Did You Know That? By the Drew County Historical Society November 23, 1960 BY JIMMIE FOX Two brothers, Alfred Ozment born in 1785 and James H. Ozment born in 1787, with their families, were the first settlers in the southwest part of Drew County which is commonly called the "Valley Country", Crook Township. This narrative comes mostly from Mr. Arthur Jolley who is the oldest descendant of the Ozment family, being a great grandson of James H. Ozment, the youngest of the two brothers. Mr. Jolley's mother was one of seven children (Margaret Ozment) of Robert C. Ozment and Robert C. was one of fourteen children of James H. with only two of them reaching adult age and rearing families. Alfred Ozment was more fortunate with his children rearing six of them. There were three of the Ozment brothers who came to New Orleans from England. One remained in New Orleans while Alfred and James H. made their way to South Carolina where James H. Ozment married Elizabeth Eddings. Soon after all moved to Wilson County, Tennessee which is about the center of the state, and here Alfred Ozment and Nancy Lane and the two brothers reared their children. In 1839 the Ozments started for a new land and traveling in their own boats they went down the Mississippi River to the mouth of the Red River, then up that stream to the confluence of the Ouachita River, following the Ouachita to Camden, Arkansas, here the Ozments remained for two years and in the autumn of 1841 they again got on the move, going back down the Ouachita, when the water stage was favorable, to the mouth of the Saline River and coming up that small river to that place that has since carried the family name of the Ozments, Ozment Bluff. Here the two brothers each obtained a land grant of two hundred acres of ground and at the ages of 54 and 55, they began life anew in the deep virgin forest, right on the banks of the Saline River. The Ozments traveled in two boats; one for their livestock and one for their families. The livestock consisted of a few yoke of oxen and one pair of mules. The Ozments brought with them a small nursery stock, of an apple which became known as the "Ozment" apple and is said to have been of a very fine flavor and at one time grown considerably in the Valley country. They allowed a nursery in Bradley County to try to further develop the apple but the nursery has since ceased to operate. It seems that it was a few years, perhaps several, before other settlers followed the Ozments in this part of the county and in the meantime the younger ones of the family were obtaining choice land patents and building homes, some of them in time acquiring considerable holdings. Robert C. Ozment at one time was the owner of one thousand acres of land which was acquired both by settlement and purchase.