Note 162 — Chapter VIII

Mulberry Creek is the chief northern tributary of the Arkansas in Franklin County, and the settlements on its banks were probably the first made by Americans in northwestern Arkansas. In 1814, three families, named Billingsley, Adams, and Williams, eighteen persons in all, left middle Tennessee in a flat-boat, and after a year at Cadron reached the Mulberry in 1816. After the signing of the treaty which gave the north side of the river to the Cherokee, these settlers scattered along the south side. In 1818, Simon Miller, with his son Jesse and others, had settled on the Mulberry. Altogether, eighteen families are said to have reached the region before the Cherokee treaty was made. After the removal of the Indians in 1828, Jesse Miller returned, and other white settlers soon occupied the region.—Ed.