Recently, Ken Doran of Wisconsin inquired as to whether Janesville, Wisconsin and Janesville, California were named for the same person. Doran stated that Janesville, Wisconsin was named for Henry Janes who settled there in 1836. A local legend in Wisconsin is that when Henry Janes came West that he founded other Janesvilles. A 1905 publication credits the naming of Janesville, Lassen County to Henry Janes.
Alas, that is not the case. Janesville, California was named for Jane Bankhead, wife of Malcom Bankhead, who was the town’s first postmaster when the post office was established there on December 19, 1861.