Editing Elkhart County, Indiana (section)

==History==
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the area now within Elkhart County boundaries was mainly inhabited by the [[Potawatomi]] tribe. Pioneers began settling in the Elkhart Prairie in 1829 and in April 1830, Elkhart County was officially established with its original county seat in [[Dunlap, Indiana|Dunlap]]. After reorganizing the county borders, the seat was moved to Goshen near the county's geographical center.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.countyhistory.com/elkhart/start.html|title=Elkhart County Indiana History and Pioneer Genealogy|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070506151646/http://www.countyhistory.com/elkhart/start.html|archive-date=May 6, 2007}}</ref>

Elkhart County was founded by immigrants from [[New England]]. These were old-stock "[[Yankee]]" immigrants, descended from the English [[Puritans]] who settled New England in the 1600s. The completion of the [[Erie Canal]] in 1821 sparked a surge in immigration from New England to northern Indiana, which had become a [[U.S. state|state]] five years earlier. The end of the [[Black Hawk War]] in 1832 increased the immigration surge of immigration, again coming from New England as a result of overpopulation combined with land shortages in that region. Some of these later settlers were from [[upstate New York]], whose relatives had moved to that region from New England shortly after the [[American Revolutionary War]]. New Englanders and New England transplants from upstate New York were the vast majority of Elkhart County's inhabitants during the first several decades of its history. These settlers were primarily members of the [[Congregational church|Congregational Church]] though due to the [[Second Great Awakening]] many of them had converted to [[Methodism]] and some had become [[Baptists]] before moving west. The [[Congregational church|Congregational Church]] subsequently has gone through many divisions, and some factions, including those in Elkhart County, are now known as the [[Church of Christ]] and the [[United Church of Christ]]. As a result of this heritage, most of Elkhart County supported the abolitionist movement before the [[American Civil War]]. Elkhart County provided substantial recruits for the [[Union Army]]. During the end of the nineteenth century, [[Irish American|Irish]] and [[German American|German]] migrants came to Elkhart County, although most did not come directly from Europe, but had stopped in other areas in the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], such as [[Ohio]].{{sfn|Weaver|1916}}{{page missing|date=February 2025}}{{sfn|Deahl|1905}}{{page missing|date=February 2025}}

===Name===
The name Elkhart is a euphemization of "Elks-heart", which refers to the now extinct [[Eastern elk]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Native American Place-Names of Indiana|author-first=Michael|author-last=McCafferty|year=2008|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=9780252032684|pages=14–15}}</ref> The name has been attached to the [[Elkhart River]] and surrounding area since at least 1749, when it was recorded in French as {{lang|fr|Coeur de cerf}} ("elk's heart") as the name of a [[Miami people|Miami]] village there.{{sfn|McCafferty|2008|p=14}} The place name in [[Miami-Illinois language|Miami-Illinois]] is {{lang|mia|mihšiiwiateehi}} ("elk's heart"). Later in the 18th century the area was inhabited by the [[Potawatomi people|Potawatomi]]; in the [[Potawatomi language]], the place is likewise known as {{lang|pot|mzewəodeʔig}}, "at the elk heart".{{sfn|McCafferty|2008|pp=14, 188 n.63}} The name may reflect a prehistoric association of the Elkhart area with the [[Kaskaskia people]], whom the Miami called "elk hearts".{{sfn|McCafferty|2008|p=14}}

Other explanations have been suggested. According to an account by two Miami leaders ([[Jean Baptiste Richardville]] and [[Le Gris|Le Gros]]) recorded in 1824, the name arose from two women fighting over an elk's heart that had been hung up to dry.<ref>{{Cite web | url = https://aacimotaatiiyankwi.org/2010/12/16/walking-myaamionki/ | title = Peempaliyankwi Myaamionki – Walking Myaamionki | author-first = George | author-last = Ironstrack | date=December 16, 2010 | access-date=May 2, 2023}}</ref> Alternatively, some historians including [[Jacob Piatt Dunn]] have associated the name with the shape of an island in the Elkhart River that is stated to resemble an elk's heart.{{sfn|McCafferty|2008|p=14}} This theory has been carried on the city's website.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elkhartindiana.org/egov/docs/1167354162275.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120801033844/http://www.elkhartindiana.org/egov/docs/1167354162275.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 1, 2012|title=City of Elkhart: Origins of Elkhart}}</ref>

A popular but non-historical account claims that the county was named after a [[Shawnee]] Indian chief named "Elkhart", who was ostensibly a cousin of the famous [[Tecumseh|Chief Tecumseh]], and father of "princess Mishawaka" (for whom, according to the story, neighboring [[Mishawaka, Indiana|Mishawaka]] is named).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stjoco.org/history/costly_victory.htm|title=St. Joseph County MI - County History: Costly Victory|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626055302/http://www.stjoco.org/history/costly_victory.htm|archive-date=June 26, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.richarddeantaylor.com/htm/elkhart.htm|title=History of Elkhart|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906143518/http://www.richarddeantaylor.com/htm/elkhart.htm|archive-date=September 6, 2008}}</ref> This story originated in ''Legends of Michigan and the Old North West'', an 1875 collection of historical fiction by Michigan politician [[Flavius J. Littlejohn]].<ref>{{cite book | title = Michigan Legends: Folktales and Lore from the Great Lakes State | author-first = Sheryl | author-last = James | publisher = University of Michigan Press | year= 2013 | isbn = 9780472051748 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=IQWgMA_lD-wC&pg=PA119 | page = 119}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | title = Legends of Michigan and the Old North West; Or, a Cluster of Unpublished Waifs, Gleaned Along the Uncertain, Misty Line, Dividing Traditional from Historic Times. | year = 1875 | location = Allegan, Michigan | publisher = Northwestern Bible and Publishing Company | url = https://archive.org/details/legendsmichigan00littgoog/page/n8/mode/2up }}</ref>