The Conference for 1857 was held June 26th, at Spring Street, Milwaukee, Bishop Ames presiding.  At this Conference I was stationed at Janesville.

Janesville, holding a central position in the southern portion of the State, was the initial point of settlement at an early period, and in after years, became the focal as well as the radiation center of Church operations.

On the 15th day of November, 1835, a company consisting of six men started from Milwaukee with an ox-team and wagon, the latter containing provisions, tools, etc., for the Rock River Valley.  On the 18th they arrived where Janesville now stands, and immediately proceeded to build a log cabin opposite of what is called the “Big Rock.”  This was the first settlement in Rock River Valley.  Two of their number, however, had explored the southern portion of the Territory in the preceding July.  At that time there were but two white families in Milwaukee, and only one between that place and Janesville, that of Mr. McMillen, who lived at what is now called Waukesha.

On the 23d of April, 1837, the first United States Mail entered Janesville.  It contained one letter, and this was for the Postmaster, Henry F. Janes.  The mail was brought by a man on horseback, whose mail route extended from Mineral Point to Racine.  The post-office at Janesville for several months consisted of a cigar box, which was fastened to a log in the bar-room.  Small as it was, it was found to be amply sufficient to contain all the letters then received by the citizens of Rock County.

The first sermon preached in Janesville was delivered by Rev. Jesse Halstead in September, 1837.  Brother Halstead, then on Aztalan circuit, on coming to this place found a small log house, which enjoyed the appellation of a tavern.  He accepted entertainment in common with other travelers, but, it being soon known that he was a Minister, he was invited to preach.  He consented, and the services were held in the bar-room.  The liquors were put out of sight, and the Minister made the bar his pulpit.  The audience consisted of a dozen persons.

The next religious services of which I can obtain information, were held in the summer of 1838.  They were held in an oak grove on one of the bluffs east of the village.  I am not able to find any one who can furnish me the name of the Preacher, but am assured that he was a Methodist, and that he did not neglect that special feature of a Methodist service, the collection.  This last part of the exercises, I am assured, made a vivid impression on the mind of the party to whom I am indebted for this item of history.  And it came in this wise:  When the hat was passed he threw in a bill, an act so generous that it could not fail to call attention to the contributor.  The next day he received a call from the Minister, who desired him to replace the “wild-cat” bill by one of more respectable currency, as those kind of bills were beginning to be refused throughout the Territory.