Lewis and Clark in Kentucky- William Clark's 1809 Visit & Death of Meriwether Lewis. William Clark, coleader of the famous Lewis & Clark Expedition, visited Russellville with his family October 3-7, 1809, while traveling to Louisville and farther east. Benjamin & Eleanor Clark Temple, Clark's niece, lived in Russellville. Over. (Reverse) On Oct. 21, 1809, Russellville Farmer's Friend newspaper ran one of the first reports of the death of Meriwether Lewis, coleader of the Expedition. Taken from a Tenn. paper, it detailed his suicide at an inn on the Natchez Trace.