rock County and helped raise the first house put up in Beloit; he is registered as settling in Turtle in October 1836.BeloitGrade A · 2 independent sources
- October 5, 1836Levi St. John arrived with his family at Rock River and went into a log house with his brother.The propertyGrade A · 1 independent source
- December 1836Caleb Blodgett returned to Beloit accompanied by his wife Phoebe Kidder, sons Nelson and Daniel, son-in-law John Hackett, and daughter-in-law Mahaila Norris with her son; the Blodgett house was finished and occupied. One passage dates Blodgett's $200 purchase of Thibault's claim to December 1836, while another places that purchase early in 1836.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- December 1836Caleb Blodgett returned to the Turtle Creek site with his wife, sons Nelson and Daniel, and son-in-law John Hackett. The county history states that he bought Thibault’s claims on the east side of the Rock River, described as the “three looks,” for $200, and that Indians still on the west side helped him build a two-room log cabin near the east bank.The propertyPublished on the researcher's review
- December 1836Robert A. Kinzie made a deed of the Kushkanong town site to James L. Thompson in trust.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1837Caleb Blodgett erected a house of boards, the product of Goodhue's mill — the beginning of the Rock River house.The propertyGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1837Blodgett purchased the Meeker claim and soon built a saw mill; the first importation was a distillery.The propertyGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1837Dr. White bought of Blodgett four-twelfths of the claim in behalf of "The New England Company," paying three thousand dollars.The propertyGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1837The first large building in Beloit, a temporary lodging and boarding house, was made for the men building Blodgett's mill.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1837Goodhue bought of Blodgett a share of the claim for two thousand dollars; the 1856 history says three-twelfths and the 1879 history one-fourth — both readings are reported.The propertyGrade A · 1 independent source
- January 1837Caleb Blodgett persuaded a family—the Chauncey Tuttles with four sons—to come from Meacham's Grove to Beloit.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- Spring 1837Water was let into the mill race of the Blodgett–Goodhue saw mill.The propertyGrade A · 1 independent source
- Spring 1837Thibault sold his twelve-by-sixteen log cabin to Messrs. Crane and Bicknell and removed with his family to Lake Koshkonong.The propertyGrade A · 1 independent source
- Spring 1837The narrator's father returned from Pennsylvania to make improvements on his claims near Beloit.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- April 15, 1837The first boards were sawed by the mill begun by Blodgett and completed with Goodhue.The propertyGrade A · 1 independent source
- July 1837D. D. Egery came to Beloit (with the New England Company) and settled in Turtle.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- Summer 1837From the summer of 1837 the Beloit settlement filled up rapidly; the New England Company sent out a number of new settlers.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source