A Bull Named David Crockett

It's 1844, and a local man has named his bull after David Crockett … a folk hero even in Indiana, it seems.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


H.D. Palmer was Dr. Henry Disberry Palmer, "the first graduate or regular physician to reside in Lake County," according to History of Lake County and the Calumet Region (which also says he was a judge for 17 years). At the approximate location of his home on 73rd Avenue is a historical marker that also credits him with being "a member of the underground railroad aiding escaped slaves." (The Indiana Historical Bureau reviewed that statement and found it unverifiable.[1])

Lake County Encyclopedia has a sketch of Dr. Palmer's life … which brings us back around to J.V. Johns, whose orphaned son Dr. Palmer reared to adulthood.


(And the second page in the image above brings us back to Richard Earle, if I'm not mistaken.)

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[1] Investigating the history of the underground railroad in Indiana (or anywhere) must be frustrating, since this network was very loosely organized, operated in secret and kept no written records.