Pioneer Beloit1830-1839
With 44 Illustrations
How a Wisconsin city was born, and the story behind its naming.
by Arthur L. Luebke
Part I
The story of the Turtle Village during the last years
of Indian occupancy and the Black Hawk War, the coming of the
trader-trapper Joseph Tebo, and the determined efforts of Caleb
Blodgett, Dr. Horace White, and a few score friends and neighbors
to carve out a New England-type village at the confluence of
Rock River and Turtle Creek during the first two years after
their arrival.
A painstaking reconstruction of life as it was actually lived at New Albany, later Beloit, almost on a day-to-day basis, gathered from pioneer documents, some newly discovered, others long-since forgotten.
Part II
The chronological story of a century-old dispute over who named
Beloit, what year it was named, and how the name was actually
arrived at. The author reviews a fascinating controversy extending
over several generations that at times assumed the proportions
of a scandal, involving the veracity of several distinguished
first settlers.
By carefully marshalling all the pertinent evidence available, the author frees the record as much as possible from obvious historical errors and needless confusion, before summing up the evidence dealing with the mystery of Beloit's naming.
Arthur L. Luebke (1916-1982), past-president of both the Beloit and Rock County Historical Societies, was a fourth generation Beloiter. As Circuit Judge, he also served as Chief Judge of Wisconsin's 2nd Judicial District, comprising Rock, Green and Walworth counties.
While a student at Beloit College, Luebke's interest in the campus Indian mounds later broadened into speculation over where Beloit's first settlers had located their homes and how the community had grown from the wilderness. His book is the culmination of years of research and the seeking out of new source materials dealing with pioneer Beloit.
"Beloit has a uniquely-rich heritage," the author emphasizes, "and much of it has been preserved in the superb archives of the Beloit Historical Society and Beloit College. In an era of rapid and seemingly endless change and its attendant cultural shock, it seems appropriate to be reminded that Beloit's roots go deep, and that our area residents should have an opportunity to know about some of our traditions and memorable personalities, if we care."