Michael and Margaritha Beck Farmstead

Jefferson, the county seat of .Jefferson County, is a pleasant city of about three tliousand inhabitants, delightfully located at the junction of Crawfish and Rock Rivers, in the central part of the county, surrounded by a rich firming country, thickly settled and contributing vast resources to swell the general prosperity of the county seat.

Passage source: The History of Jefferson County, Wisconsin, Containing ... Biographical Sketches .., published 1879.

On June 13, 1837, Silas R. Stevens, following in the wake of these pioneers, landed at the residence of Robert Masters, located on Rock River, about (me mile below the present city. In 1887, E. G. Darling piloted a scow from Hebron on Bark River to Rock River, thence to Jefferson, where he took up his permanent abode. He was accompanied by Melissa and Marion Brown, half sisters, Alonzo Brown, half brother. Lavina Carpenter, Edward Sawyer and David Bartlett. The scow was also laden with their household goods and the frame of a house, which was fashioned at Bark Mills and brought to Jefferson ready to be completed and occupied. The emigrants took possession of a log shanty said to have been "put up " by James and Peter Rogan a year previous (which, if true, makes this unpretentious protection of logs rolled up together the first habitation constructed in this section of the county), and prepared to locate and finish a house, framed at Bark Mills. In October of the same year, arrangements were completed in that behalf, and the "frame " elevated on a piece of ground, the present site of the Jefferson House. The building was completed during the fall and used as a tavern, court house and salesroom for dry goods and groceries, the first goods ever sold in the town of Jefferson. A man named Buck officiated as salesman and no doubt realized a fair profit on his venture. In this month, also, came Hiram Z. Brittan, his wife, daughter (Jane), and one son. It should also be observed that the first session of the Circuit Court was held in the bar-room of this hostelry, Judge Irwin presiding. His Honor was a bachelor and a queer compound of ability and eccentricity. He occasionally adjourned court to go fishing, and was in the habit of improvising rules for the government of his subordinates, which, in those days, while not attracting particular attention, were regarded as arbitrary ; to-day, they would be considered as e.\tra-judicial. During tliis year, occurred the first death in the vicinity. It was that of E. Foster, Sr., which took place October 10, at the residence of his son in the south part of tlie town ; he was buried at Big Bend, four miles down the river. It is also said that Robert Kennedy and wife came to Jefferson from Janesville during that year and kept house for Rodney J. Currier and Andrew Lansing.

Passage source: The History of Jefferson County, Wisconsin, Containing ... Biographical Sketches .., published 1879.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Jefferson Town - 18,033 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.