The chronology
1838
161 published events.
Overview
In Beloit, 1838 saw new settlers arrive and the young village take institutional shape. S. G. Colley claimed land in the spring; the Colley family, Mrs. Atwood and her daughter arrived in June; and K. Blodgett, G. A. Houston, Donald Bennett, Theodore Kendall, the Lawrence family and others came during the year. Lucian Dwight Mears was born in March, the first male child born in Beloit, and Selvey K. Blodgett, Jr. followed in June. In the fall, public meetings at the Beloit House chose the name Beloit over Turtle or New Albany, the first election was held with Horace Hobart elected Justice of the Peace, and Field & Lusk opened a store regarded as the first in the village. A horseback mail once a week to Belvidere provided the first postal facilities, with John Hackett as first Postmaster, and in late December the First Congregational Church of Beloit was organized at a meeting in the Blodgett house. ↗ ↗ ↗ ↗ ↗ (+11 more)
In Rock County and the surrounding region, the year brought formal government, land transactions and Norwegian settlement. In January the legislature set off the county as the town of Rock with polls at Henry F. Janes's house, and a railroad line from Racine to Janesville was authorized. Joseph Goodrich purchased a claim on Sections 26 and 27 in Milton, erected a house and dug a well, founding that village. Other settlers located in the towns of Rock, Fulton, La Prairie, Milton, Harmony, Turtle and Bradford, and in November R. P. Crane entered two lots at the Milwaukee land office for the Beloit settlers and deeded them back to the original owners. Hiram Brown taught the first school in Janesville during the winter, and a settler was hired to teach the first school in the town of Turtle in the spring. ↗ ↗ ↗ ↗ ↗ (+12 more)
At the territorial and national level, the legislature of the Territory of Wisconsin met at Burlington in January and Madison in November, the Territory of Iowa was set off by act of Congress in June, and a treaty with the Winnebagoes and a cession by the Oneida Indians were concluded. Congress granted lands to aid the Milwaukee–Rock River canal and amended the pre-emption act. Black Hawk died on his reservation in Iowa in October. Elsewhere, people later connected to Rock County were born, married and moved; some accounts record illness, including scarlet fever, ague, and quick consumption that killed Jane Bowers, aged fourteen, the first death in Milton, and Amos Lawrence died at Beloit in August. ↗ ↗ ↗ ↗ ↗ (+10 more)
Month by month
- Winter 1838Little 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.The propertyGrade A · 1 independent source
- January 1838The Council and House of Representatives of the Territory authorized a railroad line from Racine to Janesville.The regionGrade A · 1 independent source
- January 1838Griswold Weaver took the first load of grain (buckwheat and corn) from the town to a mill on the Piskasaw River below Belvidere, Illinois; the miller returned the toll instead of the grist.The regionGrade A · 1 independent source
- Winter 1838Prayer-meetings were held [in Clinton]; during the same period Deacon Abel F. Lewis, while visiting his brother, held the first Baptist meeting there.Nation and worldGrade A · 1 independent source
- Winter 1838Hiram Brown taught a few children in a log schoolhouse in the southeast part of Janesville, the first school in Janesville (the Janesville school itself is dated to 1838 by other passages).Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- Winter 1838Hiram Brown taught a few children in a log schoolhouse in the southeast part of Janesville — the first school in Janesville.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- January 2, 1838By act of the territorial legislature, the country within the boundary lines of Rock County was set off as a separate town named Rock, with election polls to be opened at the house of Henry F. Janes in Janesville.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- January 5, 1838The Milwaukee and Rock River Canal Company was incorporated by an act of the territorial legislature.The regionGrade A · 1 independent source
- January 8, 1838A territorial road from Racine to Janesville was established by act.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- January 12, 1838An act abolished imprisonment for debt and repealed all laws against the body.Nation and worldGrade A · 1 independent source
- January 15, 1838Act No. 42, approved this date, authorized H. F. [text breaks off in the passage].Nation and worldGrade A · 1 independent source
- January 19, 1838An act was approved establishing "The University of the Territory of Wisconsin" at or near Madison.The regionGrade A · 1 independent source
- January 20, 1838Both houses of the legislature adjourned (the session at Burlington ended) until the second Monday of June.Nation and worldGrade A · 1 independent source
- February 3, 1838The Oneida (New York) Indians, near Green Bay, ceded to the United States their title and interest in land set apart by earlier Menomonee treaties, reserving about 62,000 acres.The regionGrade A · 1 independent source
- March 1838A land sale occurred, for which one man represented the many interests.The regionGrade A · 1 independent source
- March 8, 1838"Rock" is listed with this date in a table of towns.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- March 29, 1838Lucian (Lucien) Dwight Mears was born, the first male child born in the town of Beloit.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- Spring 1838S. 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.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- Spring 1838A settler came to Wisconsin and bought forty acres of government land in Section 1, Beloit Township, then returned East.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- Spring 1838M. Messer moved into the village of Beloit and worked as carpenter, joiner and land surveyor.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- Spring 1838A resident living two miles up the river from Janesville was summoned by the U.S. marshal for the first circuit court held in the county.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- Spring 1838A settler was hired to teach the first school in the town of Turtle.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- Spring 1838A family built the first log house [in the town of Rock], and were ready to offer hospitality to newcomers.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- April 2, 1838The Board of Commissioners of Racine County, by records of this date, established election precincts at what is now Beloit.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- June 1838A boy with his mother, four sisters and brother William sailed from Greenock on the "Lady of the Lake" to New York, coming thence to Milton, where they arrived September 11.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- June 10, 1838Selvey K. Blodgett, Jr. was born in a log house, the second white child in Beloit.BeloitGrade A · 2 independent sources
- June 12, 1838An act of Congress was approved dividing the Territory of Wisconsin and establishing the Territory of Iowa west of the Mississippi, effective July 3; one passage states that in June 1838 that portion west of the Mississippi was by act of Congress organized into the Territory of Iowa. The same act set apart seventy-two sections (two townships) for the support of a university.The regionGrade A · 2 independent sources
- June 16, 1838A treaty with the Winnebagoes, concluded at Washington City, was proclaimed, by which the Winnebago Nation ceded all their land east of the Mississippi River.Nation and worldGrade A · 1 independent source
- June 18, 1838Congress 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.Nation and worldGrade A · 1 independent source
- June 21, 1838Townships 1, 2, 3 and 4 north of Range 10 east (later Avon, Spring Valley, Magnolia and Union) were added to Rock County.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- June 22, 1838An act of Congress was approved amending the 1830 pre-emption act, designed to prevent speculation in village lots.Nation and worldGrade A · 1 independent source
- June 25, 1838The Colley family and Mrs. Atwood and her daughter arrived at Beloit.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- Summer 1838Religious services were held in an oak grove on one of the bluffs east of the village by a Methodist preacher.The regionGrade A · 1 independent source
- July 1838The reminiscence's narrator came into Rock County.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- July 1, 1838Ole Natesta staked his claim of eighty acres in Section 20, Township 1 north, Range 14 east, Clinton township, Rock County — the beginning of the Jefferson Prairie settlement, described as the first Scandinavian settlement in Wisconsin (and fourth Norwegian settlement in America).Rock CountyGrade A · 2 independent sources
- July 15, 1838James P. Pierce came to Wisconsin and settled in Rock County, his first purchase being eighty acres from the Government on Section 3 of Harmony.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- July 16, 1838A touring party came upon a little prairie since called Prairie du Lac, and determined to locate there.The regionGrade A · 1 independent source
- August 1838About August 1838 — Joseph Goodrich and another arrived [at the Rock Prairie/Milton neighborhood].Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- August 1838A settler selected the Janesville site as his permanent residence and entered about 200 acres of land.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- August 13, 1838A 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.The regionGrade A · 1 independent source
- September 1838A mother with two sons and four daughters came to America and settled in Milton.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- September 4, 1838Churchill sold his claim on the prairie to Joseph Goodrich for $125 in goods out of Goodrich's store.Nation and worldGrade A · 1 independent source
- September 11, 1838The McEwan family arrived in Milton (having sailed from Greenock in June).Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- Fall 1838Public 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.BeloitGrade A · 2 independent sources
- Fall 1838A resident went to the land sale at Milwaukee on foot with Volney Atwood, Theodore Kendall and others, and stayed until the land was offered and bid off.The regionGrade A · 1 independent source
- Fall 1838Charles Stevens erected the Janesville Stage House, a new hotel.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- October 1838G. A. Houston came to Beloit from New Hampshire; his father John P. Houston had come in 1837 but did not bring his family until 1838.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- Fall 1838Harvey and Abby Holmes came to Milton with one child and settled on Section 34.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- Fall 1838The first election was held in Beloit, for a Justice of the Peace and Surveyors of Highways; Horace Hobart was elected Justice.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- November 16, 1838Henry 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).Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- November 26, 1838R. 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.The regionGrade A · 1 independent source
- November 26, 1838The legislature of the re-organized Territory of Wisconsin met at Madison, called the first session of the second legislative assembly by one passage and the third session of the Legislature by another; Governor Dodge's message recommended investigation of the banks, land grants for river and harbor improvements, revision of the laws, division of the Territory into judicial districts, pre-emption rights for miners, and other measures.The regionGrade A · 2 independent sources
- December 27, 1838A church [in Beloit] was organized; Rev. Tuttle supplied it from 1838 to 1840.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- December 30, 1838The First Congregational Church of Beloit was organized at a meeting in the Blodgett house.The propertyGrade A · 2 independent sources
During 1838
Events the sources date only to the year.
- 1838B. Allyne located on Section 35, in 1837 or 1838 (the passages give both readings).The regionGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838Field & 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.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838The reminiscence's narrator took his first lessons raking and binding wheat in Caleb Blodgett's wheat field near Beloit during the harvest of 1838.The propertyGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838The Lawrence family all came out and settled in Beloit; another brother, Clark, purchased land on Turtle Creek.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838Ezra and Matilda (Taft) came to Rock County and settled on Section 2.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838Lemuel Warren came west and located on a farm in Rock township.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838The first settlements were made on the west side of the [Rock] river by Rufus and Ira Washburn and J. P. [Brittain]; W. Brittain settled in the town; Brestol made the first claim on D. W. Inman's farm; and Ira Washburn built the first house on the west side of the river.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838Rice and Luscena (Cheney) Dearborn settled in Beloit and were married there.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838Palmer, one of the old pioneers of Rock County, made his claim.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838Orrin Sprague established a blacksmith shop on Prairie du Lac, the first blacksmith of the settlement.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838The first religious service in [Janesville] town was conducted by Elder Toppin/Tapping, a resident of Walworth County, at the house of Charles Tuttle.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838Whiton was sent to the Territorial Legislature to represent Rock County (another passage says the people elected him against his will in 1838).Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838Township surveys were under contract in the third quarter of 1838.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838A settler bought some land in Dane County without seeing it.The regionGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838A meeting was held at the house of Peter McEwan to draw up a petition to the Government for the establishment of a post office.Nation and worldGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838Mr. Chamberlin moved from Connecticut to Wisconsin in 1838 and purchased a tract of government land in what is now Bradford township, where he built a home and reared his family.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838Theodore Kendall and his wife Laura arrived; a number of additional settlers arrived in 1838.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838Culver came to Wisconsin and settled on 160 acres in Turtle.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838A family came to Wisconsin with their parents in 1838 and located at what is now called Janesville.Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838Arrivals of 1838 included James McEwan, Mrs. Wood, William McEwan, and George W.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838George B. Hall arrived and located on Section 19 [in La Prairie].Rock CountyGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838Mrs. S. Downer gave birth to a daughter, afterwards named Lucy, the first white child born [in Clinton].BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838While the first capitol building was being constructed, Caswell often ferried footmen across the river [at the foot of Lake Koshkonong] with his canoe.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source
- 1838The first organization of churches in Beloit dates from 1838; a Congregational church [of another town in the county] was organized in 1838.BeloitGrade A · 1 independent source