In 1839, the government commenced the first survey of land in the Rockhouse, Arkansas area. The map produced shows that Betty McCall’s great-grandfather Thomas Hall already had an established farm operating on the western bank of the Kings River. The 1889 book  Goodspeed’s Northwest Arkansas History includes details about this early pioneer:

“Thomas Hall built the fourth house in Prairie Township, in 1835. He had previously lived in Wilkes County, N.C., and near Chattanooga, Tenn., from whence he removed to War Eagle, Madison County.”

The Prairie Township mentioned is in Carroll County and includes present day Berryville. Though Carroll County existed in 1835, the state of Arkansas did not. Thomas Hall settled in the “Territory of Arkansaw.”

Thomas Hall is mentioned a second time in Goodspeed’s Northwest Arkansas History:

“The road from Huntsville via Rockhouse Creek, through Trigger Gap, crossing Carroll County diagonally from southwest to northeast, was laid out in 1837 by Thomas Hall, under the direction of the court.”