- Government - Janesville Sesquicentennial
-
- [Photograph of Henry JANES.]
-
- People - JANES termed bold, restless
- If Henry JANES had gotten his way, there never would
have been a city in Wisconsin bearing his
- name.
- JANES, who settled here in 1836, originally named
the town Black Hawk, after the great Indian
- chief. He petitioned the federal government for a post office
in that name and recommended himself as postmaster.
- U.S. Postmaster General Amos Kendall refused the application,
because there was already a post
- office by the same name in what soon was to become Iowa.
Kendall thus named the town Janesville since JANES had
done much of the work toward its establishment.
- JANES was born Feb. 12, 1804, in Virginia, moved to
Ohio in 1819, and left for Indiana in 1825
- with, as he later wrote, "an old one-eyed horse, two
shirts and $4 in my pocket." He married Keziah Ann TALBOT
in 1827 in Lafayette, Ind., where they lived until moving to
the Wisconsin Territory in 1835, settling west of Racine.
- Later that year JANES had his farmland surveyed and
found his best land was determined to be in
- the school section, while most of the other choice claims
had been taken.
- So, in October of 1835 he and a companion headed west out
on foot, reaching what is now
- Waukesha the first day. They continued on, but were beset
by sleet, cold and hunger and stopped about 10 miles east of
what is now Janesville.
- Unable to start a fire, they retraced to the Turtle Lake
area, where they finally got a fire started and
- camped for the night. They returned home the next day.
- JANES set out again in December, this time with two
companions on horseback. They reached
- the Rock River, where they found Samuel ST. JOHN and
W. A. HOLMES living in a cabin across from the Monterey
Rock.
- JANES explored on foot to around Fort Atkinson and
decided to purchase land at the outlet of
- Lake Koshkonong. But when he went to Green Bay to register
his claim he found out the land had already been spoken for,
so he returned home to his family.
- JANES set out a third time, and on Feb. 15, 1836,
marked his claim in what later would become
- downtown Janesville. JANES hired ST. JOHN to
build him a cabin. Until recently it was believed that the cabin
was built at the present location of the HAYES Block,
but recent information indicates it probably was built near the
current site of the Rock County Bank.
- In May 1836, JANES returned with his family - the
fourth family to settle in the county. Their
- home was a log cabin 18 feet square with no floor.
- JANES looked every bit the pioneer he was - standing
6-foot-2 and weighing 210 pounds. He
- was described by an early visitor to Janesville as having
"a very imposing pair of black whiskers... His legs were
encased in a pair of moleskin pants... His feet were encased
in a stout pair of black shoes... and he wore a seal skin cap."
- Another visitor described JANES as being "...good
natured, free and easy in conversation, fond
- of company... a roving disposition... not inclined to work
himself, but to plan for others."
- JANES established a ferry across the river at the
site the Milwaukee Street Bridge now is
- located, with a log tavern on the east bank. In spring of
1837 he surveyed and platted the land for the village which was
to perpetuate his name. The approximate boundaries were what
are now Racine Street to the south, Jackson Street to the east,
Centerway to the north and the river to the west.
- Janesville's success was immediate and eventually resulted
in the demise of two other settlements
- a short distance downstream - Wisconsin City and Rockport.
In fact, Rockport founder Judge William HOLMES refused
to sell JANES land in Rockport but loaned him the saw
with which JANES built his ferry.
- JANES became the new village's postmaster in 1837,
but lost in a bid for the territorial legislature
- to E. V. WHITON, who later became chief justice of
the state Supreme Court.
- Described as "a bold and restless pioneer," JANES
left the area in 1839 after he said he had
- become "completely strapped," building up the community.
He had most of his property dispossessed by the county commissioners
when Janesville was entered as the county seat in 1839.
- JANES moved to Missouri and on to California, where
in 1855 he sent accounts of his earlier
- accomplishments to the State Historical Society. He and his
wife died in 1883.
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