The first attorney of the Benton County bar was A. B. Greenwood, now familiarly called “Judge” Greenwood. He settled at Bentonville the year the county was organized, and except when absent on official business has resided here ever since. For the first four years of the existence of the county he constituted the whole bar, being the only resident attorney. Attorneys from abroad, however, came here to practice. At a ripe old age the Judge is vigorous and active. He has had much to do in making the history of this county, and has imparted much information to the compiler of this work. [See his biography.]
Judge Joseph M. Hoge, the first judge of the Benton Circuit Court, resided in this county from about 1840 to 1845, and then went to Texas. Until recently the bar of Benton County was small, but now it has grown to be large. The following is a list of the names of the members of the bar at this writing, to wit: Judge A. B. Greenwood, E. P. Watson, James A. Rice, E. S. McDaniel, L. H. McGill, W. D. Mauck, A. Nicodemus, J. M. Peel, S. W. Peel, D. H. Hammons, W. S. Floyd, S. E. Davis, S. N. Elliott, S. A. Cordel, E. R. Morgan, F. H. Foster, C. M. Rice, A. T. Rose, E. D. Fenno. All of these reside within the county.
Back to: Benton County, Arkansas History
Source: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago, IL, USA: Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889.