Things I didn't know about Sacajawea.

[BlueIris]

3. Yeah, I get the feeling that this forum is going to be good for

"distracting" us from other things we need to be doing.

ETA: One website I found, lewisandclarktravel.com, claims that the children's biological father was "believed" to be dead at the time Clark adopted the kids. I guess that doesn't really tell us anything about why Clark volunteered, though.

http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/what_happened_to_sacagaweas_children/

"The earliest probate court records of St. Louis were discovered in an old safe at the courthouse last fall, (Fall, 2007) containing guardianship proceedings regarding Sacagawea’s children.The story made the Fox News broadcast in St Louis on January 21, 2008. The record, shown here, is of an Orphans Court hearing held on August 11, 1813. William Clark’s name is added to the document, substituted for the name of the original guardian, John Luttig, who was the company clerk of the Missouri Fur Company.

What’s the story behind this? Lewis and Clark fans know that Toussaint, also known by his nickname “Pompey,” or as Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, was born on February 11, 1805 at Fort Mandan near Bismarck, North Dakota. This would make him 8 ½ years old. However, William Clark was not in St Louis at the time the hearing was held. He would have known the precise age of his adopted son, who was already living in St Louis and attending a boarding school. The father, Toussaint Charbonneau, Sr. was also not “deceased” though he was believed to be so at the time. He lived until about 1840."