Daniel Clark (c. 1766 – August 13, 1813) was an Irish-American politician who served as the first Delegate from the Territory of Orleans to the United States House of Representatives.
[2] Although he was a Spanish citizen until the late 1790s, Clark worked assiduously in the interests of the U.S. government, providing first-hand, detailed responses to President Thomas Jefferson's questions on Louisiana.
"[5] Clark engaged in land speculation, planting, ship-owning, and banking, but delegated most of the day-to-day business of the firm to the prominent merchants Chew & Relf, who usually worked with him as partners.
Claiborne lamented in a June 17, 1807, letter to President Thomas Jefferson, “My dear sir, I continue confined to my room, and experience considerable pain—but the wound now suppurates profusely and my Surgeon gives me reason to believe that in 3 weeks I shall be enabled to walk—I fear however that the warmth of the weather will considerably retard my recovery.”[10] Perhaps, in part, because of his duel against Governor Claiborne, Clark was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination to Congress in 1808.
[12] His will and testament, contested by the child of a secret marriage, Myra Clark Gaines, became a legal struggle of titanic proportion fought over seventy years.