William D. Clark born circa 1795

HELP!!!

William D. Clark was my 3rd Great Grandfather. He married Mahaly Sheets in 1820 in Owen County, Kentucky. He shows up in the 1830 Kentucky census (along with my 2nd great grandmother, Elizabeth M., ), but otherwise nothing as far as his antecedents. My family has carried his name forward in each succeeding generation. My great grandmothers obituary in the 1940's claimed a relationship to William Clark and Abraham Clark, but I'm stymied. For all I know the claimed relationship is specious, but Owen County is about 10 miles from where George Rogers and William Clark settled in Kentucky shortly before William D's birth.

My sister, Anne Clark, asked my mother about the relationship, and my mother was exasperated and said she made it up. Twenty years later I found her grandmother, .my own grandmother, Nancy Clark's mother's obituary. Obviously, the name was being preserved for some reason.

Can anyone help with some concrete information?