39

A. G. Hill held the office of county clerk from 1838 to 1842.

The third merchant to come to the village was F. A. Peterson, who chose to build his home and his store on the bluff overlooking the river.

Jarvis Langford came with his family in 1841 and built his store under the bluff on the river bank, but he located his home three miles west of the river. His sons, James R. and Jack, were associated with him and in 1844 when he was elected county judge they assumed the management of the mercantile business.

The county seat was moved from Ecore Fabre to Scarborough's Landing in 1839, although the formation of Ouachita County had not yet been completed. There was no courthouse at Scarborough's Landing but "by order of the court, the storehouse of Albert Rust" was used as the official courthouse as long as the village continued to be the county seat.

Thomas Owen was appointed commissioner of public buildings and did supervise the building of a two-story, log jail in 1839. Further protection was also given the townspeople that year when the court granted the petition of George A. Pickering to have a patrol ride for twelve hours once a week over the entire area of Franklin Township.

Regular court sessions brought transient visitors to the county seat and in 1841 William Town was granted permission to conduct " a house of entertainment known as a Tavern." This was doubtless the first hotel built in Union County.

There was no post office at Scarborough's landing. The nearest one had been established several miles inland in 1839 and was named Union Courthouse. Its proximity made it the logical post office to serve the county seat but some times new immigrants confused the name of the courthouse with the name of the town. On May 6, 1846, this post office was moved into the town and renamed Champagnolle.

Two years before this happened the county seat was moved from Scarborough's Landing to a site nearer the center of the county that had been christened El Dorado, and the abandoned county seat was probably ready for a new name.

 

 

 

 

 

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