John B. Imbau

From FranaWiki

John B. Imbau is, according to legend, the first settler at Little Rock. Imbau is said to have constructed a cabin on 756 French arpents of land near "The Rock" in 1763.

Quapaw Indian history records that in 1797 Francis Imbeau was granted 800 French arpents of land in the Little Rock area for his help in defeating the Osage Indians to the northwest. Imbeau may have never set foot on this land grant, but by some accounts he made improvements between 1803 and 1808.

Trapper William Lewis is generally recognized as the first serious settler in the area, arriving and briefly improving the land in 1812.

References

  • James W. Bell, Little Rock Handbook (Little Rock, AR: Publishers Bookshop, 1980), 5.
  • Dallas Tabor Herndon, Centennial History of Little Rock, vol. 1 (Chicago, IL: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1922), 128.
  • Josiah Hazen Shinn, Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas (1908), 45.

External links