He was a good man; but from the hungry look of the eagle on his sign, was dubbed by Judge Beebe as 'Col. Buzzard.' The Judge resided on the corner, northwest from the hotel, a very humble frame dwelling embowered in a shady grove, while a rough pole fence surrounded his lot. Morgan and Defrees kept the red store, and Davenport and Broderick had a store farther south. Elijah Beardsley dispensed justice to the people, as did also our venerable friend N. F. Broderick. The constables were Hiram Morgan and Joseph Dome. Gen. Mitchell was engaged as chief engineer in the survey of the Northern canal, and completed his labors about that period. George Crawford was serving his county in the State Senate, and was interested in one of the mercantile establishments. Real estate was at a low ebb; lots ranging from $50 to $300. "The southern and eastern portions of the town were covered with a thrifty forest, worth probably $15 an acre. The town had been christened 'Pulaski,' and its postoffice still bore that name. There was no church in the place; but occasional meetings were held by the Methodists and United Brethren in the school house. Sabbath school was an unknown institution. There was no regular whisky shop in the town; but the merchants dispensed the needful by the quart when required for medicinal or other purposes; but drunkenness had no existence in the community. During this year several new families arrived. Among them were the Shuey and Irwin families, Robert Sanford and the McKelveys. Judge Beebe was the character of the place. He had seen this beautiful spot as early as the year 1827 but did not locate here until after the town had been started. He was a man of intelligence and at that time had just been elected probate judge by three votes. He was a free thinker in religion and a practical joker." At a little log cabin schoolhouse, situated on the banks of the Elkhart River, N. F. Broderick wielded the birch and taught the young Elkhartians the three "R's." He was the first schoolmaster in the village. In 1837 the second school building was erected on Second Street. The renowned "Tammany Hall" was built in 1836 and here for many years all classes of entertainment were given, from the temperance lecture to the amateur theatricals and occasionally some strolling player would excite the wonder of the inhabitants by his performance. This hall stood at the corner of Main and Jefferson streets. Mrs. Beebe opened a Sabbath school at her home and also gave instruction in English to the older boys and girls. Be tween 1837 and 1840 Doctor Beardsley commenced the building of several mills. He erected a cornmill and a woolen and oil mill on the banks of the Elkhart. A little later when boats commenced to ascend the St. Joseph, warehouses were built along the Elkhart and there trading in farm produce and merchandise was conducted. CHAPTER X ELKHART COUNTY IN WAR OLD GOSHEN GUARDS SIDE-STEP MEXICAN WAR-INDIVIDUAL The military ardor of Elkhart County pioneers was not steady enough, at the outbreak of the Mexican war, to send the Goshen Guards, then the only organized company of any standing, to the southern fields of battle. The guards had been organized for several years; in fact, Col. John Jackson, the old soldier of 1812 and the early '30s, had founded the guards in 1831 to ease the minds of the people of the county as regards Indian depredations. Their discipline increased with the years, many of the foremost merchants and professional men joined the company and, though its members were armed with old flint muskets, they were gorgeously uniformed 222 and they are said to have been remarkably efficient in drills, evolutions and military tactics. OLD GOSHEN GUARDS SIDE-STEP MEXICAN WAR In May, 1846, Governor Whitcomb, after a call from President At the Polk for volunteers, called upon the guards to enlist in the service, but the company vote was against a favorable response. time Ebenezer M. Chamberlain was captain; Dr. E. W. H. Ellis, first lieutenant, and Dr. M. M. Latta, second lieutenant. Which indicates that the professions had the upper hand in military matters. In 1848 the guards disbanded, without having reconsidered their expressed determination not to participate, as a body, in the A few months previously William Tuffts, one of the last of the old Revolutionary soldiers resident in the county, died at Middlebury. It is said that he assisted in throwing over the British tea from the ships in Boston harbor and served through most of the Revolutionary period. war. INDIVIDUAL MEXICAN SOLDIERS The entire state furnished but five regiments for the Mexican war and not more than half a dozen men went from Elkhart County. It soon became evident that the national authorities had enough American troops at the front to accomplish the contemplated work; otherwise more would probably have gone from that region. Stray items from the Goshen Democrat, published during August, 1847: "Jonas Myers, son of Joseph Myers, of this town, a volunteer in one of the Illinois regiments, has just returned from Mexico to this place, where he formerly resided, and was welcomed by a few rounds from Aunt Olive (the town artillery). A number of our citizens assembled at the court house and listened to an interesting account of his adventures and an entertaining description of the country. Young Myers was wounded at Cerro Gordo by a grapeshot, but not severely." A few days later: "Mr. George Cart, a noble-souled old Democrat of Union township, called on us the other day, requesting us to write a letter to his son, who is a volunteer in the Mexican War. 'Tell him,' said the old man 'to be a good soldier and obey his officers; tell him to remember that his grandfather served five years |