The first members of my family to move to the Holly Grove area were John M. and Eliza Cocke Smith.  Sometime after 1842, they moved to Monroe Co., AR from Monroe Co., MS.  Eliza had been previously married and had 2 children from that first marriage.  When she and John married, they had several more children - one of whom was my gg-grandmother, Susan Smith Renfro.  And although this is interesting, what is more interesting is what brought my gg-grandfather, D.B. Renfro, Sr., to Holly Grove.  D.B. Renfro was from Culleoka which is a little town in Maury County, TN.  He was one of 13 children.  Both of his parents died in 1860 within a few hours of each other.  They split their money and property amongst all their children.  During this time, D.B. was working in Phillips County, AR with two of his brothers on a plantation near Helena.   

The Civil War began, and D.B. went back home to sign up for the war (his two brothers did the same).  He served in the 32nd TN Infantry and was captured twice during the war - once at Fort Donelson in 1862 and then again in Atlanta in 1864.  Both times, he was sent to Camp Morton in Indianapolis, IN.  After his first capture and incarceration, he was traded off for Union prisoners and sent back down South to Vicksburg, where he promptly rejoined the fighting.  When he was captured a second time, he was held prisoner until the end of the war.  While he was incarcerated, he met a man from Arkansas named Will Smith.  From what I understand, at the end of the war, he and Will walked from Indianapolis to Culleoka, TN.    When D.B. arrived home, he was greeted with surprise.  It seems that all of his siblings thought he was dead because they hadn't heard from him in two years.  So, while he was away fighting and his family thinking he was dead, they split up his personal property and money amongst themselves....and upon his return, refused to return any of it.  This all left him with no reason to stay in Maury County, but he also had no idea where else to go.  His friend, Will, said (essentially), "why don't you come with me to Arkansas?  It's a nice area and I think you'll like it.  My family farms and we have some land....come back home with me."  He was already familiar with the area, so D.B. agreed and moved to Holly Grove.  He met and fell in love with Will's sister, Susan and they married several years later.  They then built the house on Smith Street that would be owned by four generations of Renfro descendents (Matthews and McNeills) until it was sold.