Early History of Phillips County

The Land, the Legends and the Lore

by Patty Smith

Published 2020

The Second Wave of Settlers

While settlers continued to arrive in and around the area we now know as the St. Francis National Forest, there were two events that brought the second wave of settlers: The New Madrid Earthquake of 1811 – 1812, and the distribution of additional land grants to the soldiers of the War of 1812.

The New Madrid Earthquakes, beginning on December 16, 1811, was the most powerful earthquake to ever hit the Eastern United States. In response to a request dated January 13, 1812, by William Clark, the then governor of the Louisiana Territory, federal relief for the inhabitants of New Madrid County was granted. It was due to this request that landowners, whose homes and lands were destroyed by the quake, were given permission to relocate on unclaimed land in nearby territories. This, along with the land grants awarded for service in the War of 1812, brought a new wave of families to the locale.

Among this second wave, were men who would have a tremendous impact on the progress of what would become Phillips County, Arkansas. W.B.R. Hornor was one such man. Born in Virginia in 1785, of a respectable colonial family, Mr. Hornor was twenty-six when he arrived at the St. Francis settlements in 1811, and was a principal figure in the creation of Phillips County. He was elected as a representative for the first territorial legislature from Arkansas County (present day Phillips County was originally part of Arkansas County), and it was Hornor who was instrumental in seeing that Arkansas County was divided to create Phillips County. He was also prosecuting attorney for the First Circuit, deputy clerk of Phillips County, Common Pleas judge, postmaster at Helena, alderman of Helena and the owner of a tavern in 1822, in St. Francis (Helena). Hornor lived first at the Arkansas Post, moved to Utica ( a small settlement located close to the mouth of the St. Francis River.), and finally to St. Francis, which was later named Helena. He married Elizabeth Dunn, daughter of Phoebe Dunn, and died on May 11, 1838.

During this time, the greatest money-making businesses were land speculation and surveying. Sylvanus Phillips and William Russell were two of Phillips County’s biggest land speculators, owning at one time most of the entire area of what we know as Helena. Phillips, in fact owned almost twelve of the total eighteen Spanish Land Grants., buying them cheaply, reselling them, and often buying them again. (More will follow on Sylvanus Philllips in a later issue.)

Nicholas Rightor, from New York, and a noted Helena surveyor, came to the area at the close of the War of 1812. Many of the 1816 and 1817 Land Grants are affixed with the signature of Nicholas Rightor and William Russell. Russell was here by 1816, and was in and out of the area until 1830, owning much land all over Arkansas. Both Rightor and Russell were co-founders of Helena, along with Sylvanus Phillips, and it was Phillips who donated the land to create the town of Helena. Between 1815 and 1820, some residents of the early settlements began to move south to the area known as St. Francis, which we know as present day Helena. Interestingly, Helena was originally called Pacaha by the Native Americans, was then known as St. Francis, at some point Monticello, and finally given the name of Helena shortly before incorporation.

At the time Rightor began his work, there were only two counties in the Missouri Territory, Arkansas and Lawrence. When the time came to plat the town of Old Helena, it was Rightor and his wife, Minerva Putman Craig, who gave the streets their names. In 1823, their son, William Russell Rightor was born, followed by seven more children. The last child, Emma, was born after her father’s death (1841). Minerva Rightor died in 1878 at age 78, having raised her seven children alone.

While writing of the distinguished men of this time, a somewhat rosy picture of the life and its inhabitants is formed. But as with all communities, the settlements along the river housed a multitude of personalities and life styles. Christian Schultz, visiting the early settlements, writes that “he felt sorry for these poor objects.” The women were spinning cotton which he thought was of very poor quality. Mr. Leaner Blackman, a Methodist circuit rider, writes of his visit to the area in 1813, and states that ”many of the families mode of living was only a small grade above the Indians.” It is easy to imagine a family who lost everything during the New Madrid earthquake traveling by water to the area, either building, or moving into a vacated cabin and planting crops, only to be forced out due to flooding. In fact, many of the graves located between the ridge and the river, were either lost or moved to the top of the ridge due to flooding. It was not an easy life, but most somehow prevailed, and small settlements near the mouth of the St. Francis River, like Utica, Shirley, and Sterling, thrived at one time.

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Primary sources for these articles include the Phillips County Historical Quarterlies, Shinn's Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas; Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Arkansas; Down the Great River by Glazier; Arkansas Historical Documents and Land Grants; The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture; Courts and Lawyers on the Arkansas Frontier; Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi; USGenWeb; Ancestry.com; FamilySearch.org; Phillips DNA Project.