The Preston home was on the Robinson Tract, Wythe Co. VA, present-day Pulaski, VA, where Wm. Preston had moved in 1803 after his marriage to Caroline Hancock on 24 March 1802.⁽³⁾ Surely, there was a great deal of joy and excitement on their arrival and during the next four days. Julia had a new baby, Meriwether Lewis Clark, now ten months old, to show her sister. This was the first place they had stopped for longer than one night since leaving Jonathan Clark’s Trough Spring home on 26 October. No question, rest was needed by everyone in the Clark party.

On the 16 November, Congressman Benjamin Howard arrived but left the next morning. This is the same Benjamin Howard that William met on the Wilderness Road at Freemans Tavern (see page 13.) William reports that it rained during the night of the 17th and next morning. On 19 November Dr. and Mrs. Floyd arrived. Letitia Floyd was a sister of William Preston and Dr. Floyd was the child of Col. John Floyd and a cousin to Charles Floyd of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Dr. Floyd would be elected Virginia’s Governor in 1830 after serving as a Member of the Virginia House of Delegates and Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Dr. Floyd did not forget his youth on the frontier of Kentucky. During his tenure in the U.S. Congress, he introduced bills and strongly advocated for Territory and Statehood for Oregon. Floyd’s bill was enacted by the House in 1828 but failed in the Senate. However, his strong voice advanced the cause for admission of the Oregon Territory in 1848 and eventual statehood in 1859.^(4)(5)(6)(7)

The assemblage of families at the William Preston home represented the Who’s Who of prominent frontier families of the 1700’s and early 1800’s.

The Lewis and Clark story, like the rivers they followed during the western exploration, have many turns and twist. While the Clarks are passing through Montgomery Co. VA of 1809, they are near the home of William Werner. While most of the Corps of Discovery stayed in the West, Werner spent the balance of his life in the Southern Shenandoah Valley, present-day Pulaski Co, VA. If Werner returned with the Lewis group in 1806, as they hurried to Washington to report to President Jefferson, he is not recorded as part of the Lewis group. In 1807 William Clark met with Werner in Charlottesville and paid him $100.00 with an additional $30.75 to be paid in Fincastle.⁽⁸⁾ Meager records indicate where Werner lived or is buried in Pulaski Co., VA.