Joannah Peel

Locust Grove is one of the oldest towns in Independence County, having been founded in 1838, two years after Arkansas became a state. Its name derives from a grove of locust trees that pioneers found growing there. The first settlers to the area arrived in 1815. The wagon cavalcade consisted of fifteen families from southwestern Kentucky attracted to the fertile Greenbrier Bottoms. They staked their claims for land that was then part of Lawrence County in the Missouri Territory. Among the settlers were brothers Richard, John, Thomas, and James Peel, sons of Thomas Peel, who was a Virginian and Kentucky companion of Daniel Boone; Thomas Curran, a relative of famous Irishman John Philpot Curran; and Ben Hardin and his brother Joab. Other settlers were William Griffin, Thomas Wyatt, William Martin, Samuel Elvin, James Akin, John Reed, James Miller, John B. Craig, and Samuel Elms.