THE PENCE [BENTZ] FAMILY

THE PENCE [BENTZ] FAMILY

Generation One

HANS BENTZ [B: 27 September 1631 in Germany – D: 21 August 1726 in Germany] married Helene Margarethe Kern [B: 1644 in Baden-Wuerttemburg, Germany – D: 14 January 1688 in Germany]

Generation Two

JOHANNES BENTZ [B: 1675 in Bayern, Germany – D: 4 June 1746 in Germany] married Susannah _____ [B: 1677 in Germany – D: 10 April 1748 in Germany]

Generation Three

JOHANN GEORGE BENTZ [PENCE] [B: 16 May 1697 Bayern, Germany – D: 15 September 1749 in Frederick County, Virginia] married 29 August 1719 in Bayern, Germany to Anna Barbara Bullinger [B: 27 April 1698 in Bayern, Germany – D: ?]. They arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 15 September 1749 aboard the vessel, Phoenix.

 

Gravestone of John Heinrich Pence [Bentz]

Generation Four

JOHN HEINRICH BENTZ [PENCE] was the son of Johann Georg Bentz [Pence] and his wife, Anna Barbara Bullinger. John Heinrich Pence [B: 1740 in Iggleheim, Pfalz, Bayern, Germany – D: 1826 at Mad River, Champaign County, Ohio] married Mary Magdaline Blimly.   Based upon the births of their children, Johann Heinrich Bentz [Pence] and Mary Magdaline Blimly were married in 1765 in Frederick County, Virginia.  Mary Magdaline Blimly [B: 1746 in Frederick Co., Virginia – D: 20 September 1829 at Champaign County, Ohio.] This couple removed in 1805 to Mad River, Champaign County, Ohio. 

Known children of John Heinrich and Mary Magdaline Blimly Bentz [Pence] are as follows:

1.     George Pence [B: 16 August 1766 in Frederick County, Virginia – D: 1810 Shenandoah County, Virginia]

2.     Jacob Pence [B: 15 September 1767 in Frederick County, Virginia – D: 12 June 1828 Champaign County, Ohio]

3.     Henry Pence [B: 4 September 1768 in Frederick County, Virginia – D: 11 August 1844 Champaign County, Ohio]

4.     Abraham Pence [B: 7 September 1769 in Frederick County, Virginia – D. 1838 Mad River, Champaign County, Ohio]

5.     Magadeline Pence [B: 31 January 1771 in Frederick County, Virginia – D: 1820 Champaign County, Ohio]

6.     Susannah Pence [B: 4 July 1773 in Dunmore County, Virginia – D: 21 May 1853 Champaign County, Ohio]

7.     John Pence [B: 15 January 1774 in Dunmore County, Virginia – D: 20 September 1841 Henderson County, Illinois]

8.     Barbara Pence [B: 2 November 1775 in Dunmore County, Virginia – D: 1820 Champaign County, Ohio]

9.     David Pence [B: 4 February 1777 in Dunmore County, Virginia – D: 1852 Fairfield County, Ohio]

10.  Joseph Pence [B: 26 September 1778 in Shenandoah County, Virginia -D: 6 July 1855 Champaign County, Ohio]

11.  Samuel Pence [B: 4 February 1780 in Shenandoah County, Virginia – D: February 1815 in Champaign County, Ohio]

12.  Anna Pence [B: 10 October 1781 in Shenandoah County, Virginia – D: 5 March 1847 Montgomery County, Illinois]

13.  Isaac Pence [B:23 July 1784 in Shenandoah County, Virginia - D: 7 April 1854 Washington County, Iowa]

14.  Elizabeth Pence [23 June 1784 in Shenandoah County, Virginia – D: 14 April 1854 Champaign County, Ohio]

15.  Benjamin Pence [25 April 1787 in Shenandoah County, Virginia – D: 8 February 1875 Bartholomew County, Indiana]

16.  Mary Pence [B: 9 June 1789 in Shenandoah County, Virginia – D: 28 March 1869 McDonough County, Illinois]

17.  Reuben Pence [B: 28 June 1791 in Shenandoah County, Virginia – D: 1 October 1840 Monroe, Miami County, Ohio]

Generation Five

GEORGE PENCE was the eldest son of Johann Heinrich Bentz [Pence] and his wife Mary Magdaline Blimly.  George Pence [B: 16 August 1766 in Frederick County, Virginia – D: 1810 Shenandoah County, Virginia] married Maria Mary Mauck [B: 1770 – D: 1795], the daughter of Daniel and Barbara Harnsberger Mauck. Barbara Harnsberger Mauck was the daughter of John Stephen Harnsberger [B: 1714 in Evangelisch, Thurgan, Switzerland – D: 19 March 1776 in Augusta County, Virginia] and his wife, Agnes Hofmann [B:25 November 1722 in Germantown, Virginia – D: 9 February 1749 Germantown, Virginia].  John Stephen Harnsberger was the son of John Harnsberger [D: 20 May 1760 Culpeper County, Virginia]

Generation Six

            PETER JONAS PENCE [Pense, Bentz, Benz, Bens], was the son of George and Maria

            Mary Mauck Pence.

Born:  ca. 1795 -1797 [1840 Census shows that he was older than forty and less than fifty 

years of age], most probably in Pennsylvania.

Died: ca.1848, most probably in Page County, Virginia. 

Married: 8 February 1823 in Shenandoah County, Virginia

Sophia Aleshire [Alshite], the daughter of Henry P. Aleshire [Alshite] [B: 1754 – D:1845] and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Hahn [Haynes, Haines, Hehn, Hohn] [marriage record]. Mary Elizabeth Hahn was the daughter of George and Maria Catherine ____ Hahn.

Born: October 1800 in Virginia. [1850-1880 Page County, Virginia Federal Census Records cite her age as being forty-five, fifty-five, sixty-four and seventy-six years.]

Died: 30 January 1885 at Stoney Run in Page County, Virginia at the age of eighty-four years and three months [death record - the published record states "Honey Run," but at the time, she lived at Stoney Run].  A newspaper obituary states that she died on the 29^th of January in 1885 at Alma, Page County, Virginia being eighty-four years of age. The 1885 Atlas shows Sophia Pence as living just east of Alma on the south side of Stoney Run in Shenandoah Ironworks District of Page County, Virginia.

In 1878, Sophia sought a pension [No. WO – 19009] based upon her husband's service either in a “Pennsylvania or Maryland Militia” unit during the War of 1812.  In her deposition, she states that her husband came "here [Page County] after the war from Pennsylvania." However, the children who survived until the 1880 Page County, Virginia Federal Census cite their father's birthplace as Virginia. Most probably the reason for this discrepancy is the fact that the Pence family had settled originally in the area which was claimed by Virginia but also by the Colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania which also believed that the area was within their boundaries. Officially this issue, state boundaries, was not settled until after the American Revolution.

Sophia stated in her petition application that Peter Pence died on the 31^st of January in 1854; however, he was not cited as part of their family in the 1850 Federal Census. Sophia's petition was denied because she could not provide any specifics about “her” Peter Pence's service.  

With the aid of modern technology, it is easy to determine that the Pence family came into the Colony of Pennsylvania prior to the French and Indian War from an area that is now in Germany.  This is the reason for many difficulties which seemed to plague Sophia’s life in regard to her knowledge of her husband’s family and the government. 

It was customary for families of Germanic origins to name the first son after the child’s paternal grandfather and the second son after the maternal grandfather. This was also true for daughters, the eldest was given the name of the paternal grandmother and the second was named for the maternal grandmother.  This custom resulted in many children being named the exact same name.  

Gravestone in Ohio for Peter Pence

 By the time of the War of 1812, there were men named Peter Pence serving from Ohio, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania because some of the sons and grandsons of the original emigrant family had moved “west” to claim land grants which had been awarded to their family for military service in the French and Indian War as well as those awarded for service during the American Revolution.  An example of this is Peter Jonas Pence who married Maria Elizabeth Harshman in Rockingham County, Virginia in 1817. This Peter Jonas Pence was also born in Rockingham County, Virginia on the 11^th of October 1797 and died on the 27^th of August 1864 in Preble Co., Ohio where they were buried.  Their known children were: Delilah Pence, Rosabel E.Pence, Andrew J.Pence, and Peter Milton Pence.

Without the aid of today’s technology [phones, copy machines, computers, photographs and easy methods of travel], it was extremely difficult to determine who served from a regiment in any geographic area.  Personally, I have nineteen proven ancestors who served in the War of 1812 just on mother’s Shenandoah Valley side of my family.  Many of these exact same men served in regiments which saw duty on the coastal regions as well as in the Ohio Country.  Also, many of these exact same men served in the American Revolution and then later, alongside their own sons during the War of 1812. 

If we add all of this together and then, throw in the horrible diseases which wiped out many members of the same family, fires which burned down homes, the scarcity of paper upon which to write down family events as they occurred, all make it easier to understand that government agents of the period had a difficult time in deciding which claim to allow or to deny for lack of proof.  This is why many original family bible records were torn or cut out of Bibles and submitted with the applications, thus became part of many of these men’s pension records.

1885 Atlas Page County, Virginia

The 1885 Page County, Virginia Atlas shows Sophia Pence as living just east of Alma on the south side of Stoney Run in the Shenandoah Ironworks District of Page County, Virginia. Marriage Records and Page County, Virginia Federal Census Records identify the following known children of Peter and Sophia (Aleshire) Pence:

Generation Seven

1. HENRY PENCE was born in 1825 in Virginia and appears to have died in the War Between the States, but no record has yet been found to document this fact.  He married Susan R. Croft on the 3^rd of May 1852 in Page County, Virginia. Susan R. Croft was born in January 1832 in Virginia, the daughter of Jacob Croft. Susan A. Pence was living alone in Page County in 1900. She most probably was the "Mrs. Pence" who was living across from Sophia Aleshire Pence near Stoney Run in Marksville District as is shown on the 1885 Atlas.

2. MARY (POLLY) PENCE was born in 1827 in Virginia.  She married Abraham Aleshire [Aleshite] on the 21^st of May 1844 in Page County, Virginia.   Abraham Aleshire [Aleshite] was born in Virginia in 1827, the son of Jacob Aleshire[Aleshite].  They are cited on the Page County Federal Census in 1850. 

A.J. Rinehart Gravestone

3. ELIZABETH PENCE was born the 26^th of November 1827 in Virginia.  She died on the 5^th of February 1891 and is buried in the Rinehart [Rhinehart] Family Cemetery at Battle Creek, Page County, Virginia. Elizabeth married Andrew Jackson Rinehart [Rhinehart] on the 8^th of November 1849 in Page County, Virginia.   Andrew Jackson Rinehart [Rhinehart] was the son of Adam and Mary Price Rinehart [Rhinehart].  Andrew Jackson  Rinehart [Rhinehart] was born on the 6^th of November 1828 in Shenandoah County, Virginia, and died on the 6^th of November 1862.   He is also buried in the Rinehart [Rhinehart] Family Cemetery at Battle Creek, Page County, Virginia.  He is not cited on the 1850 Page County, Virginia Federal Census, but is shown on the Page County, Virginia Federal Census in 1860.

4. HARRISON PENCE was born in 1829 in Virginia and died of disease [diarrhea] on the 12^th of August 1864 while serving in the Confederate Army as a “Prisoner of War” at Elmira Prison in Chemung County, New York.  He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Gravesite 44, at Elmira.  Harrison Pence enlisted on the 16^th of April 1862 at Rude's Hill, Virginia.  As a private, he was mustered into F Co., 2^nd Virginia Infantry.  He was captured and taken as a “Prisoner of War” on the 12^th of May 1864 at Spotsylvania Court House, Spotsylvania County, Virginia.  He was confined in Elmire Prison on the 2^nd of August 1864.

5. WILLIAM PENCE was born in 1830 in Shenandoah County, Virginia and died on the 27^th of February 1863 at Richmond, Virginia.  He married Rebecca Short on the 14^th of February 1856 in Page County, Virginia.  Rebecca Short was born in Virginia in1824.  After William’s death she married William Fleming on the 2^nd of Aug 1866 in Page County, Virginia. During the War Between the States, William Pence was among several soldiers in his unit who were charged with desertion.  It was decided that one of these men must be executed as an example.  The victim was to be determined by drawing straws. William drew the short straw and on the 28^th of February 1863 he was shot by a firing squad at Camp Winder near Richmond, Virginia. William Pence enlisted on the 4^th of April 1862 as a private.  He gave his residence as Leakesville, Page County, Virginia. He was mustered into H Co., 33^rd Virginia Infantry known as "the Page Grays."  He was listed as "Deserted" on the 20^th of April 1862 at Elk Run “Elkton,” Virginia, only two weeks after his enlistment.  He was reported as "Returned" on the 21^st of December 1862, place not stated.

6. ABRAHAM PENSE was born on the 27^th of November 1832 in Page County, Virginia. The 1900 Federal Census of Keya Paha County, Nebraska cites his birth year as 1834.  He was a twin to CATHARINE PENCE [No.7 below].  Abraham Pence died on the 24^th of November 1912 in Keya Paha County, Nebraska.  He is buried in the Springview Cemetery, Keya Paha County, Nebraska. Abraham Pence married Sarah Eliza Humphrey on the 15^th of August 1862 in Cedar County, Iowa.  Sarah Eliza Humphrey was born the daughter of the Rev. Aaron Humphrey and Betsey Starr on the 25^th of February 1846 at Tipton, Cedar County, Iowa.  She died on the 1^st of February 1923 in Keya Paha County, Nebraska and is buried in Springview Cemetery, Keya Paha County, Nebraska.  Abraham Pence removed to Cedar County, Iowa in 1857.  He enlisted in the Union Army on the 15^th of August 1862 as a private. On the 29^th of August he was mustered into Co. B of the 24th Iowa Volunteer Infantry.  He was transferred out of this company on the 20^th of November 1863 and into the Veteran Reserve Corps from which he was discharged on the 29^th of June 1865 at Davenport, Scott County, Iowa.  In 1880, they were in Story County, Iowa and 1884 they removed to Keya Paha County, Nebraska.  The story is that as his name was spelled Pense on his army record, he chose to maintain that same spelling for his family.

7. CATHARINE PENCE was born on the 27^th of November 1832 in Page County, Virginia.  She was a twin to Abraham Pense [No. 6 above]. Catharine Pence married John Nauman [Newman] on the 22^nd of August 1867 in Page County, Virginia.  John Nauman was born in 1815 in Page County, Virginia, the son of David and Catherine Nauman. In the 1860 Page County, Virginia Federal Census, Catharine Pence is living in John Nauman’s household at Alma under the name, Catherine Pence with the child, Charles Pence.  John Nauman was apparently a widower with some eight children. In the 1870 Page County Federal Census, the child Charles is shown as Charles Nauman, age ten years.  In the 1870 Page County, Virginia Federal Census there are several older Nauman children and one named Mary J. Nauman, age four years and also an unnamed Nauman child, one month old. In the Page County, Virginia 1880 Federal Census, the household consists of John Nawman, age sixty-four, Catherine, age forty-seven, Charles P.  age twenty-one, Mary S., age fourteen, and Ada Lee Nawman, age ten years.

8. ISAAC NEWTON PENCE was born in 1836 in Page County, Virginia.  He died on the 30^th of July 1864 in Petersburg, Virginia.  During the War Between the States he was killed at a battle at Ream's Station.  He is buried "in a fence row at Alma" in Page County, Virginia.  Isaac Newton Pence married Harriet F. Short, the daughter of Richard and Mary Short, on the 17^th of June 1858 at her father's home in Page County, Virginia.  Harriet F. Short was born in 1840 in Page County.  She lived in Marksville and died in 1923 and is buried in Seventh Day Adventist Church Cemetery, Stanley, Page County, Virginia.

9. JOHN WESLEY PENCE who was known as Wesley Pence was born in May 1838 in Virginia.  He married Harriet A. Stephens about 1871, most probably in Iowa. Harriet A. Stephens was born in September 1848 in Pennsylvania.  Wesley Pence was cited as living alone in the 1860 Page County, Virginia Federal Census at Grove Hill, Page County, Virginia.  Reportedly he served in the Confederate States Army [possibly he was one of the two John Pence’s who served in the 33rd Virginia Infantry]. Following the War Between the States, Wesley Pence removed to Iowa, and from there to Nebraska, following his older brother, Abraham.  In the 1870 Cedar County, Iowa Federal Census he was cited as living with his brother, Abraham Pence [age 34, born Virginia] and his family in Center Twp. This census cited Wesley Pence [age 38, born Virginia].  Wesley and Harriet A. Stephens were in Grant Twp, Lyon County, Iowa, in the1880 Federal Census and in Boyd County, Nebraska, as cited in the 1900 Federal Census.   This son of Peter and Sophia Aleshire Pence was cited as Wesley Pence in the 1850, 1860 and 1870 Federal Census while in the 1880 Federal Census he was called John and then in 1900 and 1920 he was cited as John W. Pence.

10. MARY ANN PENCE was born in 1840 in Page County, Virginia.  She married Albert Doffelmoyer [Dofflemyer, Dofflemier], the son of Jacob and Nancy Dofflemoyer on the 8^th of December 1867 in Page County, Virginia. This daughter of Peter and Sophia Aleshire Pence is cited as being age eleven in the 1850 Page County, Virginia Federal Census, as age eighteen years in the 1860 Page County, Virginia Federal Census, as twenty-five in the Page County, Virginia Federal Census, and as age twenty-three years on her marriage record dated the 8^th of December 1867 in Page County, Virginia.  Albert Doffelmoyer was born in 1844 in Page County, Virginia.  Mary Ann Pence was living in Page County with her mother in the 1850 Page County, Virginia Federal Census.  In the 1860 Page County, Virginia Federal Census she was cited as living in the home of Harrison C. and Minerva J. Dovel at Leaksville, Page County, Virginia. Albert and Mary Ann Pence Doffelmoyer lived in Shenandoah, Page County as he is cited as being a teamster in the 1870 Page County, Virginia Federal Census.  Mary Ann Pence Doffelmoyer was apparently dead by the 4^th of November 1873, when Albert Doffelmoyer married Adeline Douglas as his second wife. As the 1880 Page County, Virginia Federal Census names only children of Albert and Adeline Douglas Doffelmoyer, it most probable that Mary Ann Pence Doffelmoyer died during childbirth as she apparently left no living children.

11. CHRISTINA PENCE was born in 1842 in Virginia.  She married Joseph S. Nauman [Newman] on the 25^th of April 1867 in Page County, Virginia. The 1870 Page County, Virginia Federal Census of Page County cites Joseph S. Nauman, age twenty-five, wife Mary A., age eighteen, and William Pence, age eleven living in their household. This William Pence is most probably the oldest child of Isaac Newton Pence who had been killed a few years earlier during the War Between the States.

12. SUSANNAH PENCE was born in 1846 in Virginia.  She married Henry T. Pettit, the son of Elijah and Mary C. Pettit on the 21^st of December 1874 in Page County, Virginia.  Henry T. Pettit was born in 1854.

13. HENRIETTA PENCE was born in 1847 in Virginia. She was the mother of one son even though she remained unmarried.  

14. AMBROSE MARTIN [A. M. or MARTIN A.] PENCE was born on the 18^th of September 1848 in Virginia.  He died on the 5^th of July 1925 at the age of seventy-four years, nine months and seventeen days.  He is supposedly buried in Nauman [Newman] Family Cemetery, Stanley, Page County, Virgina, although there is a gravestone for him in Leake's Chapel Cemetery at Stanley with the preceding date of death and age.  This gravestone also states, "erected by a daughter."  Ambrose Martin Pence married Virenda Love Nauman about 1882 in Maryland. Virenda Love Nauman was born on the 5^th of January 1852 and died on the 8^th of March 1902.  She is buried in the Nauman Cemetery in Page County, Virginia.

The John and Ann Rogers Clark Family

The Clark Family

Gravestone - John and Ann Rogers Clark

John and Ann Rogers Clark were both from families which were Virginia landowners.  After their marriage they moved to a four hundred acre farm given to John Clark by his father, Jonathan. This land was located on the Rivanna River, two miles east of Charlottesville and two and one-half miles northwest of Shadwell, where Thomas Jefferson was born. In 1757, the Clarks sold this property and moved to a small farm in the southwest corner of Caroline County, Virginia, which had been left to John Clark by his uncle, John Clark.

Five of John and Ann Rogers Clark’s sons were officers in the American Revolution and all would eventually move to Kentucky.  Two of the brothers, George Rogers and William, became famous for their exploits on behald of the United States in acquiring and exploring the western two thirds of our nation.  Two of the brothers, John and Richard, died in the “War for Independence.”

Known children of John and Ann Rogers Clark:

Gravestone of Jonathan Clark

1.   1.  Jonathan Clark [b. 1 Aug 1750 in Albemarle County, Virginia – d. 25 Nov 1811 at Trough Spring, near Louisville, Kentucky.] - He and his wife, Sarah Hite, are buried in Cave Hill Cemetery near Louisville, Kentucky. 

As a young man Jonathan Clark served as Deputy Clerk in the office of the Clerk of Spotsylvania County, Virginia. In 1772, he moved to Woodstock, Dunsmore County, Virginia. About this same time, trouble began between the Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, and the patriotic citizens of Virginia which led to Lord Dunsmore seizing the public powder belonging to the Virginia Colony. This led to a colonial uprising to regain possession of the powder.  A lieutenant of an independent company of riflemen, Clark marched towards Williamsburg to achieve that goal. Clark's company returned home without bloodshed.  He and John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg were again sent as delegates to the Virginia Convention which met at Richmond from 2^nd October through the 28^th of December 1775.  In the spring of 1776, Clark was promoted to the captaincy of a company (commissioned 4^th  March), which advanced from Woodstock to Portsmouth, and was engaged in several skirmishes with the adherents of the Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, who had fled the capital and taken refuge on an English ship.

Soon Dunsmore County was renamed Shenandoah County.  Jonathan Clark was selected, along with the celebrated minister, John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, to serve as delegates from the county in an important convention held at Richmond.

Early the next summer, Clark marched with Muhlenberg's Regiment and other troops to Charleston, South Carolina.  They arrived on the 24^th of June, and were at once involved in the important military movements occurring in that vicinity. Clark was ordered further south in August.  At Savannah he was seized with a dangerous illness which so affected him that he was unable to perform his military duties, and thus, he returned home on furlough that fall. In the spring of 1777, when he had almost recovered from this long illness he contracted small-pox.

As soon as he recovered enough to do so, he returned to the army serving under George Washington at the Bound Brook encampment, and with the Eighth Virginia Regiment, in the Brigade of General Charles Scott.  Clark participated in the Battle of Brandywine and aided in breaking the British right wing at Germantown. He was also in the Battle of Monmouth in 1778, and in 1779 served with great distinction in the surprise of the enemy at Paulus Hook.  On this important occasion he was second in command, having been previously promoted to Major by Congress. One hundred and fifty-nine of the enemy was captured in this affair, with a loss to the Americans of only two killed and three wounded. So important was the result that General Washington hastened to communicate it to congress in a highly complementary manner. He said, "that a remarkable degree of prudence, address, enterprise and bravery was displayed on the occasion, which does the highest honor to all the officers and men engaged in it, and that the situation of the fort rendered the attempt critical and the success brilliant."  Congress returned thanks and ordered a gold medal to be made in honor of the event, and fifteen thousand dollars to be distributed among the rank and file who participated in the enterprise. Major Clark was highly complimented in letters from Lord Sterling and other officers, and in November, Congress promoted Clark to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, retroactive from the previous May.

The following winter, Clark and the Virginia Regiment plus other troops, marched to the south, reaching Charleston the last of March 1780.  On the 12th of May, the American army, then under command of General Lincoln, was compelled to surrender to the enemy. Colonel Clark was held as a prisoner in Charleston until the spring of 1781, when he was paroled and allowed to return to Virginia.  He was not formally exchanged until after the surrender of Cornwallis.

Jonathan Clark married Sarah Hite, daughter of Isaac Hite, Sr., and the granddaughter of Joist Heydt / Hite on 13^th of Feb 1782. He settled for a time in Spotsylvania County, and was commissioned as a Major Ggeneral of the Virginia Militia in 1793.
 

Brigader General George Rogers Clark

2.      George Rogers Clark [b. 19 November 1752 in Albemarle County, Virginia - d. 13^th February 1818 near Louisville, Kentucky] – George Roger Clark's boyhood was most probably typical of many others in rural Virginia.  He would have learned to plant, hunt, ride, trap and wrestle.  He probably received most of his schooling at home or from relatives who lived not far from the home of young Thomas Jefferson, with whom he sustained a lifelong friendship and mutual interests in Native American tribes, archaeology, science, and the flora and fauna of America.

It is believed by many historians, though the facts are not proven by records of the school, that when George was eleven years of age, he and his brother,  Jonathan Clark were sent to live with their maternal grandfather,  John Rogers, in order that they would be able to attend a private school on the Mattaponi River run by their uncle, Donald Robertson.  Others known to have been enrolled in the school at this time were James Madison, John Tyler [Taylor] and possibly Thomas Jefferson.  If this is true, this schooling was probably the only formal education which George Rogers Clark received. From his later journals, we learn that he almost invariably purchased books whenever he returned to Williamsburg, so he must have been well-read. His writing is well above average for the period.

In 1770, when George Rogers Clark was eighteen years of age, his youngest brother, William Clark, was born. This brother would later gain fame as one of the leaders of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  The Clarks grew up in a close knit family consisting of ten children, six sons and four daughters, who maintained affectionate ties throughout their lives. At about this same time, George learned the techniques of surveying from his grandfather, John Rogers.

Despite the British laws against settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains, many young Virginians were crossing over into Kentucky in quest of adventure and to acquire land. In 1772, after just turning twenty years of age, George Rogers Clark left on a surveying trip to the “West”.  Standing well over six feet two inches tall,  rugged and handsome with a fine physique, red hair, and a temper to go with it, George Rogers Clark was the epitomize of the American frontiersman.   He willingly shared in all the hardships of his men and “talked” their language as well. During the next four years, he located land for himself, his family and many other friends in Virginia.  He obtained "a good deal of cash by surveying."  He also acted as a guide for other settlers. Commissioned a Captain in the Virginia Militia, Clark saw extensive campaigning in Lord Dunmore's War against the Shawnee Indians in 1774. He gained recognition as a formidable Indian fighter, known as “The Long Knife.”  With a flair for the dramatic, he was very skilled in the high-flown, metaphorical oratory which the Indians appreciated.

In 1775, the Ohio Land Company engaged him to lay out its tracts on the Kentucky River. Clark made his home in Harrodsburg, the first settlement in Kentucky. Quickly emerging as a dominant figure, he led the Kentuckians in their successful efforts to be formally annexed as a Virginia County.  With increased Indian harassment of the Kentucky settlers in 1776, Clark attended a meeting of representatives from all the forts at Harrodsburg, Kentucky.  He and another delegate were elected to go to Virginia to seek a more definite connection between Kentucky and Virginia.  They wanted recognition and protection as a Virginia county, and failing this, Clark advocated the formation of a separate state.  His father’s friend and attorney, Virginia’s Governor Patrick Henry, and the Executive Council of Virginia granted him five hundred pounds of gunpowder for the defense of Kentucky, and the General Assembly of Virginia made Kentucky a county of Virginia.
 

Governor Patrick Henry

The fact that the Kentucky settlers entrusted Clark, at the age of twenty-four, with such great responsibility, and that he was sufficiently persuasive to bring the Virginia General Assembly including a number of important men around to his way of thinking was indicative of his personal charisma, speaking abilities, leadership and qualities of mind.  The fear and respect which he inspired in his Indian enemies indicated that he was a formidable warrior.  Contemporary records show that he enjoyed an unusual rapport with his men, inspiring them to believe that they were unbeatable and firing them with an eagerness for battle. It is important to note that even after he had lost favor in the East, he was still the leader of choice on the frontier among the men who best knew his capabilities.

He was also a leader in the formation of frontier governments.  Whenever possible he used bluff and diplomacy in dealing with the Indians rather than choosing battle.  When in later life, he retired to Clarksville, the Indian chiefs and warriors still came to smoke the “pipe of peace and friendship” with their conqueror, calling him "the first man living, the great and invincible long-knife."

In the year of the "Bloody '77,” Clark returned the gunpowder to Kentucky settlements which were being continually attacked.  During this time it was difficult to plant or harvest crops to sustain the settlers through the coming winter.  Clark learned that the "hair buyer" [Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton] was paying the Indians for prisoners and scalps in Detroit and supplying them from posts in the Illinois country. After receiving reports from two spies he had sent to the Illinois country, Clark returned to Virginia to outline a plan of attack to Governor Patrick Henry. He received authority from the Virginia General Assembly to raise a force for the defense of Kentucky. He was given a commission as Lieutenant Colonel over a force of seven companies with fifty men per company.  Secretly, Patrick Henry had given him written orders to attack Kaskaskia and other posts in the Illinois Country.
 

Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton
The Hair Buyer

With battles raging in the East, Clark had difficulty raising the authorized force. He finally set out from Redstone and Fort Pitt with only one hundred fifty frontiersmen plus some twenty settlers with their families. Reaching the “Falls of the Ohio,” they established a supply base on Corn Island and were joined by a handful of reinforcements from the Holston River settlements.  When Clark revealed his plan to attack Kaskaskia he was hard-pressed to prevent desertions.

On 26^th Jun 1778, one hundred seventy-five men left for Kaskaskia. They "shot the falls" during a total eclipse of the sun and concluded that this was a good omen for the campaign which was most probably Clark's own suggestion.  With oars, double-manned, they avoided detection and reached the mouth of the Tennessee River where they hid the boats and marched overland for six days. They then dressed in Indian fashion and proceeded single-file in order to leave fewer tracks to reveal their presence.

They surprised Kaskaskia on the night of July 4^th, occupying the fort and the town without a shot being fired. Clark offered the French inhabitants "all of the privileges of American citizenship" in return for their oath of allegiance and safe conduct out of the area. This offer and the news of the recent French-American alliance won their support. Captain Bowman was then dispatched to Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher and St. Phillip where these communities also accepted Clark's terms without resistance.

Kaskaskia's priest, Father Gibault, went to Vincennes and secured the allegiance of the French there to Clark.   Captain Helm was sent to take command of Fort Sackville. Meanwhile, at Kaskaskia, Clark used August and September to gather Indian tribes from as far away as five hundred miles. He offered them the red belt of war or the white belt of peace, and by his understanding of the Indian concept of manhood and some skillfully applied "bluff" he succeeded in winning their neutrality during the coming campaign.

Learning of Clark's occupation of Kaskaskia, Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton [the hair buyer] gathered his forces at Detroit and traveled down the Maumee and Wabash Rivers, reaching Vincennes on 17^th December, Captain Helm was forced to surrender. Hamilton made an ill-fated decision to postpone the attack on Kaskaskia until spring using the time to strengthen the fortifications at Sackville. He sent his Indian allies home for the winter.  A Spanish trader, Francis Vigo, was permitted to leave Vincennes for St. Louis.  He promptly reported Hamilton's plans to Clark.

Clark realized that his small force could not hold the Illinois posts if Hamilton was given sufficient time to gather his forces.  Clark boldly decided to move immediately on Vincennes during "the depth of winter."  He wrote to Patrick Henry, saying that if he failed "this country and also Kentucky is lost."

On 6^th February 1779, Clark supplied and outfitted the armed galley "Willing" which was to rendezvous with the rest of Clark’s force on the Wabash down river from Vincennes. Mounted on a handsome horse, Clark led one hundred seventy-two men, nearly half of which were French volunteers, from Kaskaskia. They marched the two hundred forty miles through flooded country, often shoulder deep in water, sending out hunting parties for food and sleeping on the bare ground.  It required seventeen days to make what was normally a five or six day trip. Clark kept the spirits of the men high, encouraging them to sing, and regaling them with the actions of "an antic drummer boy who floated by on his drum."

On 23^rd February, they surprised Vincennes.  Clark ordered that all of the company's flags be marched back and forth behind a slight rise to convince the British that there were six hundred men rather than the actual number of fewer than two hundred. They opened fire on the fort with such accuracy that the British were prevented from opening their gun ports.  On the morning of the third day, 25^th February, Hamilton surrendered and was sent to Williamsburg as a prisoner. The British never regained control of these posts.  In 1781, Clark was commissioned a Brigadier General by Thomas Jefferson in recogniation  of his accomplishment.  Had it not been for General Clark and his men, the Northwest.

Territory might have remained in British hands.  Clark’s victories doubled the size of the United States, but his goal was to capture Detroit.    It was a goal he would never realize because Clark was in financial trouble due to the fact that he was forced to assume personal responsibility by signing promissory notes in order to obtain supplies for his army. Clark had incurred many expenses during his campaigns and was never able to obtain repayment from either Virginia or the United States Congress. Inflation rates as high as fifty-five thousand per cent ran up costs and, when he submitted his receipts, the government of Virginia didn’t believe the amount Clark spent was accurate or true.  They then claimed they had lost his receipts and so could not verify what he had verbally told them he had spent and the General  Assenbly of Virginia granted Clark a sword and half pay of four hundred dollars a year instead of previous agreements.   In 1913, at Richmond, Virginia, someone found in a storeroom seventy bundles wrapped in crumbling paper.  When they were opened, they were found to be the receipts of General George Rogers Clark, the hero of the old Northwest which had never been paid.

General James Wilkinson, a double agent in the pay of Spain, coveted Clark’s command and his post as Indian Commissioner.  After a deliberate campaign to discredit Clark by gossip and falsehood, claiming that Clark was a drunk and unfit to command and that Clark had inflated the actual costs of his supplies, retaining the money for himself.  The General was stung by these accusations and resigned from the military.   Wilkinson was then appointed Indian Commissioner in the west by Wilkerson and his cronies which was their goal all along.

At the Treaty of Paris in 1783, these American claims in the old Northwest served as the basis of the cession of these lands to the United States.  The British withdrew from Detroit, and the Great Lakes became the northern boundary of the United States.

Clark continued to led military actions in the Northwest until the end of the War in 1783, and in 1784, he was named as a principal surveyor of public lands set aside for the men who served in the Virginia State Military Forces. Clark’s interest turned to the north shore of the Ohio to the one hundred fifty thousand acres given to him in 1779 by the Piankeshaw.  The General was forced by Virginia law to cede this land and Virginia, strapped for cash to pay the Illinois Regiment for their service, created the Illinois Grant/Clark’s Grant, to pay her soldiers.  George Rogers Clark was appointed to oversee the distribution of land to his men according to their rank. Clark received about eight thousand acres, most of which was sold to pay his debt which amounted to about thirty thousand dollars.  In 1783, he was asked by Thomas Jefferson if he might like to lead an expedition to the west, long a desire in Jefferson’s mind. Clark replied that he had no money to undertake such a thing and that his health was not good.  The nerves in Clark’s legs had been severely damaged by his trek through the icy water to capture Vincennes and he walked thereafter with a cane.

Desperate to make money, he built a mill in 1785 at Clarksville, Indiana Territory, a town he laid out and named for himself.  But this town did not prosper.  Clark was appointed an Indian Commissioner after the war, and in 1786 he helped negotiate a treaty with the Shawnees. That same year, he led an expedition against the Wabash tribes and seized goods taken to Vincennes by Spanish traders.

In 1790, Clark invented a self-propelled oar boat which he sought to patent.  A patent would have guaranteed him the rights to shipping on the river and would have earned him money to pay on the debt; but, someone else patented a boat and they received the rights.

Clark was hounded by creditors for the remainder of his life and finally only held in his own name, the land he retired to in Clarksville, Indiana in 1803 where he had built a two-room cabin on a beautiful point of land overlooking the falls of the Ohio.  There he lived with two servants, operating a grist mill in the town.
 

Thomas Jefferson

He corresponded frequently with Thomas Jefferson and over the years sent him many specimens for his private museum from the Indiana - Ohio area. Ever interested in natural history, Clark made archaeological excavations at Clarksville.  He became an expert on the wooly mammoth, sending many of their bones to Jefferson.  His interest in Native Americans continued.  No matter where Clark lived, there was always an encampment of Indians nearby.  Tribes would bring their young braves to meet the great Long Knife, as they called him.  Clark greatly enjoyed these visits which inevitably became drinking and bragging contests.  Buckongahelas, the Delaware war chief, was particularly fond of General Clark as they enjoyed insulting each other.

In 1802, Clark wrote to President Jefferson requesting that Jefferson consider his brother, William, living at Clarksville, for any service to the country for which he might be needed.  Jefferson was already planning his expedition to the westward and educating his young secretary, Merriwether Lewis, for this task.  Lewis knew William Clark, having served under him at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1792 with Gen. “Mad”Anthony Wayne.  In the summer of 1803, William Clark received a letter from Lewis, asking him to join what became the Lewis and Clark Expedition. When Captain Lewis arrived at Clarksville in October of 1803, the men Clark had already recruited were sworn into the army and they set off on the greatest exploration in American history.

In 1805, it was revealed that General James Wilkerson, Clark’s old foe, was part of the Aaron Burr Conspiracy.  That revelation came too late to help General Clark who was embittered, sick and frail.  Clark was now living in a small log house at Clark’s Point on the bluff overlooking the river, alone except for Kitt and Daphne, Old Henry, and Ben and Vensus McGee, his servants.   Clark whiled away his time by riding a favorite horse, hunting and fishing, and reading from his library.  According to his nieces, the General mourned his lost love when he was drinking, telling them they might have had a very elegant aunt, had his life turned out differently.  No name has come down to us, although there are references to her in correspondence from the general’s friends.

One December day in 1809, Clark was by the fireplace when he had a stroke and fell with his right knee near the fire.  It was badly burned, became infected, and was amputated without anesthetic on 25 March 1810 at his sister Frances’ home in Louisville.  At Clark's request two fifers and two drummers played outside for two hours during the operation.  His family determined that Clark would quit Indiana.  Locust Grove, eight miles from Louisville, Kentucky, the home of his sister, Lucy Croghan and her husband, Major William Croghan, became his home for the last nine years of his life.

He suffered a third stroke and died at the age of sixty-six on the 13^th February 1818. He was buried at Locust Grove until 1869 when he was re-interred in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.  In his funeral oration, Judge John Rowan said, "The mighty oak of the forest has fallen, and now the scrub oaks may sprout all around .... The father of the western country is no more."

Clark was indisputably a hero to the people of the West.  Many of his accomplishments were unknown in the East. He has been lauded by historians as “the man who won the West,” clearing the way for American diplomats to secure the Mississippi River as the western boundary of the United States in the 1783 Treaty of Paris.

The nation's failure to reward Clark for his remarkable accomplishments in an adequate manner was probably due to many factors:

1.      1. An obsession with events in the East.

2.      2. A failure to recognize the magnitude of his achievement.

3.      3. A f

ailure to understand the importance of the Northwest Territory to the future development of the United States.

4.      4.  The distance which separated the western country from the seat of power residing in the East.

5.      5. The slander committed against him by lesser men who plotted against him in order to gain political power in Kentucky.

Gravestone Ann Clark Gwathmey

3.      Ann Clark Gwathmey  [b. in Virginia d. near Louisville, Kentucky] - She became the wife of Owen Gwathmey, a soldier in the Revolutionary War.  They moved west after the war and settled at, or near, Louisville, where he became a successful business man. They raised a large family of children. It is notable that three of their children [John, Samuel and Ann Gwathmey] married three of their first cousins, the children [Ann, Mary and William Booth] of Colonel William Aylett Booth and his wife, Rebecca Hite who was a sister of General Jonathan Clark's wife.

4.      4.  John Clark  [15 Sep 1757 in Albemarle County, Virginia – d. 1784 in Caroline County, Virginia] - When his eldest brother, Jonathan Clark, vacated the position of Deputy Clerk of Dunmore County, in 1776, John Clark was given this position as he, John Clark had already assisted his brother in the affairs of this office for some time and was familiar with the duties of this position.

In August 1777, he left the position of Deputy Clerk of Dunmore County with his appointment as a Lieutenant in the Fourth Virginia Regiment. The month following John Clark entered service participating in the Battle of Brandywine.  The month following he was in the Battle of Germantown. The division of the army to which he belonged broke the British right wing at Germantown and captured a considerable number of prisoners. They were forced to retreat, being surrounded.  A portion was captured, including Lieutenant John Clark, Colonel George Mathews and other Virginians.

At first, Lieutenant John Clark was held as a prisoner in Philadelphia, then in possession of the British, where, for a time he was kept in what was called the "New Jail."  In the summer of 1778 he was moved to Long Island, New York and kept there [or in the neighborhood] for several years.  Finally John Clark was confined in one of the prison ships, which caused the death of a great number of American prisoners due to inhuman treatment.  When he was exchanged in 1782, John Clark returned to his father's home in Caroline County, Virginia with consumption.  He was a physical wreck due to the treatment he had received as a prisoner of war.  He, like many others, sought relief in the West Indies but the disease had progressed too far for anything to save him. He died at his father's house in 1784, at the age of twenty-seven years. His death caused much sorrow in the community and added to the indignation felt by Virginians towards the British for their cruel treatment of American prisoners.

5.        Richard Clark [b. 1760 in Caroline County, Virginia - d. Mar 1784] - He joined his brother, George Rogers Clark, at Kaskaskia in March, 1779. He served for a short time as a volunteer in Captain Robert Todd's Company and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in June, 1779. He was a member of the party which marched to the relief of Cahokia in 1780.  He was also in the Campaign against the Indians near Peoria. Richard Clark was stationed for some time at Fort Jefferson.  He went to the Falls of the Ohio in the summer of 1781. The next year he was with his brother in the campaign against the Indians.  Lieutenant Richard Clark was allotted two thousand one hundred and fifty-six acres of land [Nos. 15, 18, 191, 274 and part of 160] in Clark's Grant, Indiana, for his services in the Illinois campaign.

He lost his life in March, 1784, most probably in Indiana.  Alone, he had begun a long and dangerous journey via horse back from the falls of the Ohio to Vincennes or possibly Kaskaskia. The particulars are still unknown.  It was assumed that he had drowned while trying to cross a stream. His horse, saddle-bags and some other items were found on the bank of the White River which is pretty clear evidence that he was not killed by the Indians as they would have taken the horse. The family long entertained the hope that he might not be dead. There was another tradition which named the Little Wabash as the river where his horse was found, but this is not probable as it is unlikely from the reports that he was planning to go further than Vincennes.

Gravestone Captain Edmund Clark

6.       Captain Edmund Clark [b. 25 Sep 1762 in Virginia - d. 11Mar 1815 Jefferson County, Kentucky] - At the time that Virginia was exerting to raise troops for the relief of Charleston, Edmund Clark, then under eighteen years of age and at school, was appointed a Lieutenant in the Eighth Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army which was the celebrated German Regiment raised by Colonel Muhlenberg.  After Muhlenberg’s promotion to General, this regiment was commanded by Colonel Abraham Bowman, a brother of Joseph and Isaac Bowman, sons of George Bowman, who were prominent officers in George Rogers Clark's Illinois campaign. The Eighth Virginia was distinguished in the war, but the extent of young Edmund Clark's participation is not clearly known.  It is said that he was held as a prisoner by the British and not exchanged until the close of 1782. When the war was over he returned to Caroline County, Virginia, where he engaged in business for several years. In January, 1799, he was given a Captain’s commission by President Adams who was expecting problems with France.  Soon the troops were disbanded as this threat  was found not to be as serious as was had been anticipated.  Edmund Clark emigrated to Jefferson County, Kentucky where he remained with his many relatives who were already living there.  He died on the 11th of March, 1815. Like his brother, George Rogers Clark, he never married.

The inventory of the personal property of Captain Edmund Clark was filed on the 8^th of May1815, in Jefferson County, Kentucky by D. Fitzhugh, administrator of his estate which was appraised at a total of $2,641.25 [Book 2, pp. 136,137].  He is buried by the side of his distinguished brothers, General George Rogers Clark and General Jonathan Clark, in the Cave Hill Cemetery at Louisville, Kentucky.
 

7.       . Lucy Clark Croghan  [b.15 Sep 1767 in Caroline County, Virginia – d. April, 1838] - Lucy Clark was the second daughter of John and Ann Rogers Clark.  She was the wife of William Croghan, who had come to America from Ireland when he was quite young. He was the nephew of the celebrated George Croghan, who was long in the employ of the British as an Indian agent under Sir William Johnson.  Like his uncle, William Croghan took sides with the Americans and joined a company of Washington’s army, in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. He was assigned to Colonel Weedon's Virginia Regiment, shortly after the Battle of Long Island, and continued in active service for many years.

Major Croghan witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, but took no part, as he was under parole. He was a delegate from Jefferson County to the Kentucky Conventions in 1789 and 1790.  He served as one of the commissioners to divide the land in George Rogers Clark's Grant.

For many years, General George Rogers Clark lived at this couple’s home near Louisville, Kentucky.  He died there 13 Feb 1818.

The children of William and Lucy Clark Croghan were as follows:

71.  John Croghan was a prominent physician who long resided at the old family home where he was noted for his gracious hospitality and the care of his family’s historical papers.

72.  George Croghan - George married a Miss ____ Livingston and greatly distinguished himself as a soldier at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, and in the Mexican War. He was a Major at the time of his successful defense of Fort Stephenson at Lower Sandusky in the War of 1812, and won great fame for this even though he was then barely twenty-one years of age. Congress presented him a medal. General William Henry Harrison, in his official report of this affair says, "It will not be among the least of General Proctor's mortifications that he has been baffled by a youth who has just passed his twenty-first year. He is, however, a hero worthy of his gallant uncle, General George R. Clark."  A monument was erected on the site of Fort Stephenson at Fremont, Ohio, in honor of Major Croghan's gallantry in holding this fort.  McAfee’s  History of the War of 1812 states, "The brevet rank of Lieutenant Colonel was immediately conferred on Major Croghan by the President of the United States for his gallant conduct, and the ladies of Chillicothe presented him an elegant sword, accompanied by a suitable address."

73. Charles Croghan –twin Nicholas Croghan

74. Nicholas Croghan- twin to Charles Croghan

75. William Croghan

76. Edmund Croghan

77. Ann Croghan married General Thomas Jessup, Adjutant-general United States of America.

78. Eliza Croghan married George Hancock

 

Gravestone  Elizabeth Clark Anderson

8.       Elizabeth Clark Anderson  [b.11 Feb1768 Caroline County, Virginia – d.   ] - She married, ca.1787, Richard Clough Anderson, a native of Virginia. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War he entered the military as head of a company.  He served in Colonel Parker's Regiment during the winter campaigns of 1776-1777 in New Jersey.  He was at the Battles of Trenton and Princeton. He participated in the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown in 1777.  The next year he was commissioned a Major. He was also in the Battle of Monmouth. His regiment went south in the summer of 1779 and he was wounded in the assault made on Savannah from which he never entirely recovered. Colonel Parker of this regiment was killed at the siege of Charleston. Samuel Hopkins succeeded him as Colonel and Major Anderson was promoted to be Lieutenant Colonel. This is the same Samuel Hopkins who subsequently conducted two expeditions against the Indians northwest of the Ohio River. Colonel Anderson was taken prisoner at Charleston, but finally succeeded in securing an exchange and served until the close of the war. He was appointed principal surveyor of the lands granted by the State of Virginia to the soldiers of the Continental line by the act of December 1783. In July 1784 he opened his headquarters at Louisville, Kentucky.  He was a representative from Jefferson County to the Conventions at Danville in 1784 and 1788.

Colonel Anderson was married twice. His first wife was Elizabeth Clark and his second wife was Sarah Marshall, also of the Clark family.  Colonel Anderson died 16 October 1826, at Soldiers' Retreat, Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Known children of Richard and Elizabeth Clark Anderson:

81.  Richard Clough Anderson, Junior was born in 1788.  He was a member of Congress from Kentucky from 1817 to 1821. After which he represented the United States as Minister to Colombia where his wife, Elizabeth Gwathmey, died.   Elizabeth Gwathmey, daughter of Owen and Ann Clark Gwathmey was his cousin as well as his wife. His sister, Elizabeth Anderson, married their cousin and his wife's brother, Isaac R. Gwathmey. The next year, 1825, he died of yellow fever, on his way to Panama, as a Representative of the United States to a Congress of American Nations. He was noted as a gentleman of fine ability and unblemished character.

82. Colonel Robert Anderson was the renowned hero of Fort Sumter in the Civil War.

83. Larz Anderson was a prominent citizen and politician in Ohio.

84. Charles Anderson was a prominent citizen and politician in Ohio.  In 1864, he was Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and subsequently became Governor by reason of the death of Governor Brough.  He later removed to Kentucky and died there at his home.

9.       Frances Eleanor Clark [b. 20 Jan 1773 Caroline County, Virginia – d. Jun 1825 in St. Louis, Missouri] - The youngest sister of General George Rogers Clark who by all accounts was both beautiful and accomplished.  She married three times, and had two children by each marriage. Her first husband was Doctor James O'Fallon, a finely educated Irishman, who arrived in the colonies shortly before the Revolutionary War.  Soon he became an active participant on the side of the colonials.  At one time, during the war, he was in command of a military company, but during most of his military career he was one of the Directors of the Hospital Department. The second husband of Frances Eleanor Clark was Charles Mynn Thruston. Upon the death of Charles Mynn Thruston, his widow, Frances Eleanor Clark, married her cousin, Dennis Fitzhugh of the Virginia Fitzhughs. Surviving all three of her husbands, this youngest sister of George Rogers Clark died June 1825 in St. Louis, Missouri, at the home of her son, Colonel John O'Fallon.

Known children of Doctor James and Frances Eleanor Clark O'Fallon:

91. John O'Fallon, prior to the age of twenty-one years, was in military service under General William Henry Harrison and was wounded in the Tippecanoe battle. He served with distinction in the war of 1812.  He was known as Colonel John O'Fallon.

92. Benjamin O'Fallon

Known Children of Charles Mynn and Frances Eleanor Clark O’Fallon Thruston:

93. Charles William Thurston

94. Ann Clark Thurston

Known children of Dennis and Frances Eleanor Clark O’Fallon Thruston Fitzhugh:

95. Clark Fitzhugh

96. Lucy Fitzhugh
 

Governor William Clark

10.    Governor William Clark [b. 1 Aug 1770, in Caroline County, Virginia – d.     ] -William Clark, the youngest brother of George Rogers Clark, came west with his parents in 1784, joining his relatives at the falls of the Ohio. His home was in this vicinity until his departure on the celebrated, Lewis and Clark Exploring Expedition, led by both he and Meriwether Lewis traveling across the country to the Pacific Ocean in 1804-5, under the auspices of President Jefferson.

The distinguished military history of his family drew William Clark to military matters from his earliest boyhood.  When he was only nineteen years of age, he marched against the Indians northwest of the Ohio River in an expedition led by Colonel John Hardin. In 1790, he was sent on a mission to the Creek and Cherokee Indians.  In 1791, he served as an Ensign and acting Lieutenant with the expeditions under Generals Scott and Wilkinson against the Indians on the Wabash. General Washington commissioned him a First Lieutenant under General Wayne in March, 1793.

He entered active service at once, aiding in constructing forts on the line proposed to be followed into the Indian country, and in the latter part of the year he was dispatched on an expedition up the Wabash to Vincennes, which lasted several months, his boat being blocked by ice at one time for a period of twenty days.

He returned to Fort Washington, where Cincinnati, Ohio, is now situated, in the spring of 1794, having had several skirmishes with the Indians. He was next assigned the duty of escorting a large quantity of clothing and provisions to Fort Greenville. It required seven hundred pack-horses to carry the goods, and Lieutenant Clark had eighty men under his command on the journey. While on the way the advance guard of the party was attacked by Indians, five of the whites killed. Lieutenant Clark, who was with the main body of the troops, advanced rapidly upon the Indians, they retreated with some loss. He was thanked for his good conduct by General Wayne.

He distinguished himself at the successful action of August 20, 1794, when in command of a company of riflemen he drove a portion of the enemy on the left several miles, killing a number of Indians and Canadians. In 1795 he was dispatched on a military mission to New Madrid, on the Mississippi River. He resigned his commission in 1796, and for a time retired from the army, because of bad health.

For the next seven or eight years he was found most of the time about the Falls of the Ohio, either with his parents and relatives on the Kentucky side, or with his brother, General George Rogers Clark, at Clarksville, on the Indiana side. It is stated in Dr. Coue's valuable edition of the History of Lewis and Clark's Expedition that a commission was issued to him, 8 January 1790, by Arthur St. Clair, "governor of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio," as "a captain of militia in the town and vicinity of Clarksville." He was evidently residing in Indiana at that time.  This commission is in possession of his descendants.

William Clark joined Captain Meriwether Lewis in conducting an expedition through the unexplored wilderness to the Pacific Ocean in 1803, as has already been stated. The fact that President Jefferson had perfect confidence in the heads of this expedition is shown in a remarkable letter of credit which he issued in it he says: "I hereby authorize you to draw on the secretaries of state, of the treasury, of war, and of the navy of the United States, according as you may find your draughts will be most negotiable, for the purpose of obtaining money or necessaries for yourself or your men; and I solemnly pledge the faith of the United States that these draughts shall be paid punctually at the date they are made payable."

Captain Lewis had been the private secretary of President Jefferson, and the expedition was undertaken at Jefferson’s request. The winter of 1803 was spent at the mouth of the Missouri River.  Early in the spring of 1804, the party set out on the journey, from that point, , numbering forty-three men. The long journey to the Pacific and back was of great importance to the country, and therefore thrillingly interesting. Sometime after his return in September, 1806, he visited Washington and, no doubt, the place of his former residence in Virginia at the same time. At or near Fincastle, in that state, on the 5th of January, 1808, he married Miss Julia Hancock, who died June 27, 1820; and on the 28th of November, 1821, he married Mrs. Harriet Kennerly Radford, who died December 25, 1831.

Sometime after his return from the Pacific, Captain Clark was appointed to the then important position of Indian agent at St. Louis, Missouri, a place for which he possessed superior qualifications by reason of his acquaintance with the western Indian tribes, and intimate knowledge of the Indian character. He was later also made a Brigadier General of that territory, and in 1813 was made its Governor.

In the War of 1812 he was offered a commission as Brigadier General in the regular army, but did not accept it, believing that he could be of more advantage in his position as Governor and Indian agent in influencing the Indian tribes to neutrality, and there is no doubt but his services in this direction were highly beneficial.

He was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs by President Monroe in 1822, and secured many important treaties with western Indian tribes.

Governor William Clark died in St. Louis, 1 September 1838, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, universally esteemed by all who knew him. The highest respect was paid to his memory. He was buried with distinguished honors at a beautiful place he had himself selected near St. Louis, being the family cemetery on the plantation of his kinsman, General John O'Fallon.

[Note:  There were three William Clarks who were connected with Indiana History in the pioneer period.  This has been the cause of confusion and historical errors.

1.      William Clark, brother of George Rogers Clark, long survived the other two and from that cause, as well as the prominence he subsequently attained has perhaps caused matters pertaining to the other two being attributed to him.

2.      William Clark, surveyor-in-chief of Clark's Grant.

3.      William Clark, Judge of Indiana territory in 1801. "William Clark, Jurist," whom "President Adams appointed in 1800.  Chief Justice of the Territory of Indiana.  He was also Governor of Missouri Territory.  He died and was buried at Vincennes, 12 November 1802. His death is recorded in the records of St. Xavier's Church.]