ST. CHARLES COUNTY HISTORY

By Dorris Keeven-Franke

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History happens. All stories, especially the difficult ones, need to be heard. Award winning author, a public historian, professional genealogist, and International speaker. Member of the Missouri Speakers Bureau and the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.
Edwards Family

Edwards Family


There are over 100 burials at Sage Chapel Cemetery. For more information about the Cemetery see https://sagechapel.com/

Mishey Edwards (1881-1957)

Mrs. Mishey Edwards of O’Fallon, Mo., passed away at her home Monday evening at five o’clock following a heart attack. Mrs. Edwards who was 76 years old and a resident of O’Fallon for a number of years is survived by one son. Donald of Kansas City, Mo. Five grandchildren, Donald Jr. and Mrs Anna Jean William of Kansas City, Mrs. MaryStephenson of St. Charles, Mrs. Betty Keys of St. Louis and Leo Hart of O’Fallon, Mo., seven great grand children and a number of other relatives and friends. The body will be in state at the Craven Chapel M.E. Church in O’Fallon, Mo. from Friday evening until 2 pm. Saturday afternoon when funeral services will be conducted. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Daily Cosmos Monitor October 3, 1957

Mishey  passed away on September 30, 1957. She was born on November 10, 1881, the daughter of Charles “Freeman” Letcher and Frances Rafferty. She was preceded by her son Gilbert Hubbard, born July 7, 1898 who died April 10, 1919; her son by Arthur Edwards, Rolf Chester born the 5th of May and died the 12th of June, 1912; daughter Dorothy Edwards born February 22, 1904 and died February 2, 1952; and her husband of nearly fifty years, Arthur Edwards, also known as Arthur Vardeman who passed away three months before. They are all buried at Sage Chapel Cemetery.

Mishey Edwards tending her chickens. Photo from O’Fallon Missouri Historical Society and Mary Stephenson.

Dorothy Edwards (1904-1952)

Dorothy Edwards as an infant. Photo from the O’Fallon Missouri Historical Society and Mary Stephenson.

Dorothy Edwards passed away February 2, 1952, and was buried in what her family referred to as Wishwell Cemetery, but also called Sage Chapel on February 5th, from the Keithly Funeral Home in O’Fallon, Missouri. She was born the daughter of Arthur and Artie “Mishey” (nee Letcher) Edwards on February 28, 1904, in the St. Paul area, where she grew up.  She worked for many years as a housekeeper for many of the area’s families. In the 1940s, her family  moved to O’Fallon, and lived on what the local community called “the hill”. They had movedinto O’Fallon so that the young people, like her daughter Mary, could go to High School and get an education. In St. Charles was Franklin High School, where all “colored” children of St. Charles County, Warren County and southern Lincoln Count were “allowed” to go. She was preceded in death by two of her children, Gilbert Hubbard and Rolf “Chester” Edwards, and her father Arthur Edwards. She leaves behind her mother, Mishey, a brother Donald, two daughters, Mary (Stephenson ) and Betty (Norris) and a son Leo Larue Hart.

Dorothy Edwards (left) and Esther Hubbard. Photo from the O’Fallon Missouri Historical Society (Mary Stephenson Collection).
Four generations, left to right:  Mishey Edwards, Mrs. Mary Stephenson, Dorothy Edwards.  Mary Stephenson is holding her oldest child, Margaret, and the little boy in front is Albert, her sister’s son. Photo from the O’Fallon Missouri Historical Society – Mary Stephenson Collection.

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