Who was the sheriff in Mayberry before Andy Taylor?

It might be Sheriff Poindexter .. he is mentioned on this page:

www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/mfigure/fanfiction/favorite_story_never_told_by_joe_gritton.htm

I did find one more source for Poindexter.

34 . Poindexter was sheriff in 1946, but Andy didn't mention him when he once gave a complete rundown of all the sheriffs since 1941.

mymayberry.i8.com/contradictions.html no longer exists

The answer appears to be "either Sheriff Poindexter or Dale Buckley". It appears from all the evidence that there is a continuity error in the show with information from 2 episodes conflicting.

"Sheriff Poindexter" certainly is a former sheriff. It appears that he was referenced in "The Case of the Punch in the Nose":

One of the few episodes to make reference of a sheriff that preceded Andy (Sheriff Poindexter)

thefullwiki.org/List_of_The_Andy_Griffith_Show_episodes no longer exists

But, as this site points out:

In Citizens arrest, Andy says that the order of Sherrifs before him were Dale Buckley, Fred Paily, and Sheriff Pinkley, with Sheriff Pinkley having been Sheriff in 1930s. However, in The Case of the Punch in the nose, Andy mentions Sheriff Poindexter who was the town Sheriff in the 1940s. Now TAGS has never been strong on continuity, but I still have to wonder why Andy didn't mention his name in the first three. My opinion is that Sheriff Poindexter despite helping Floyd and Charlie Foaley settle their differences, was not that great of a sheriff and as such he was involved in a Scandal and his deputy Dale Buckley took over for him.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/archive/index.php/t-335625.html

There is more evidence for "Dale Buckley" here:

https://books.google.com/books?id=R8iSFuJKLxwC&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29