Talk:William Clark

Clark
Who did William daddy Clark marry?FroggyJamer 04:43, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

He married twice: Julia Hancock and then Harriet Kennerly Radford, outliving them both.

Help Please -- ESP 00:27 4 Feb 2006 (UTC)

What did they discover [other than animals] on the Corps of Discovery?????????

Can the rumour of sexual affairs be cited? I found no source on that. Moonmaiden103 12:12, 2 November 2006 (UTC)
 * It was an addition by an IP address know to be used by a vandal and has been removed. Kablammo 02:20, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

Disambiguation Page?
Someone requested that this page be moved to William Clark (disambiguation) because this is a disambiguation page. It's not and William Clark (disambiguation) is a disambiguation page already. joturn e r 18:01, 26 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Never mind; it was a mistake on the requestor's part. He meant William Clarke. joturn e r 18:08, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Scottish-American?
I removed the description of Clark as "Scottish-American." I think in the context of describing someone born in 1770 that the natural implication of "Scottish-American" would be someone born in Scotland who moved to America, not someone born in Virginia of Scottish heritage. john k 03:03, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

i think someone should add more about the lewis and clark expedition. That's what he's known for the most, anyway. ~Pooja from Calfornia

family tree ? do you know who his the last clark in family tree at this time ? ?
Can you find out? and he was given land, where is land today? who owens the land given?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.161.25.105 (talk) 20:54, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

There are probably at least one hundred people alive today descended directly from William Clark. There is a family tree of all the known descendants you can see at the Bellefontaine Cemetary office. (I haven't ever sat and counted it all up, at least 100 is my best guess from memory)

You can find out what land Clark owned at the time of his death by looking at his will http://stlcourtrecords.wustl.edu/about-clark-probate.php

EugeniaSTL (talk) 20:46, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

The earthquakes of 1811 and 1812
I know Captain Clark was the administrator of the Territory which encompassed the epicenter of those Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12. Where can I find a record of his reports and actions about this time period? Thank you. J C Kollmann (talk) 15:28, 28 October 2009 (UTC)jc kollmann 0ct. 28, 2009

Edit request from MeriwetherLewis, 23 June 2010
Please add under further reading: Specht, August J. (2009). Defying Death, Not Duty: Deciphering the Mysteries of Meriwether Lewis. CreateSpace. ISBN 1449512100, 9781449512101.

MeriwetherLewis (talk) 17:52, 23 June 2010 (UTC)

Not done: Welcome. This book is one of a small number written by Mr. Specht, who doesn't appear to be a historian by training or occupation. Including it under further reading would not benefit the reader or Wikipedia as much as it would the author. Can you explain your reasoning? Thanks, Celestra (talk) 19:56, 23 June 2010 (UTC)

Another photo
There is a different photo of Wm. Clark in the 1912 book History of Spokane County by N. W. Durham, which has fallen into the public domain.

The photo is on page 4. The book is digitized here: http://books.google.com/books?id=NYEUAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=history+of+spokane&hl=en&ei=6dtRTI3QNZKUnQes8bWZBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.17.253.255 (talk) 19:58, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Adopted Children
The article has no mention of Clark's adoption of Sacagawea and Charbonneaus' son and daughter. 67.68.39.16 (talk) 04:52, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from, 19 October 2011
Please remove that William Clark was the second governor of the Missouri territory because he was not.

166.70.81.133 (talk) 00:05, 19 October 2011 (UTC)
 * You are correct, he was the fourth. Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 08:22, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 13 February 2014
Under the "Marriage and Family" section of William Clark's page, it incorrectly states that the cemetery in which he is buried, Bellefontaine Cemetery, is registered as a National Historic Landmark. This is not correct as Bellefontaine Cemetery currently holds no such status, so that sentence can be safely deleted. Sources: National Park Service; my job as a historian for the State of Missouri.

168.166.80.168 (talk) 15:04, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

✅ Thanks for pointing that out - I suspect the confusion may be that, although the cemetery itself is not an NHL, the Wainwright Tomb, in the cemetery is. Arjayay (talk) 17:21, 13 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Correction, the Wainwright Tomb is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which is significant, but that is not as high an honor as if it had been designated a National Historic Landmark. There are fewer of those.Parkwells (talk) 17:59, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

Requested move 21 March 2015

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: moved per request. Favonian (talk) 21:46, 28 March 2015 (UTC)

– William Clark from the Lewis and Clark expidition is far more notable than any other "William Clark" on Wikipedia, and is WP:PRIMARYTOPIC.  CookieMonster755  (talk)   01:55, 21 March 2015 (UTC)
 * William Clark (explorer) → William Clark
 * William Clark → William Clark (disambiguation)


 * Oppose it's close, a Google Books search shows this William Clark edging near the 66% of all William Clark hits combined. But taking into account all the Bill Clarks, William X Clarks on the dab, William Clarkes, etc. this isn't an ambiguation which benefits readers. The dab (explorer) is unlikely to deter any readers searching for the explorer. In ictu oculi (talk) 07:08, 21 March 2015 (UTC)
 * * Comment - How strange, only 66% of the searches are about William Clark the expolorer? In ictu oculi, am I aloud to withdraw my nomination?  CookieMonster755  (talk)   17:36, 21 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Sure, the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC guideline does not oblige titles with an absolute majority of hits to be put at baseline. In ictu oculi (talk) 09:12, 22 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Support per the evidence presented by IIO. Two-thirds of all mentions certainly makes him the primary topic. -- Calidum  13:52, 22 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Support - who on earth even comes close? Red Slash 22:43, 23 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Support. The U.S. explorer gets nine of the top ten Google hits. The other hit is for a nonnotable local business. The initializer (talk) 09:48, 24 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Far too many William Clarks for there to be a primary topic. Note that most people won't even know what the explorer's first name was (unless it was "Lewisand"!). -- Necrothesp (talk) 15:26, 25 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Comment --, your statement "most people won't even known the explorer's first name". Actually, your statement is incorrect, and I don't know where you got your information for that. From what I have observed, most people do know his first name, specially school children, because they do use his forename and surname.  CookieMonster755  (talk)   17:41, 25 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Of course, Wikipedia is an international project and many people outside the US won't even have heard of the expedition, let alone the man! -- Necrothesp (talk) 09:53, 26 March 2015 (UTC)
 * This is English Wikipedia, not International Wikipedia . -- CookieMonster755  (talk)   16:09, 26 March 2015 (UTC)
 * That's English Wikipedia, not American Wikipedia, ! Language, not country (if it was the latter then English Wikipedia wouldn't refer to America anyway, now, would it?). I'm English, and I can guarantee that many of my compatriots won't have heard of the expedition at all and if they have done, most of them won't know the first names of either of the leaders. That will be the case with most people outside the United States, who won't be taught it in school as American kids probably are. That being said, William Clark is (as I said) far too common a name to have a primary topic. -- Necrothesp (talk) 16:46, 26 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Wow, people in England don't learn about the United States in school? Because here in the United States, schools teach all about the United States, and including England, and France, and Germany, and our relations with them. Guess Britian is does not care about our history, lol. Regardless, we both have different opinions, fine, but lets just let the RM take its course and not argue over it. We will see the results when an administator closes the request. Cheers.  CookieMonster755  (talk)   18:14, 26 March 2015 (UTC)
 * I can't imagine American schools teach much detailed British history either, particularly after our paths diverged! Most countries' schools concentrate on their own history and international relations and events, not detailed discussion of other countries' internal affairs. What may be a big deal to people in their own country often isn't a big deal to people outside it. But we do indeed digress. -- Necrothesp (talk) 18:33, 26 March 2015 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

"Indigenous Nations..." section and "extinction"
In that quotes are not used it's unclear if the Foley source cited states verbatim "the plight of destitute native people increasingly threatened with extinction" or whether this is a paraphrase by the Wiki contributor. If it's a quote, I'd be inclined to leave it alone and cite an alternative balancing source but if it's a paraphrase, it seems more accurate to state that these peoples were threatened with "assimilation" and "relocation" - not extinction, which strongly implies outright genocide. Yes, genocide occurred on the frontier but this is too broad a statement in this context, particularly where Clark was responsible for large territories where outright genocide was not a clearly established policy rather than an aberration and where Clark himself would have been strongly opposed to any policy of outright genocide. His record may be "morally ambiguous" with respect to assimilation and relocation but it's misleading to implicate him in a policy of "extinction." A discussion of the difference between coercive assimilation and genocide has its merits but they lie outside the scope of Clark as a topic. It's best to stick with what actually happened (relocation) in this context and leave the long-term interpretation for another discussion.Calawpro (talk) 17:16, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

boy
boy — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.62.211.218 (talk) 18:47, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Identification
I've noticed a disambiguation section; this might be avoided by including in the title of the article Clark's full name: William Rogers Clark. This is important for another reason: The Rogers-Clark family came to the American colonies in the mid-1600s, ever since making important contributions to the founding and discovery of the present-day United States.

May also wish to consult "The Unknown Travels and Dubious Pursuits of William Clark," by Jo Ann Trogdon, University of Missouri Press, 2015 ... as apparently there was much more to William Rogers Clark than his expedition with Meriwether Lewis, notably the so-called Spanish Conspiracy, his association with James Wilkinson, the discredited general. — Preceding unsigned comment added by HBNTexas (talk • contribs) 10:13, 13 August 2017 (UTC)

Wss his full name really William Rogers Clark, or was it just William Clark? His brother Jonathan is also listed as simply Jonathan Clark, with no reference to his having a three-part name. Is there a source? Venqax (talk) 19:45, 3 January 2021 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on William Clark. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080323083500/http://www.in.gov/history/5073.htm to http://www.in.gov/history/5073.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 14:12, 9 December 2017 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 28 July 2019
Add citation after: "Clark was consulted on affairs on a regular basis. In Louisiana and Missouri, Clark served the United States government for the longest term in history as diplomat to the Native American peoples."

Citation added = Ferguson, Gillum. “Clark.” In Illinois in the War of 1812. University of Illinois Press, 2012. (page 148-152) Professorjacobs (talk) 17:51, 28 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Pending-protection-unlocked.svg Not done: You are now an autoconfirmed user and you should now be able to edit the page yourself. If you still seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details. --Trialpears (talk) 21:13, 13 August 2019 (UTC)

== Introduction Section =

Why the mention that he was a slaveholder? That is unnecessarily editorial. It is not the kind of info normally stated in someone's introduction, unless the intent is to cast a shadow on their character. If the info is somehow considered relevant to anything, it could be worked into the article in context, somehow. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Venqax (talk • contribs) 19:34, 3 January 2021 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 23 November 2021
Add the following reference to Further Readings:
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the template. Please provide some sourcing to show this is a worthwhile work that is well received and reliable. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 16:55, 23 November 2021 (UTC)

Further Readings
Ourigan, Oregon by William Clark, et al. Sunny Lou Publishing, 2021, ISBN 978-1-95539-216-7. From the journals of William Clark, during the Corps. of Discovery's trip down the Columbia River. Mericlark (talk) 16:50, 23 November 2021 (UTC)

Needs historical revision
Needs historical revision. Glorifies native American genocide. 151.52.29.237 (talk) 06:15, 6 February 2022 (UTC)

You realize you used the word "revision" unironically, comrade? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1700:9366:E040:986F:DAAB:CE4C:6D4B (talk) 22:19, 1 March 2022 (UTC)

The Deconstruction of Slavery
I would like to add that Clark released his beloved Slave, York, whom he had grown up with has a young boy. He feared the well-being of York if he set him free. Many times freed slaves would be re- caught by slaves brokers and resold, or due to their lack of knowledge, experience and education, would find themselves in the wrong crowd and would end up in trouble. Later, at the urging of Sacajawea’s young boy, whom he took in and educated, he gave York his freedom, a wagon, horses and enough money to purchase land and a small house. President Jefferson did not believe in slavery and was even married to a woman whose mother had been slave. Many of the founding fathers did not but the system brought by the English had yet to be deconstructed. This was a new country with an enormous task ahead of them. 2601:3CB:100:3EE0:ECE8:D2B2:592F:3F87 (talk) 20:56, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 8 June 2022
Clark was posthumously promoted to the rank of Captain, but this page only shows his rank as Lieutenant. See... https://www.nps.gov/articles/william-clark-officially-made-captain.htm#:~:text=Public%20Law%20106%2D507%20of,Militia%20of%20Upper%20Louisiana%20Territory. 24.160.172.206 (talk) 07:40, 8 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done for now: This is already covered in under Legacy and honors. I believe the infobox is just showing his rank during active service. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 11:07, 8 June 2022 (UTC)

Additional locations named for Lewis & Clark.
There is an elementary school in Council Bluffs, Iowa. There is also a middle school in Omaha, Nebraska and another middle school which is temporarily closed in Bellevue, Nebraska. All the mentioned cities are along the documented route that the expedition took. As well Council Bluffs, Iowa was named after an event that took place during the expedition. Akasarben1978 (talk) 03:52, 12 May 2023 (UTC)