The chronology
The land through time
Every documented event, from the property outward: Beloit, Rock County, the region and the world. Each one links to the page of the source that records it. The record so far covers 1820–1864; more years are being added.
The 1820s
The property
Beloit
The region
- Summer 1823 Summer 1823 — Squatters began taking possession of the rich land occupied by the Sacs toward the mouth of Rock river.
- 1825 The Winnebagoes' territorial claim was extensive, its southeast boundary stretching from the source of Rock river to within forty miles of its mouth, where they had a village.
- 1820 The Winnebagoes had five villages on Winnebago lake and fourteen on Rock river.
- July 29, 1829 A treaty was made at Prairie du Chien with the Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawattamies. Three passages date it July 29 ; P6 instead dates the Prairie du Chien treaty at which the country to the south was ceded as July 19, 1829. The cession is described two ways: P5 says these nations ceded all lands they claimed in the northwestern part of Illinois; P53 says they ceded to the United States all their land south of the Wisconsin river and covered by the Sac and Fox cession of 1804, including the lead regions and the whole of the present county.
Nation and world
- 1822 The Sacs and Foxes concluded a treaty with the United States by which they relinquished their right to have the United States establish a trading house or factory, and were paid one thousand dollars in merchandise.
- May 2, 1824 Congress granted quarter sections of land to counties for seats of justice / county buildings; the two passages give different approval dates.
- March 1823 March 3, 1823 — An act of congress was approved authorizing the electors of the Territory of Michigan to choose eighteen by ballot at the next election of the delegate for that territory.
- January 29, 1827 An act of congress was approved authorizing the electors of the territory to elect the members of the legislative council, without submitting names to the president for appointment.
The 1830s
The property
- 1835 William Yost came to Wisconsin and purchased a tract of land in sections 11 and 12, Beloit township.
- 1835 Caleb Blodgett made his first visit to the Beloit site, found the Frenchman Thiebeau there, and quieted his claim for $250; one passage dates the purchase to 1835 and '6, and Blodgett is described as temporarily located with his family in a log cabin at Meacham's in 1835.
- 1836 Caleb Blodgett came to Beloit (early in 1836) and bought Thiebault's claim for $200 — the log cabin becoming the settlers' first abode; the purchase is also dated December 1836 in another passage (see December above).
- May 1836 Caleb Blodgett purchased the claim associated with Joseph Thibault at the future Beloit site. The transaction marked the documented transfer of the location from a French-associated fur-trade claimant to an American settler.
Beloit
- 1835 The first step toward settlement of the town of Beloit was made; the first settlement in that township was made within what is now the corporate limits of Beloit City, and John Inman, the Holmes family and others settled there.
- Fall 1836 Erastus 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.
- August 1837 The Crosby family came to Rock County, among the first white settlers of Beloit.
- Spring 1838 S. G. Colley came to Beloit and made a claim of 320 acres in Sec. 21, Range 13, building a little frame house in which eleven lived the first winter.
Rock County
- December 1835 Latter part of December 1835 — Samuel St. John and family (including the first white woman settler in Rock County) arrived after the Inman-Holmes party had made the first settlement.
- 1838 Ezra and Matilda (Taft) came to Rock County and settled on Section 2.
- July 15, 1838 James P. Pierce came to Wisconsin and settled in Rock County, his first purchase being eighty acres from the Government on Section 3 of Harmony.
- November 16, 1838 Henry B. and Lucinda Crandall came to Rock County and located on Section 28 [in Milton], claiming 240 acres (a related passage gives 320 acres in all).
The region
- November 26, 1838 R. P. Crane, acting for the Beloit settlers, entered at the Milwaukee land office under his pre-emption claim Lots 6 and 7 in Section 35, Town 1, Range 12 east (78.57 acres), then deeded the lots back to the original owners.
- Spring 1830 Black Hawk and his band, returning from an unsuccessful winter's hunt, found their town demolished and the site ploughed up; the passage states that during the preceding winter, squatters after seven years of illegal occupancy had preempted several quarter sections at the mouth of the Rock covering the village site and the Sac corn fields.
- 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) .
- February 13, 1839 The Territorial Legislature approved the act organizing Rock County. (Other passages date the county's full organization to February 19, 1839, and to the spring of 1839 — see those entries.)
Nation and world
- June 15, 1836 Congress passed an act accepting, ratifying and confirming Michigan's constitution and state government, and an act creating the Milwaukee land district (which included present Rock County).
- June 18, 1838 Congress approved a land grant (the odd-numbered sections on a belt ten miles wide from Lake Michigan to Rock River, 139,190 acres) to aid construction of the Milwaukee–Rock River canal.
- Summer 1836 Col. James M. Burgess made the first claim in Lima, on Section 17; he and a partner stayed through the season, made improvements, then returned East.
- June 16, 1838 A treaty with the Winnebagoes, concluded at Washington City, was proclaimed, by which the Winnebago Nation ceded all their land east of the Mississippi River.
The 1840s
Beloit
- 1840 The Hanchett family came to Beloit, bought forty acres in Sec. 34, and Mr. Hanchett built the dam across Rock River at Beloit.
- August 7, 1840 Caleb Blodgett, the first white settler at Beloit, died.
- 1844 John Chamberlin and family came to Beloit; he took up 160 acres in Sec. 8 and built a log cabin.
- 1849 Benjamin Willford came to Beloit and bought 109 acres in Section 17.
Rock County
- September 1841 Silas and Cynthia Hurd arrived in Rock county, settling in a log cabin on the Rock river east of Indian Ford.
- Fall 1841 Rollin Thorpe came to Rock County and purchased 160 acres in Sec. 11, Town 4, Range 13.
- November 1843 James Sowle came to Rock County and settled on Sec. 26, purchasing 240 acres; the land was deeded to him from the Probate Court in the fall of 1843.
- 1845 Arrivals and settlements in Rock County recorded without more precise dates: A. Wyatt Smith removed to Janesville ; Capt. William Macloon came from Boston and settled at Janesville ; A. M. Simmons (father) settled in Harmony about 1845 ; a Beloit lawyer removed to Beloit ; Ezra Philo Doty came to Janesville ; a Walworth lawyer came to Wisconsin and located at Janesville ; a New York farmer bought a farm at Beloit ; a Connecticut man took up eighty acres in Sec. 18 at Beloit ; the Millett family located in Beloit ; Hans and Bargitt Halverson's family came to Newark, buying land in Section 12 ; a Durham Co. settler located in Newark, buying and improving two farms ; the Case family moved to Clinton and settled on 160 acres ; L. Burdick's neighbors ; a Rhode Island man located in the town of Lima ; Abram Caufman emigrated to Center ; an 1837-born resident came to Wisconsin ; E. Footville-resident moved to what is now Footville ; a settler located on his present homestead in Center ; families emigrated to Wisconsin ; a Bennett came to Wisconsin and taught school in Union ; Leonard Bullard's family settled in Union Township ; a Hancock Co., Me., man located in Union Township ; the Hubbard family settled on land entered in 1840 in Union Township ; a Cortland Co. man located in Union Township ; a settler bought 200 acres and built one of the first log houses in Plymouth Township ; Jacob Fisher came to Plymouth Township about 1845 ; a Steuben Co. man located at Darien ; a New York man came to Wisconsin locating at Johnstown ; a Scotland-born man came to America in 1845 and settled on a farm in Harmony ; A. Douglas entered forty acres of land settled in 1843 ; Johnstown settlers from New York located there, purchasing farms [B156]; G. came to Rock County and bought a farm of forty acres of government land ; M. Wilcox located and bought 100 acres in Harmony ; the Miller family came to Harmony Township, buying 240 acres ; families from Ohio settled in Milton township ; a father settled on a 1,000-acre farm in Lima township ; the Marquart family moved from Ohio and settled in Wisconsin ; an Irish couple (Clinchy) came to Wisconsin and bought a farm northwest of Beloit ; a family settled in Milton township ; Thomas bought eighty acres in section 6, Bradford township ; the Moore family located near Milwaukee ; the Bradley family settled on a farm in Turtle township ; Mr. Fifield's brothers later joined his lumber business ; a resident came to Janesville prior to January 1845 and served as probate judge for Rock County in 1845 and 1846 ; Carpenter engaged in general merchandising in Beloit .
The region
- 1841 The Government sent a military detachment to enforce the removal of the Rock River Winnebagoes beyond the Mississippi.
- April 12, 1843 An act was approved appointing commissioners to alter the Beloit–Madison road and lay out roads from Janesville to Ellis's Mill and to Mineral Point.
- February 21, 1848 The territorial legislature approved an act authorizing A. Hyatt Smith, Ira Miltimore and associates to erect a dam across Rock river.
- 1843 The log schoolhouse at the "big ford" of Rock river was used until 1843, when another log house was occupied by the school.
Nation and world
- May 9, 1842 The government patent was issued to Mr. Crane for lots 6 and 7 (he had entered them in 1838 and had reconveyed them to the parties in interest before receiving the patent).
- September 13, 1841 President Tyler appointed James Duane Doty governor of the Territory in place of Dodge; another passage gives the appointment date as September 30, 1841.
- April 8, 1845 Henry Dodge was appointed governor of Wisconsin Territory; the 1908 history gives his term as beginning May 13, 1845, a discrepancy with the April 8 date.
- August 5, 1840 James D. Doty was re-elected Territorial delegate.
The 1850s
The property
Beloit
- 1850 The Fletcher family (William D. and Mary C.) settled at Beloit.
- 1853 The Henry Knile family came to Beloit in 1853 and bought the east half of Sec. 29.
- 1856 A Connecticut-born settler came to Beloit and bought Henry Waterman's property.
- 1859 A settler came to Beloit and bought eighty acres in Sec. 8, with improvements.
Rock County
- April 6, 1856 A family arrived in Rock County and settled on land purchased from Benjamin Riddle.
- 1858 Arrivals and settlements in the county: Fisher moved to Rock Co.; a settler located in the township of Janesville; a Norwegian bought 300 acres in Beloit; Goodwin went to Moline; Hamelin came to Beloit; Kehoe came to Rockford, Ill.; Ledell returned from Norway; a family settled in Rock County (Lima Center); a Prussian came to America, locating at Milwaukee; a family settled in Rock Township; a family came to Wisconsin settling in Rock County; a family settled on a farm (Sec. 2) in Rock Co.; a family located in Porter; the T. Fisher family came to Wisconsin; a family came to Wisconsin (Brodhead area); the Weirick family settled at Shopiere; the Hutchinson family moved to Janesville; a family came to Rock County settling at Beloit; a Scottish father settled in Harmony township; the Gould family settled in Lima township; a Paning family located in Janesville Township; the West postmastership ended (1855–1858); a family moved to Porter (1857 or 1858).
- 1853 The Synstegard parents came from Norway about 1853, walked from Milwaukee to Rock county, and bought 220 acres in Avon township.
- Fall 1853 Mr. Rogers came to Rock Co. in the fall of 1853 and settled on Section 33.
The region
- April 17, 1852 A law was approved granting Peter Myers the right to maintain a building in Rock river.
- October 1856 Property came into the possession of James H. Hanchett (held until 1863).
- December 1857 The secretary of war's agent sold the remainder of the reservation to claimants of lands on the west side, and the section in Wisconsin known as the Cattle Yard, amounting to 177 acres.
- 1853 George Crossman purchased eighty acres (Sec. 34) in 1853.
Nation and world
- March 31, 1856 An act incorporating the city of Beloit was approved (chapter 452, private and local laws of 1856); the 1879 history dates the legislature's passage of the act to March 1856.
- 1852 The Beloit and Mississippi Railroad Company was chartered in 1852, with a capital of three millions of dollars.
- 1850 The Madison & Beloit Railroad Company was authorized by an act of the legislature to extend its road and its name was changed to the Rock River Valley Union Railroad Company.
- October 3, 1856 An act of the legislature granted the unsold congress-granted lands, through the Fox and Wisconsin Improvement company, to trustees.
The 1860s
Beloit
- April 5, 1860 First issue of the consolidated Journal and Courier appeared.
- December 1860 C. Mann bought out Bristol and started the "Rock County Republican."
- January 1, 1860 The Beloit Herald's name was changed to the Beloit Courier, and the firm became Perkins & Smith (P10 says "about January 1"; P208 says "on January 1").
- October 7, 1860 Edward Franklin Hansen was born at Beloit.
Rock County
- March 8, 1860 The Milton Anti-Horse-Thief Association was organized (P217 says "Early in 1860").
- October 20, 1860 Mr. Gray retired from the Rock Qovnty Badger and was succeeded by Gen.
- September 1860 The "Janesville Democrat" weekly was started.
- December 1860 The "Janesville Democrat" was changed to the "Rock County Republican."
Nation and world
- November 6, 1860 A sheriff took office (listed as Alden, November 6, 1860).