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ANCHORS 1841–2027 · RESIDUE NAMED BELOW
The open record anchors both successions at dated points; the spans between the anchors are named as gaps at this article's end, not filled by assertion.
The Clerk of the Circuit Court, keeper of the record. The State Board of Accounts' audit reports of the Clerk's own office print the desk's holder on their county-officials schedules: Terri J. Rethlake, term January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2014. The desk's current course is carried in the banked leg's county entry: Amy Rolfes held the clerkship through 2026 and was defeated on November 3, 2026, by Stephanie Ball (43,737 votes), who takes the desk January 1, 2027. Between Rethlake's term-end in 2014 and Rolfes's incumbency the open record reached does not name the holder or holders, and before 2011 it does not reach the desk at all.
The Auditor, keeper of the purse — and, by statute, secretary to the council the 1899 act created. This desk holds the ground's most surprising early name: in 1841 Schuyler Colfax, later Speaker of the U.S. House and Vice President, was appointed St. Joseph County deputy auditor, a clerkship on the desk a decade and a half before his congressional career (see the federal article below). In the twentieth century the desk produced a founder: Fred P. Crowe Sr. served as St. Joseph County auditor for eight years and was holding that county experience when, in 1942, he co-founded the South Bend accounting firm that became Crowe — carried whole in this run's business-gaps addendum. The desk's documented modern line: Beverly D. Crone, who filled a vacancy in the Auditor's office, was elected to two terms and held the office ten years — the first woman to serve as St. Joseph County Auditor (see the firsts article); Mike Hamann, two terms as auditor from 2015 to 2022 before his 2026 election to the County Council's District A seat; John Murphy, the incumbent in the county's officer roster before the 2026 turnover; and Autumn Kaylor, elected November 3, 2026 (43,708 votes), who takes the desk January 1, 2027.
The residue, named: the complete succession of either desk, holder by holder from the county's organization to the anchors above, is not printed in any open source reached. Its settling sources are the State Board of Accounts' schedules of officials in its county examination reports, term by term; the Association of Indiana Counties' Directory of Indiana County Officials (the 1982 first edition and its successors); Stoll (1923) for the desks' first ninety years; and the clerk's canvasses. Those records exist and are pullable in person; from open sources at a desk, the anchors above are the honest state of both lines.
Sources: Indiana State Board of Accounts, audit reports of the Clerk of the Circuit Court, St. Joseph County, 2011 (B40770) and 2012 (B42802) — "Clerk Terri J. Rethlake, 01-01-11 to 12-31-14." South Bend city history record (Colfax appointed deputy auditor, 1841). Crowe firm histories (Fred P. Crowe Sr., St. Joseph County auditor for eight years; firm founded 1942), as cited in the business-gaps addendum. South Bend Common Council Resolution 18-01 (January 8, 2018) — the Crone course. Banked Government leg (Hamann's auditor terms, 2015–2022; the 2026 countywide results: Ball, Kaylor).