The land through time

Beloit

• October 1855 A Beloit-area immigrant removed to Beloit from Rutland, Vt., bought a farm of fifty-six acres and farmed it.
• May 19, 1855 G. W. Walkly came to Wisconsin, locating in Beloit.
• October 1855 B. Crosby engaged in the banking business with the organization of the Rock County Bank.
• November 25, 1855 Water-Witch Engine and Hose Company No. 1 was organized (Beloit); Brown's account also places the Water Witch company's organization in 1855.

Rock County

• 1855 Arrivals and settlements dated only to 1855: James Clark came to Canada from Scotland ; Judge Conger came to Janesville ; a lawyer came to Janesville joining Noggle, Williams & Patterson ; Crosby came to Beloit (Newark? — he came to Wisconsin in 1855) ; Keeler came to Wisconsin locating at Beloit ; a carpenter bought fifty acres in Rock Township ; a tailor settled in Beloit and went into business ; Rosenblatt came to Beloit ; a young man came West about 1855 and learned blacksmithing in Beloit ; Cobb came to Clinton and began manufacturing wagons ; Crandall went to Madison and engaged in buying stock and grain ; a home built in Lima about 1855 ; Freeborn located on his farm ; Fritts removed to Rock Co. and owned the Lima store ; a family removed to Wisconsin settling at La Prairie (240 acres) ; a settler located at La Prairie (ninety acres) ; a settler located at Avon ; Fairfield moved to Bradford and purchased 296 acres ; a Fifeshire man purchased a farm on Rock Prairie ; Cooke and son came to Wisconsin ; Magnolia settler returned from California ; a farm rented from J. Montgomery ; a house in Janesville traded for eighty acres in Magnolia Township ; a settler settled in Porter Township ; a broom-maker came to Janesville ; a lime merchant came to Janesville as a teamster ; Wallace came to Footville and went into the mercantile business ; a man came to Rock Co. about 1855 ; a family settled at Turtleville ; a family settled on the present Beloit-area farm ; a family moved from New York and settled in Dunkirk, Dane county ; Finch family came from England ; Grunhuvd family settled in Plymouth township ; a watchmaker went to Fort Wayne, Ind. ; a blacksmith settled on a farm in Rutland township, Dane county ; a man removed to Orleans county, N. Y., and married ; a man came to Beloit and was employed in the lumber yards ; John Murray came to Janesville ; John P. Watson became a resident of Janesville ; a settler came to Johnstown, locating on Sec. 19 ; a man came to Beloit in 1855 and attended school ; Banks returned for Mrs. Banks ; many laborers came to Beloit, including Patrick Mooney and wife, John Leary and wife, and William Condon ; a man came to Wisconsin locating at La Prairie ; the Hardware firm Lawrence, Strong & Co. dissolved ; Magnus Hanson commenced business for himself ; William S. Morgan began learning carpenter trade at Janesville ; a man entered the employ of a lumber firm ; H. Dickinson settled in Edgerton ; Soverhill settled on his present homestead ; settlers came to Footville ; a man came to Wisconsin in 1855 ; a family settled at Footville ; a homestead built in Magnolia ; a homestead built in Magnolia Township .
• Spring 1855 A family came West, locating in the town of Union, Rock county.
• 1855 Mr. [Pease] helped organize the Rock County bank organized as a state bank in 1855.
• 1855 Banks organized in 1855: the Janesville City bank and Rock County bank ; Wadsworth, Clark & Co. ; a State Bank, of which a Janesville man was cashier ; W. Smith engaged in banking ; and bodies buried in the old cemetery block were reburied in Oak Hill and Mt. Olivet in 1855–56 .

The region

• January 22, 1855 Mr. Crane executed a deed to Samuel B. Cooper covering Lots 6 and 7.
• 1855 Erastus and Theodore Hopkins bought the water right and erected a sawmill.
• April 23, 1855 Demmon conveyed Lots 6 and 7 to Paul Dillingham.
• August 1855 A meeting was held in the log meeting house near the residence of A. K. [Hatlestad].

Nation and world

• 1855 An act gave the Milwaukee & Mississippi Company authority to continue their Milton & Janesville branch to the Mississippi River.
• February 24, 1855 An act of congress formed the Fond du Lac land district.
• Summer 1855 A house of worship was erected (dedicated September 15).
• August 8, 1855 A dispensation was granted to establish a Masonic Lodge at Indian Ford (Fulton Center).