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The Clarks and Their Descendents

Benjamin, the older of the two Clark brothers, first married a woman named Elizabeth Lee and second a woman named Greene. Between them he fathered 31 children, seven of whom died in infancy. Two of his sons, William (the explorer's cousin) and Marston went west and became important in Indiana history.

John Clark married his second cousin, Ann Rogers; she was only 15 or 16 at the time of their marriage. They had ten children; Jonathan, George Rogers(the "Conqueror of the Northwest" or "Hannibal in Buckskin"), Ann (II) and John (II)were born while the family lived on the land at Buena Vista inherited from John's father. The Clarks moved to Caroline County in 1757 and in 1768 sold their share of the land at Buena Vista to a man named William Tandy for £300. (Benjamin sold his portion of the land to John Fry in October, 1762.) The other six Clark children were born at the new Clark farm in Caroline County-Richard, Edmund, Lucy, Elizabeth, William and Frances.

William Clark was born on August 1, 1770. He lived with his family on their farm in Caroline County, VA until 1784 when John and Ann moved their family to the new frontier in Kentucky where Louisville stands today. (Neuberger, 1995) Unlike his famous partner, William did marry upon his return from the expedition. He first married Julia Hancock of Fincastle, VA in 1808. They had four children together: Meriwether Lewis, William Preston, Mary Margaret, George Rogers Hancock, and John Julius. After Julia's death in 1820, William married her cousin, the widow Harriet Kennerly Radford in November of 1821. They had two sons, Jefferson Kearny and Edmund. (English, 1896)