Oswego Township - Hardcoverby Oswegoland Heritage Association (Author), Roger A. Matile (Editor) In 1832, John, Walter, and Daniel Pearce, and their brother in law, William Smith Wilson, walked west from their homes in Ohio prospecting for land. When they reached the Fox River in the vicinity of modern Oswego, they agreed they had found the place they wanted to settle. The next year, 1833, after selling their Ohio farms, they traveled west by wagon with their families and