The land through time

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.
• July 1835 Joseph Thibault came to the Beloit site and built the first building there, a log cabin.
• 1835 Thiebault claimed ownership of a vast tract of land extending "three looks" in every direction from his cabin.

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.
• July 19, 1835 John Inman and William Holmes visited the present site of Beloit, finding no human habitation there.
• December 26, 1835 A survey contract was made with Robert T. Lytle for subdivisions west of the river.

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.
• 1835 D. Butts broke the first sod in Rock County, in Fulton Township.
• 1835 Virgil Pope settled in Rock County.
• November 15, 1835 A man arrived in Rock County and on November 16 made his selections of land.

The region

• February 9, 1835 The lands of the Fort Winnebago reservation were set apart by order of the president.
• October 1835 A company consisting of John Inman, George Follmer, William Holmes, Jr. and Joshua Holmes started from Milwaukee, accompanied by Milo Jones, who soon left for Fort Atkinson and made a claim there.
• November 15, 1835 John Inman, Thomas Holmes, William Holmes, Joshua Holmes, George Follmer and Milo Jones started from Milwaukee with an ox team and wagon; another passage names the party as John Inman, George Follner, William Holmes, Jr., and Joshua Holmes.
• 1835 Nathan Allyne made a claim on section 35, broke several acres, and raised crops without fence, except dogs.

Nation and world

• October 1835 George W. Jones was elected a delegate for Michigan Territory.
• May 11, 1835 The constitutional convention met at Detroit.
• 1835 Michigan assumed a State Government.
• Summer 1835 George Goodhue and his uncle Tyler H. Moore came west by lake to Chicago and purchased the site of the Tremont House.

The property

• 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.
• December 1836 Caleb 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.
• December 1836 Caleb 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.

Beloit

• 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.
• 1836 The New England Emigrating Company acquired land connected with the future Beloit settlement, and the organization’s arrival was identified by local historical sources as a decisive stage in the community’s growth.
• May 1836 Caleb Blodgett came exploring the site of present Beloit and returned in June; he found Thibault living there with two wives.
• Fall 1836 William Lawrence of northern Pennsylvania visited Wisconsin on a tour of observation and purchased two claims near Beloit from Caleb Blodget; his son George W. Lawrence came and purchased claims near Beloit the same fall (the family came out in 1838).

Rock County

• 1836 A Mr. William [—] emigrated to Rock County and located on 237 acres in Sec. 33, being one of the earliest settlers.
• Spring 1836 Benjamin F. [—] and Tacey A. came to Rock County and settled in Harmony Township (Rock Prairie).
• 1836 Norwegians settled in Rock County, forming early a nucleus in Luther Valley in the town of Newark.
• Spring 1836 The first land in the Rock/Fulton area was broken and cropped with buckwheat by John Inman, producing a fair yield.

The region

• 1836 Black Hawk and his braves forded the Catfish River on the site of what is now the village of Indian Ford.
• November 29, 1836 Edward Shepard sold interests in certain tracts [of Wisconsin City] to Peter Cannon for $10,000.
• 1836 Carramana, containing fifty platted blocks, was laid out at the junction of the Rock and Catfish rivers by James D. Doty, Alfred Orendorf, John Bannister and Morgan L. Martin, earlier than April 20, 1836, when Martin conveyed a half interest to Solomon Juneau.
• 1836 Just the body of a house was put up in 1836 on the Churchill claim [near Fort Atkinson], built by Elias Ogden and Augustine Churchill with only an axe.

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).
• 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.
• April 20, 1836 Congress created Wisconsin Territory by approving the territorial act. The new territory included the southern Wisconsin region that later contained Rock County and Beloit.
• April 30, 1836 President Andrew Jackson commissioned Henry Dodge governor of Wisconsin Territory, and commissioned Charles Dunn chief justice and David Irvin and William C. Frazer associate justices.

The property

• Winter 1837 Tebo/Thibault, the former and earliest proprietor of Beloit, was murdered, by his son Francis and his mother (one of his wives), after a family quarrel over whether to remain and cultivate the land or follow the Indians west of the Mississippi.
• 1837 Caleb Blodgett erected a house of boards, the product of Goodhue's mill — the beginning of the Rock River house.
• Spring 1837 Water was let into the mill race of the Blodgett–Goodhue saw mill.
• 1837 Blodgett purchased the Meeker claim and soon built a saw mill; the first importation was a distillery.

Beloit

• August 1837 The Crosby family came to Rock County, among the first white settlers of Beloit.
• 1837 Other settlers not connected with the New England company appeared in Beloit, among them Walter Warner, Benjamin Cheney, David Noggle, William Jack, Charles M. Messer (surveyor), and Bradford Colley with his widowed sister.
• January 1837 Caleb Blodgett persuaded a family—the Chauncey Tuttles with four sons—to come from Meacham's Grove to Beloit.
• March 1837 Caleb Blodgett set up the first sawmill in Beloit.

Rock County

• April 22, 1837 George H. Williston settled in Harmony Township, Rock County, on Section 17.
• March 1837 Henry G. Spencer removed to Wisconsin, one of the first settlers of Rock County.
• December 7, 1837 By act No. 12, the seat of justice of Rock county was established on the fraction of land on the east side of Rock River, part of the northwest quarter of section 36, town 3 north, range 12 east.
• 1837 The subject of P316's parents settled in Rock County on a tract of land the father improved.

The region

• April 1837 The first settlements were made on the west side of Jefferson Prairie.
• November 11, 1837 Major Charles Johnson and Cyrus Eames started for Burlington, Iowa, to obtain a charter for a seminary, paddling down Rock River in a dug-out with smoked suckers and cornbread for provisions.
• 1837 B. Allyne located on Section 35 — in 1837 or 1838 (both readings reported).
• Spring 1837 Lucius Burnham made a claim on Section 36 (La Prairie).

Nation and world

• February 25, 1837 Mr. Payne sold Newburgh to William B. Lamb for $20,000.
• March 29, 1837 Sales of parts of the village of Newburgh began; between March 29 and August 5, 1837, parts of the village were sold to the amount of $95,200.
• August 5, 1837 The Newburgh sales recorded in the passage ran through this date (see March 29).
• Fall 1837 Maj. Charles Johnson and Cyrus Ames were selected to visit the seat of government to procure a charter incorporating a seminary.

The property

• 1838 The reminiscence's narrator took his first lessons raking and binding wheat in Caleb Blodgett's wheat field near Beloit during the harvest of 1838.
• December 30, 1838 The First Congregational Church of Beloit was organized at a meeting in the Blodgett house.
• Winter 1838 Little was heard of the Thebault family at the foot of Lake Koshkonong until towards spring, and the absence of the head of the Thebault family was noted.

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.
• 1838 Field & Lusk put up a large store on the corner of State and Race streets in Beloit, generally regarded as the first actual store in the village.
• 1838 The Lawrence family all came out and settled in Beloit; another brother, Clark, purchased land on Turtle Creek.
• Fall 1838 Public meetings were held at the Beloit House to choose a better name than Turtle or New Albany, and a committee of three chose the name Beloit.

Rock County

• 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).
• 1838 Silas and Cynthia (Cowan) Hurd settled in Rock County.

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.
• August 13, 1838 A meeting was held at the house of Ansel Dickinson on Rock Prairie to organize a Congregational church; one passage dates it August 13, another August 16.
• 1838 B. Allyne located on Section 35, in 1837 or 1838 (the passages give both readings).
• July 16, 1838 A touring party came upon a little prairie since called Prairie du Lac, and determined to locate there.

Nation and world

• 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.
• 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.
• September 4, 1838 Churchill sold his claim on the prairie to Joseph Goodrich for $125 in goods out of Goodrich's store.
• June 22, 1838 An act of Congress was approved amending the 1830 pre-emption act, designed to prevent speculation in village lots.

Beloit

• July 1839 Merritt Bostwick, of New York, settled in Beloit.
• Fall 1839 John Hopkins came to Beloit and made the first recorded survey of the village of Beloit for Horace White and others.
• 1839 John C. Burr came to Beloit in company with Alfred Field and started a tin shop.
• Fall 1839 The Union school house was built by private subscription at the northeast corner of School and Prospect streets, Beloit.

Rock County

• November 29, 1839 Gisle Sebjerson Hallan became a freeholder in Rock County; on the same date Gooneal G. Doctor (the widow Odegarden) took title to her first land.
• April 1, 1839 The records of Rock County begin; the first meeting of the county commissioners was held.
• February 19, 1839 Rock County was fully organized (a different reading from the February 13 organization act above and the spring organization below).
• March 8, 1839 An act of the Territorial Legislature set off all of Rock County as a separate town named Rock.

The region

• 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.)
• 1839 A post route from Belvidere to Janesville, via Beloit, was established; John Hackett took charge of the new post office.
• Spring 1839 The first public sale of Government lands in the Milwaukee land district was held, bringing into market land east of Rock River and Lake Koshkonong.

Nation and world

• March 9, 1839 Henry Dodge was re-appointed (to territorial office).
• February 28, 1839 An amending act was approved fixing the time for the election of county officers.
• Spring 1839 Followers of Ansten Natesta emigrated on board the "Emelia."
• June 12, 1839 William Wyman located in Bradford on 560 acres.

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.
• 1840 By fall, the Rock Prairie Norwegian settlement was established, consisting of five homesteads: Gravdal, Hallan, Odegarden, Lars Skavlem, and Gullik Halvorsen Blakstad (Skavlem); Gisle Hallan had taken possession of his new home in Sec. 6, Town of Beloit, and Gullick Halvorsen Blackstad (Skavlem) located on Sec. 28 during the spring and summer.
• October 1, 1840 Benjamin Brown arrived in Beloit with his wife (married May 14, 1840) and her daughter Lucy; the 1908 history also says his father first came to Beloit in 1840 and that Brown arrived in October.

Rock County

• September 1840 The parents of Paul M. Green came to Rock Co. and purchased 120 acres on Sections 4 and 5 (Milton).
• 1840 Easton and Gusta Johnson arrived in Rock county and settled in Avon township.
• Fall 1840 A church and parsonage were erected on a lot at the southwest corner of Section 36, known as the First Congregational Church of Rock County, at a cost of about $500.
• Spring 1840 Jacob West and John T. Baker came to the Evansville area; the 1879 history says Jacob West removed with his family to Rock Co. in 1840 and settled in Union Township in the fall of 1840 — the sources differ on the season.

The region

• 1840 The lands in Rock and Jefferson Counties came into market; the sale was at Milwaukee; settlers could first obtain title to the land that year.
• Summer 1840 An organized school was set up in the shanty first occupied by the Ogdens.
• 1840 Rock County members served in the Fourth (extra) Session of the Second Legislative Assembly (James Maxwell, Edward V. Whiton, John Hackett, Hugh Long).
• 1840 General Atkinson, with two and a half regiments of United States soldiers, forcibly moved 4,500 Winnebagoes to the west side of the Mississippi; from 1840 to 1848 six companies of soldiers were kept in Wisconsin.

Nation and world

• August 5, 1840 James D. Doty was re-elected Territorial delegate.
• 1840 A young lawyer purchased the Cortland "County Whig," a weekly newspaper, during the presidential contest between Harrison and Van Buren.
• 1840 The town received a large accession to its population by the arrival of a colony from Cortland, N.Y.
• 1840 The legislature's memorial to congress represented that the people were anxious to establish a common-school system; many schools were poorly organized for lack of funds.

Beloit

• October 1841 A settler came to Beloit, which then had about three hundred inhabitants, all on the east side of the river.
• April 4, 1841 A settler arrived in Beloit on a Sunday morning, having walked from Racine in the spring of 1841.
• 1841 A Beloit settler went to Michigan in 1841 and then came to Wisconsin, locating at Beloit.
• 1841 Mr. Willard was in Beloit, living for a time in the house of Samuel B. Cooper.

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.
• Spring 1841 W. Wood came to Rock County, locating in Harmony, Sec. 1.
• 1841 A family came to Rock Co. and settled on 240 acres in Clinton and 120 acres in Turtle.

The region

• 1841 The Government sent a military detachment to enforce the removal of the Rock River Winnebagoes beyond the Mississippi.
• October 22, 1841 Quarter-section entries were recorded for Margaret Oles Dater (Mrs. Gullik Springen) and Erek Gulbeitson.
• July 12, 1841 A quarter-section entry was recorded for Geesley Saberson Hollen.
• October 7, 1841 A quarter-section entry was recorded for Gubrand Oleson.

Nation and world

• 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.
• January 25, 1841 Dunn was commissioned as secretary of the Territory in place of William B. Slaughter.
• December 7, 1841 Henry Dodge took his seat in Congress for the first time.
• September 4, 1841 Congress approved the pre-emption law.

Beloit

• Summer 1842 The central bridge at Beloit (a toll bridge built by a private company, a timber trestle structure framed by John P. Houston) was built over Rock River; it was later given to the village in 1844.
• February 17, 1842 The town of Beloit was constituted by an act of the territorial legislature.
• July 6, 1842 The corner stone of the "old stone church" (Congregational) was laid at the northwest corner of Broad and Prospect streets, Beloit; the edifice was erected in 1842 (built in 1842 and 1843).
• February 17, 1842 The Territorial Legislature passed an act, approved February 17, authorizing Selvy Kidder, A. L. [and others; the passage is truncated] regarding the wants of the residents of Beloit.

Rock County

• Fall 1842 A house of worship was constructed on the northeast quarter of section 35, town of Milton, and the congregation became known as the First Congregational Church of Rock County.
• July 1842 Adrien Bassett and Annie Gates came to Rock County.
• February 17, 1842 The town of Rock was organized into a separate town.
• April 5, 1842 Rock township held its first town election — the passages disagree on the date: April 5, 1842 or April 15, 1842 , when Dr. Heath was elected supervisor.

The region

• February 19, 1842 Goelick (Goelicke) Holt (Gravdal) was registered as the purchaser of land.
• September 26, 1842 Land was registered to Ole Newhouse (several parcels) and Kittel Newhouse.
• September 29, 1842 Land was registered to Abram Hobartson (Herbrand Halvorson Skavlem).
• November 25, 1842 Ole Knudson (Natesta) took title to his land.

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).
• November 9, 1842 Sleighing began, continuing until April 10, 1843.
• September 1842 Rev. Milton Bourne's pastorate (Sept. 1840 to 1842) ended and Rev. Alpha Warren's (Sept. 1842 to 1843) began.

Beloit

• May 15, 1843 The Moseley family reached Beloit.
• 1843 The Winslow family came to Beloit.
• May 1843 Benjamin Brown joined the Congregational church in Beloit.
• July 3, 1843 Rev. Mr. Winchell was secured to preach each alternate week (Beloit).

Rock County

• 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.
• 1843 The subject's father moved to Rock county and settled on land his father had purchased.
• 1843 E. Bowerman came to Wisconsin and settled in Fulton Township, Rock Co.
• 1843 The Gaarder family immigrated from Norway and settled in Rock county (Plymouth Township), making the journey from Milwaukee with ox teams.

The region

• 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.
• 1843 The log schoolhouse at the "big ford" of Rock river was used until 1843, when another log house was occupied by the school.
• 1843 Surveyor Willard Barrows noted Black Hawk's wigwam and grave while surveying.
• 1843 Thomas Quigley located and claimed sixty acres where the railroad depot later stood.

Nation and world

• December 4, 1843 Henry Dodge took his seat for his second term as delegate at the commencement of the first session of the twenty-eighth Congress.
• August 12, 1843 The Clinton post office was established. Passages disagree on the first postmaster: William Stewart versus Stephen Perley .
• March 21, 1843 The town of Fulton was organized by act of the legislature.
• March 21, 1843 The township of Johnstown was organized by act of the legislature.

Beloit

• 1844 John Chamberlin and family came to Beloit; he took up 160 acres in Sec. 8 and built a log cabin.
• 1844 Bennett Wooster came to Beloit and began farming about three miles east.
• April 1844 A settler built and moved to the west side of Rock river at Beloit, the second residence there.
• 1844 First brick block erected on Main street (Beloit).

Rock County

• 1844 The Flagler family moved to Rock county and settled on a quarter-section in section 12, Janesville township.
• 1844 The Cleophas Holverson family moved from Dane county to Rock county, settling on forty acres in Newark township.
• May 1, 1844 A settler came to Rock County (Milton Junction).
• 1844 A man came West and settled in La Prairie township, Rock county.

The region

• 1844 The red frame schoolhouse of the joint districts of Rock and La Prairie was erected.
• Winter 1844 Julius Gilbert and Francis Smith "shantied" on the s. e. qr. of section 34; they were young men and single.
• 1844 H. Caldwell purchased 80 acres on Sec. 3, Range 12 north.
• 1844 John Cook sold out to John Shepard, who commenced erecting a grist-mill.

Nation and world

• 1844 A township was settled.
• June 21, 1844 Nathaniel P. Tallmadge was appointed.
• 1844 A church edifice was erected (later rebuilt in 1874).
• June 1844 A convention of Northwestern ministers and churches at Cleveland, Ohio, shaped plans for higher education; the idea of Beloit College originated with ministers returning from a clerical convention held at Cleveland.

Beloit

• September 1845 A tavern-keeper came to Beloit and bought eighty acres of land in Section 4, building a log house.
• 1845 The first bridge across Rock River at Indian Ford was built by private subscription, Stephen Allen, builder.
• January 1, 1845 A merchant (a Buffalo former resident) came to Beloit and commenced business as a merchant.
• 1845 A large brick house was built in Beloit, with a conspicuous front portico supported by four tall Corinthian columns.

Rock County

• 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 .
• Spring 1845 A Norwegian family (Keesey) came to the United States and purchased and settled on a farm in Rock County.
• October 1845 A Freeborn came to Wisconsin and wintered in Cooksville, Rock County.
• Spring 1845 Guy Stoughton contracted with Mr. Hanchett to build a dam at the foot of Lake Koshkonong; the dam was completed during that year and a saw-mill built.

The region

• February 24, 1845 Prior to this date Rock and Walworth counties constituted one election district; the territorial legislature of 1845 passed an act dividing the district and constituting Rock County an election district.
• 1845 Charles C. Cheney, Henry Chesebro (Cheesebro), William Loyd, Adelmon Sherman and Ephraim Leach, Jr., made their land purchases (in 1844 and 1845).
• 1845 The first church organization on Rock Prairie was made by Diedrichson; Lars H. Skavlem was one of its members.
• 1845 Prevost was appointed marshal of the Territory in place of Daniel Hugunin.

Nation and world

• 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.
• July 6, 1845 The First Congregational Church at Johnstown Village was organized by Rev. Stephen Peet.
• 1845 Other events outside Rock County dated 1845: admission to the bar of Orange Co., Vt. (spring term) ; admission to practice in New York ; graduation from Hamilton College ; admission to the Supreme court of New York at Utica, July 18, 1845 ; fall of 1845 entering the law office of Judge Charles M. Baker at Geneva ; David R. Platts's family settled in Green Lake county ; a father returned to his native state, married, and brought his bride to Milton township ; a family's removal in 1845 ; removal to Manchester, N. H. ; the Wisconsin lawyer moved to Indiana in 1845 ; increase of the father to Wisconsin since 1845 ; the editor of the 1908 history was born in Beloit in 1845 ; Caswell's canoe trip on Lake Koshkonong in the fall of 1845 ; Milwaukee grain exports commenced in 1845, amounting to 213,448 bushels ; lead production attained its maximum in 1845, nearly 25,000 tons ; land sales 1835–1845 inclusive totaled 2,958,592 acres ; the wheat crop of 1845 commenced the blight ; the founder of the Milwaukee female college died May 29, 1845 ; Uriah Goodrich died September 2, 1845 ; Lewis Cass was in 1845 the Democratic nominee for president ; parts of the "pretentious city" (Milwaukee townsite area) were sold for taxes in 1845 ; since 1845 the townsite has been sold as farming lands ; the state constitutional convention delegates assembled 1845-47-48 ; Grant farm sold in 1845 ; and the first saw-mill lumbering operations on the Oconto were begun by David Jones ; moose tracks seen on the Montreal river in the summer of 1845 ; an epidemic malarial fever of a bilious type visited in 1844 and 1845 .
• April 1, 1845 The first town election of Lima was held at the schoolhouse in District No. 9; Prosper Cravath was made chairman of supervisors.