the Monongahela, it was March when the party in boats arrived at the
mouth of the Kentucky. John Clark and one of his men landing, went ahead
to announce to Capt. Elliott the arrival of the party. Clark was greeted
by Mrs. Elliott, who told of her husband's absence on a hunting trip. Abashed
at the coolness of his reception Clark joined the travel-worn party in
the boats and proceeded to Fort Nelson, where they were welcomed by the
settlers.
Hardly had the Clarks resumed their journey before Indians
on the war-path attacked the Elliott cabin, killing and scalping Capt.
Elliott's brother, who, with several of his workmen, arrived immediately
after Clark's departure to be mortified that his sister-in-law had not
dispensed hospitality to the travelers. Mrs. Elliott and her daughter made
a miraculous escape from the cabin to the river bank, unseen by the savages.
They were joined by Capt. Elliott, who, returning unexpectedly, saw the
warriors' canoes on the river and his home in flames. The Elliotts, having
rescued the body of their kinsman from the ruins, embarked to seek security
at Fort Nelson, where they were comforted and befriended, first of all,
by the Clarks.
Mrs. Elliott offered excuses for her inhospitality, relating
her confusion at the thought of receiving the Clarks in her crude frontier
dwelling,
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knowing as she did the style and comfort of their life in Virginia,
explaining that in years she had not seen any white persons save the members
of her own family, that she was overcome with embarrassment at the encounter.
She assured Mrs. Clark that the latter owed her life and that of her family
to this breach of courtesy.
The pioneers John and Anne Rogers Clark had ten children,
six sons, five of whom were officers in the Revolutionary war, the
sixth being too young to serve; four daughters, two of whom married officers,
and two soldiers in the Continental army.
Gen. George Rogers Clark, whose history-making career
is too well known to be repeated here, had been in Louisville long enough
to change his residence several times before his parents decided to join
him, having moved with the first settler families from Corn Island in 1779
to a fort at the foot of Twelfth street, and in 1782 to Fort Nelson, built
by the troops on the north side of Main street, between Sixth and Eighth.
"Mulberry Hill," a fine estate two miles east of the city
limits, boasted a spacious double-log house, with a wide hall through the
center. There were four large square rooms, porches and store rooms, with
the kitchen in a separate building some distance from the house and near
the Spring.
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Gen. Jonathan Clark, who came to Louisville years later
than the other members of the family, had married Sarah Hite in Virginia.
He built a home at "Trough Spring," east of Mulberry Hill. The Bernheim
place, Shadyside, and the old Richardson place are part of his farm. A
French cabinetmaker came from New Orleans to make the furniture for his
use. His daughter, Anna Clark, who married James Anderson Pearce, came
into possession of "Trough Spring" and used it as a country house, her
home in town being on the River front. When old Fort Nelson was razed and
the property sold, Pearce bought the land and erected a brick dwelling
with an iron veranda, at what is now the corner of Seventh and Water. This
home, in which the Pearce children were born, was torn down when the property
again changed hands, and the Burge home was built there.
James Pearce, who was a Virginian, a man of affairs and
considerable means, presented the river frontage before his home, the two
blocks of Water street and wharf, to the city, making a proviso in the
deed which brought an interesting suit in 1880. In that year the C. &
O. railroad attempted to obtain a right of way for a line along the river
front and was bitterly opposed by merchants of the city who protested that
the business on the wharf would be ruined by
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this arrangement. A number of indignation meetings were held, attended
by business men of Louisville. Temple Bodley, a young lawyer in those days,
a grandson of James Pearce, was approached by a committee of merchants
to ask his mother, Mrs. William S. Bodley, to file a suit to prevent this
use of her father's gift, for they had found the old deed which provided
that if the city permitted any building, etc., to be erected, obstructing
the view of the Ohio river from the donor's home, garden or vineyard, the
property should revert to the heirs. Mrs. Bodley brought the suit and an
injunction was granted.
There are no descendants of Gen. George Rogers Clark in
Louisville, for that distinguished member of the Clark family was never
married.
Gen. Jonathan Clark and his wife, Sarah Hite, had seven
children, three of whom have descendants in the city. Their eldest daughter,
Eleanor Eltinge Clark, married Dr. Benjamin Temple, the prominent Methodist
minister, and their family also was a large one. Their son, John B. Temple,
whose third wife was Blandina Brodhead, was a prominent banker and man
of affairs in Frankfort and later in Louisville, being president of the
Mutual Life Insurance Company. His widow made her home in Louisville with
her daughters, Mary Temple (Mrs. R. A. Robinson) and Annie Temple, her
death
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taking place last year. Another daughter is Blandina (Mrs. William Griffiths).
Ann Clark, the third daughter of Gen. Jonathan Clark,
married James Anderson Pearce, and to them eight children were born. Their
son, Edmund Pearce, who married Myra Steele, was the father of Amelia Neville
Pearce, who became the wife of George Weissinger, and of John C. Pearce,
who married Susannah Steele. Mrs. Frank Snead, Mrs. Nolan Milton and John
Clark Pearce are the children of John and Susannah Pearce, Ellen Pearce
married the lawyer, Judge William S. Bodley, and was the mother of eleven
children, of whom the following survive: Martha and Ann Jane Bodley, who
live together on Fourth street; William Stewart Bodley, and Temple Bodley,
who married Edith Fosdick.
Dr. William Clark, the son of Gen Jonathan Clark, married
Frances Ann Tompkins. He inherited the Mulberry Hill home of John and Anne
Rogers Clark from his father and in turn bequeathed it to his daughters,
Mary, who married Dr. George E. Cooke, and Eugenia and Eliza Clark, who
never married. Dr. Clark's daughter Ellen married Newton Milton, of Memphis,
and her death occurred not long ago at the home of her grandson, Karl Jungbluth,
Jr., in Garvin Place. William Clark
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married Annie Bailey, and was the father of Kate Clark, now Mrs. John
C. Doolan, and of Louise Clark, Mrs. Harry Whitaker, of Wheeling, West
Virginia.
Ann Clark, eldest daughter of John Clark, married Owen
Gwathmey, and was the mother of eleven children. There are a number of
her descendants in Kentucky. Samuel Gwathmey, who married Mary Booth, member
of a prominent pioneer family, was the father of Rebecca Ann Gwathmey,
who married Henry S. Tyler, of the distinguished family of that name and
a descendant of the Oldhams. To Rebecca and Henry S. Tyler five children
were born, and a number of their grandchildren are prominent here. The
oldest son, Isaac Tyler, who married Jennie Owen, of St. Louis, was the
father of Owen Tyler, Rebecca, Mrs. Harry L. Smyser, Isaac Tyler and the
late Gwathmey Tyler, who married Edmonia Robinson. Virginia Tyler is Mrs.
William A. Robinson, who with her daughter, Mrs. Spalding Coleman, makes
her home on Fourth street near Kentucky. Levi Tyler married Maria Lewis
and was the father of Mrs. James Franklin Fairleigh and Henry S. Tyler.
Ella Tyler married Lewis H. Bond and her children who make Louisville their
home are Isaac Tyler Bond, Etta, Mrs. Dudley Winston, and Joseph Bond.
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Diana Moore Gwathmey, a daughter of Ann and Owen Gwathmey,
was the wife of Thomas Bullitt.
Catherine Gwathmey married George Woolfolk, of the Virginia
family which settled here.
Elizabeth Clark married Col. Richard Clough Anderson,
who settled here in 1738, After his marriage Col. Anderson built a home
in 1788, which was known as "Soldiers' Retreat," on the farm which is now
owned by A. T. Hert. This country place appears on the first maps of the
county.
Ann Clark, who married Owen Gwathmey, and her sister,
Elizabeth Clark, who married Col. Richard Clough Anderson, are ancestresses
of some Louisville families, for Anne Clark Gwathmey's daughter, Elizabeth,
married her cousin, Richard Clough Anderson, Jr., who was one of the most
distinguished members of the family.
Richard Clough Anderson, Jr., was an eloquent orator,
an able lawyer and his talents were not confined to Louisville where he
practiced law at Fifth and Main. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives
and was minister to Colombia. While the Andersons were in South America
two daughters were born, Elizabeth and Anne. The latter was called Anita
by her nurse in Bogota, and in later life she was always Anita.
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Anita Anderson was a baby when she came to the States, the mother having
fallen a victim to the climate, dying at Cartagena, and it is told that
little Anita came across the Isthmus of Panama, mule back, swung in a saddle
bag, baby on one side and sugar on the other.
Elizabeth Anderson married Col. Stephen Johnston, U. S.
N.. and later L. M. Flournoy. By her first marriage there were two daughters,
one, Hebe Johnston. the widow of Joseph H. Craig, of New York, is in Louisville,
making her home with the Misses Blain and Judge Randolph Blain. The other
daughter, Elizabeth Johnston, married Col. Julian Harrison, and one of
their sons, Peyton Harrison, whose wife is Louise Wheat, has two children,
Anne and Julian Harrison, and Louisville is their home.
Anita Anderson married a well-known Louisville citizen,
John Thompson Gray, and a child of this marriage, Anita Gray, is the widow
of Dr. James Thornley Berry, of Anita Springs, who makes her home with
her daughter, Anita Berry Brooke, wife of Robert S. Brooke, of fine Virginia
lineage, and a descendant of Sir Alexander Spottswood. Anne Carter, Anita
Gray, Elizabeth Washington Berry, Margaret Lyle and Roberta Spottswood
Brooke compose the family of Robert S. and Anita Berry Brooke.
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Not long ago, Robert S. Brooke bought some farm land in
Southern Indiana, just below Fern Grove; in going over the deed to the
property he found material for an interesting tradition for his family.
The land is a portion of a grant to George Rogers Clark, kinsman of Mrs.
Brooke, made in 1783 by Edward Randolph, Governor of Virginia, a kinsman
of Mr. Brooke.
Lucy Clark, another daughter of John and Anne Rogers Clark,
married Major William Croughan, who had located in Louisville as early
as 1782. Their home was "Locust Grove," the scene of generous hospitality.
Here Lucy Croughan's brother, Gen. George Rogers Clark, died and was buried
in the old family burying ground.
Fanny Clark, the youngest of the four sisters, was married
three times. The sons of her first husband, Dr. James O'Fallon, removed
to St. Louis. Her second marriage was to Capt. Charles Minn Thruston, who
fought in the Revolutionary war at the age of eleven years, seven months
and three days. He came to Louisville about 1793. To Fanny and Charles
Thruston two children were born, a son, Charles W. Thruston, and a daughter,
Ann Clark.
After Capt. Thruston's death, his widow married Judge
Dennis Fitzhugh. Their three children located in Arkansas.
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Charles W. Thruston married Mary Churchill, the daughter
of Samuel Churchill, and a descendant of the Popes and the Oldhams. Their
daughter, Fanny Thruston, married Andrew Jackson Ballard, grandson of Bland
Ballard, the celebrated Indian fighter. She was the mother of the late
Charles T. Ballard, who married Mina Breaux; S. Thruston Ballard, who married
Sunshine Harris, and Rogers Clark Ballard Thruston.
Ann Clark Thruston, the daughter of Charles Minn and Fanny
Thruston, married Dr. Bernard G. Farrar, of St. Louis.
The Thruston home stood on Walnut street near Floyd, where
the Ballard grandsons were born. The house was torn down in 1866, and on
the site a home built by Andrew J. Ballard and his wife, was completed
in 1868. The house, now used as the Detention Home, was for many years
their hospitable residence.
William Clark, the youngest son, referred to above as
too young to fight in the Revolution, was the explorer of the Lewis and
Clark expedition from the Mississippi to the Pacific, 1804-06. He was afterward
Governor of Missouri.
Gov. William Clark married Julia Hancock, of Fincastle,
Va., and his son, Meriwether Lewis Clark, married Abigail Prather Churchill,
of Louisville, Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr., who
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married Mary Martin Anderson, spent a number of years in Louisville.
He was one of the incorporators and the first president of the Louisville
Jockey Club in 1875 when the first Kentucky Derby was run, and served as
a judge at the track long after the club changed ownership.
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