Schuyler Colfax Chapter is located in South Bend, Indiana, which is in the North Central part of the state 10 miles south of the Michigan State line and 90 miles east of Chicago. The chapter was organized as the 50th chapter in Indiana and was named for one of South Bend's most distinguished citizens who served seven terms in the U.S. Congress and was Speaker of the House before becoming Vice-President under Ulysses S. Grant.

Mr. Colfax was a close friend and ally of President Abraham Lincoln and was at the White House on the evening of April 14, 1865, when President Lincoln left for Ford's Theater. He was invited by the president to accompany him to the theater but as he was not a theater enthusiast, he graciously declined.

Schuyler Colfax was born in New York City on March 23, 1823, and moved to South Bend in 1841. He died in Mankato, Minnesota on January 13, 1885, while on his way to a speaking engagement.

Schuyler Colfax Chapter was organized on November 11, 1911, and granted a charter on December 16, 1911. The organizing regent was Mrs. Agnes Brown Coen.

The Council Oak, known also as the Treaty Oak and the Witness Tree, stood within a few rods of the portage path between the St. Joseph and Kankakee Rivers.  Here, Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle, first white man to walk on Indiana soil, made a treaty with the Miami Indians in 1679, and opened to subsequent travelers the portage to the Great Lakes area. Through LaSalle's treaty on December 5 and another in May 1681, the Miami, Illinois, and Potawatomi Indians united with the whites to oppose the marauding Iroquois tribes. Mrs. Shepard J. Crumpacker, regent of Schuyler Colfax Chapter from 1922 to 1924, made the drawing for the bookplate shown above. (Permission was obtained to use this sketch.)

Last updated by Webmaster Margaret V. Soos March 7, 2008