Though a monument has just been erected in another city which claims him
as a citizen, there is excellent evidence of the fact that John Roger
Clarke, reclaimer of the great Northwest, and also his brother, William
Clarke, who with Merriweather Lewis, explored the Mississippi, were born
in Spotsylvania County and lived near Fredericksburg. According to Quinn's
History of Fredericksburg, Maury's History of Virginia and letters from
descendents, the two famous Clarke brothers were sons of Jonathan Clarke,
who lived at Newmarket, Spotsylvania County, where John Roger Clarke was
born. Jonathan Clarke was clerk of the County Court of Spotsylvania and
afterwards moved to Fredericksburg, where it may be probable, the younger
son was born. Later they moved to Albemarle County, near Charlottesville,
where the two sons grew to manhood.
The history of the two Clarkes' is so well known, even by school children,
that it is needless to go into it here, the purpose of this reference
being to establish their connection with the town.