sligo
Beulah Philbrook at left and her sister, Linda York, proudly show off their great-grandfather's post office cabinet, used by Lyman Andrews when he was postmaster of the town of Sligo. Philbrook painted the legend of the now forgotten town as a reminder of their Hoosier ancestry.
(from Penny Saver 1991)

Our story in the November issue, resulted in more information about the log cabin on Queen Road uncovered by Bob Brown of Plymouth, when Beulah Philbrook caught mention of the name Lyman Andrews.The cabin had been built by Lyman Andrews around 1850. Mrs. Philbrook is the great-granddaughter of Andrews, on her mother's side.

Mrs. Philbrook hadn't known exactly where Andrews had lived until she read the story. She certainly had no idea that his original log cabin was still standing.

"Lyman Andrew's ancestors," she says, "emigrated from England sometime during the 17th century. His parents were settled in Vermont. Lyman, himself, was born in either Vermont or New York in 1806."

Lyman was married to a woman named Mary Jane, the daughter of a full-blood indian, possibly of the Iroquois tribe, Philbrook relates. The family came to Indiana in 1848. Near this time the Andrews bought title to some land on Queen Road. This was after the "Trail of Death." the term used to describe the removal of the potawatomi Indians and their eventual shipment to Kansas.

She relates that in 1854 her great-grandfather sold his log cabin, which sits just west of Twin Lakes, and he moved about half-a-mile down the road to the small community of Sligo. There Andrews became postmaster in 1857.

"Before Andrews died in Plymouth in 1879," Philbrook says, "he also worked as a wheelwright and was something of a land speculator around the Plymouth area, having added his signature to various tracts of land before resale."

Sligo is no longer a name on any modern map and little remains of what was ance a bustling crossroads settlement, if not exactly a thriving industrial center.

Ed Peters, a past president of the Marshall County Genealogical Society recalls that Sligo did boast a church and several homes, and some foundations can still be seen near the intersection of Highway 17 and 12.

"At one time," Peters says, "a forge operated in the vicinity as did a busy grain mill at the site of nearby Mill Pond Lake." The forge owners seem to have paryially smelted iron ore, then they shipped the results to Mishawaka and South Bend by wagon for more processing, according to the mill's history.

Mrs. Philbrook has now visited the original log cabin on Queen Road, residence of her early ancestors. Her relatives and nearby county residents also keep visiting the site. Most are just interested in the standing history reflected from the split-log walls. For those who like to see these old structures, the Historic Society of Marshall County has resurrected two such cabins in the area. One stands at the end of 18th B Road, where it meets Linden Road, about a mile west of the U.S. 21 bypass. The other home is east of Plymouth several miles on property owned by the Hatfield family. Beulah Philbrook still has Lyman Andrews post office cabinet she inherited. It is the one he used to store mail for residents of Sligo, when he was postmaster. Deciding that the rough-hewn cabinet needed some dressing up Philbrook painted a landscape over its front surface. She added the brief legend of Sligo as a reminder of her original Hoosier ancestor.