Adam Stroud Jr. was only 7 years old when the Stroud Family migrated, along with several other families, to Monroe County, Illinois in 1797. He grew up on the Frontier in the New Design Colony where he acquired the skills of hunting and trapping. Shortly after the death of his father in 1804, Adam Jr. headed for the Louisiana Territory to what would later become the State of Arkansas. As a young man, somewhere between the age of 16 or 17, he set out down the Mississippi River. He followed the Mississippi south until its junction with the Arkansas River, which he likely followed west to Arkansas Post, a popular fur trading location on the Arkansas River.
By 1807 Adam Stroud had taken up residence at Arkansas Post and married Mary Ann Easley in 1811. Mary Easley was the daughter of Chloe Wade and Thomas W. Easley, a Revolutionary War veteran. Adam Stroud appears to have kept his residence at Arkansas Post through 1818 according to the work "Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas" by Josiah Shin. During this time, he made his living hunting and trapping the Arkansas wilderness for furs to trade at the post. Adam and Mary had five children while living at Arkansas Post; Nancy Stroud born 1807, Rebecca Stroud born 1810, Elisha Stroud born 1812, Isham Stroud born 1814, and Eliza Stroud born 1817.
Adam appears to have done much hunting and trapping around the area that eventually became Clark County. In 1819 he moved his family west and settled about one mile east of what is now Hollywood, Clark Co., Arkansas. Adam Stroud's time and influence in Clark County is well documented by an article written by local historian Laverne Todd in the 2019 Journal of the Clark County Historical Association. Clark County was created in December of 1819; that year Arkansas officially became a U.S. Territory. The original County Seat was located at the home of Jacob Barkman on the Caddo River. As settlers pushed west, however, a more central location was desired. Adam Stroud, along with others, was influential in getting the location moved. Adam Stroud, John Wilson, and Thomas Fish were appointed by the Commissioners to choose a location to build a Courthouse and Jail. Here, Adam Stroud was to construct a building specified by the Clark County Circuit Court before July of 1822. According to Todd's article in the 2019 Journal of the Clark County Historical Association, a Circuit Court Record reads;
"The building was to be twenty feet wide by twenty four feet long, to be hewn down and floor laid loosely down in the said building, and to make good and suitable doors and shutters and cover the said building with boards three feet long and a half feet to weather and board the cracks with boards, to the weather boarded at the gable ends, which building the said Stroud has bound himself to complete in the manor aforesaid."
The Clark County Circuit Court first met in the home of Adam Stroud in March of 1822, with Judge Thomas Eskridge, presiding. By Fall of that year the new town had been laid off on lots by Adam Stroud, William Kelley, and John Butler. An advertisement for the sale of the lots appeared in the Arkansas Gazette on December 31, 1822. (See image below)
The town of Crittenden was named for Robert Crittenden, the first Territorial Secretary of Arkansas and acting Governor of the Arkansas Territory. Crittenden was never classified as a "town". According to Todd's article in the 2019 Journal the entire "town" of Crittenden consisted entirely of Adam Stroud's home and a few other buildings. Records state that Court was held in Adam Stroud's home as well as additional buildings on his property and that Stroud was compensated for the use of his property.
After settling in Crittenden Adam and Mary Stroud had three more children; John P. Stroud born 1819, Samuel R. Stroud born 1821, and Archnard H. Stroud born 1825. By 1830 Adam Stroud had a farm and was a slave owner. According to the 1830 U.S. Census he owned 3 slaves and by 1860 he apparently owned 9 slaves.
Crittenden remained the Seat of Government for Clark County until 1830 when it was moved to Greenville, approximately one mile west of present day Hollywood, and was later permanently moved to Arkadelphia. After the Seat of Government was moved, the town of Crittenden did not fare well, and would soon become a ghost town. By 1860 the town no longer appeared on State maps and all operations had been moved to nearby Hollywood.
Adam Stroud would live the rest of his life in the Crittenden area. He would become a notable character in early Clark County history and a successful farmer, tavern owner, road overseer, coroner, and, when the Post Office was moved to Crittenden in 1843, Adam Stroud was appointed Postmaster, a position he held until the Crittenden Post Office was discontinued in 1848. Crittenden's days were numbered and by the 1860's it no longer appeared on State maps and all operations had been moved to nearby Hollywood. Adam Stroud became such a well-known citizen that Thomas S Drew, appointed clerk of the Clark County Court in October 1823, and later elected Governor of Arkansas in 1844, felt inclined to include a sketch of Adam Stroud Jr in his papers and documents detailing many interesting facts about Clark County as mentioned in an article published in an Arkadelphia newspaper, "The Southern Standard", on January 11, 1889. And even today the small stream that runs through Hollywood bears the name "Stroud Creek".
Adams wife Mary passed away in December of 1850. Ten years later, in December of 1860, Adam Stroud passed away while living in the home of his son, Archnard, at the age of 70. According to FindaGrave.com Adam and Mary are buried in Alpine Cemetery, Alpine, Arkansas, a few miles north of Hollywood. Upon visiting the cemetery in 2020, however, no marker could be found. Many of the headstones were broken, worn beyond the point of reading, or just plain missing.
Their daughter Nancy married Josiah Tweedle and lived the rest of her life in Clark County. Their daughter Rebecca married Thomas Proctor, and later Josiah Little, and lived the rest of her life in Clark County. Their son Elisha married Delilah Huddleston and lived the rest of his life in Clark County. Their daughter Eliza married Archibald Rutherford and lived the rest of her life in Clark County. Their son John married Matilda Dollarhidex, and later Penelope White, and would serve as a Lieutenant in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, after which he would live the rest of his life in Arkansas. Their son Samuel married Mary Hasley and later Mary Huff and lived the rest of his life in Clark County. Their son Archnard would marry Sarah Wingfield and later Mary Davis and lived the rest of his life in Clark County.
Their son Isham, the next ancestor in our lineage, would work on his father's farm until the age of 26. On December 9th, 1841, he would marry Leanah B. Davis in Clark County. They had one child who died in infancy. There is no further record of Leanah Davis after the record of their marriage in the work "Arkansas Marriages; Early to 1850".
In 1851 he married Emily Gallahar born 1827 in Arkansas. They appear to have been married ni Clark County. By this time, they already had a daughter, Elizabeth Arkansas Stroud, born in 1847. Unlike all the rest of his siblings, Isham Stroud would not spend the rest of his life in Arkansas.
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