The Dardanelle Settlement was mentioned by Nuttal in 1819, and dated back, possibly, to 1817. Its most ancient settler is unknown. On the other side of the river a little lower down was the Cherokee village, the Galley. Old Dwight Mission was established in 1821 on the Illinois Bayou, where it remained until the Cherokees were removed to the West. On November 2, 1829, Pope County was carved out of this old Indian region, the oldest county made from Cherokee soil. Its first officers were: Judge Andrew Scott, County Judge; he had the distinguished honor to have been the first judge of the superior court of Arkansas to arrive on her soil, and with the exception of Judge Benjamin Johnson, to have served longer in that capacity than any other man. He was also first county judge of Pope County and is buried in the cemetery at Russellville, his grave being marked by one of the finest monuments that the State knows.

The other officers first selected to manage the affairs of this new born county were Twitty Pace, clerk; H. Stinnett, sheriff; W. Garrett, coroner, and W. Mitchell, surveyor. These officials held office during the years 1829 and 1830.

Isaac Hughes was the first State senator from Pope County and Judge Andrew Scott the first representative. With the beginning of county government and the removal of the Cherokees settlements went on rapidly. Norristown was founded in 1829, by Samuel Norris of New Jersey, and for a time was a pretty lively town. In 1837 B. H. Martin, John Macbeth, John Wilson, J. H. Newman and Judge Andrew Scott advertised a sale of lots at the town of St. Martin on the north side of the river, seven miles above the mouth of Illinois Bayou and just below the mouth of Big Piney. These gentlemen stated in their prospectus that the site they had chosen was the only one on the river for a great town, and they confidently expected St. Martinto be the London of Arkansas. Norristown, however, was in its way; Scotia sprang into existence; and Dover was born. All these, coupled with the running of the roads relegated St. Martin to the rear.

Just why these incorporators chose the name St. Martin, may never be known. In England there was a great church parish, 'St. Martin in the Fields,' but there is little evidence that these gentlemen were acquainted with that fact. Possibly the settlement, St. Martin, antedated 1837 by a great many years and received its name from some Catholic father in his ministrations to the Indians. True, B. H. Martin was one of the subscribers to the town lot advertisement, but it is hardly to be supposed that his name furnished the basis for the cognomen St. Martin. Norristown forged ahead and with a most remarkable energy tried to make herself the capital of the State. It is said that she nearly succeeded; that a change of two votes would have dwarfed Little Rock and enlarged Norristown. The coming of the Little Rock & Fort Smith Railway, however, changed the whole state of affairs and brought Atkins and Russellville prominently to the fore. In 1834 Norristown was the county seat, which position it held until 1842, when the county of Yell was in part formed from old Pope and the county site removed to Dover.

Dover in 1853 was the most prominent town between Little Rock and Fort Smith, and in that little town was held in that year the first railroad meeting ever held in the State bearing on the Little Rock & Fort Smith Railroad. Men from all parts of the State attended that meeting, and out of it came the Little Rock & Fort Smith Railway.

The first church in this county was in the vicinity of the Boiling Spring camp ground, near Illinois Bayou and was established by the Methodists in 1832. The second church was organized at the house of Sanford Kingon Point Remove in September 1833, and was known as the Baptist Church of Christ. The Cumberland Presbyterians built a church at Shiloh in 1837 near the old Williams camp ground.

Among the pioneers of this old county are Andrew Scott and his son, John R. Homer Scott, John Bolinger, Samuel Norris, Robert Davidson, Doctor J. H. Brearly, Thomas Murry, J. M. Crutchfield, John Williamson, Kirkbridge Potts, S. K. Blythe, Daniel Gilmore, Ben Langford, J. S. Price, Thomas Gardner, R. S. Bewley, John Ridge, Owen Williams, George Roland, Willis Hodges, John Bruton, Mahlon Bewley, Absalom Sims, Merideth Webb, John McCarley, Henry Andrews, Doctor Wear and George Wallace. D. Porter West came with his father in1839, and in 1903 issued a little book entitled 'D. Porter West's Early History of Pope County,' which contains much of interestand value to the old citizens of that county. Doctor John Wilson, one of the founders of St. Martin, was the father of R. J. Wilson the merchant of Russellville. Mr. Jacob Shinn, whose name will forever be associated with the development of Russellville and Pope County, did not come in until 1837, when as a child he entered Arkansas with his father, Benjamin D. R. Shinn and others of that name, with Reeds, Harkeys, McNultys, Fowlers, Linkens, Shandys and Brooks, all from North Carolina.

The above info is from Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas, Josiah Hazen Shinn, 1908.