Search for Ordway Journal
In Coues's report on the
codices, occurs this note: "One
of Clark's Journals is now in the
possession of his son, [the
late] Mr. Jefferson K. Clark, of St. Louis. I
am
not informed of the date covered by this volume,
nor of the
nature of its contents." Upon assuming
charge of the proposed publication,
the present writer at once
approached the heirs of General William Clark
for permission
to use the Ordway Journal, in case it could be found among
the family papers. As the result of
protracted negotiations,
an unexpected situation was revealed. The third
son and
fourth child of General Clark and his first wife, Julia Hancock,
was George Rogers Hancock Clark, born at
St. Louis in
1816 and dying in 1858. This son was his father's executor,
and as such came into possession of the explorer's papers and
many
other family relics, which he appears to have arranged
and labelled with
some care. Upon his death they descended
to his eldest child, now Mrs.
Julia Clark Voorhis of New York
City, whose proprietary rights are at
present shared with her
daughter, Miss Eleanor Glasgow
Voorhis.
