ST. CHARLES COUNTY HISTORY

By Dorris Keeven-Franke

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Award winning author, and International speaker. President of the Archer Alexander Memorial Foundation. Member of the Missouri Speakers Bureau and the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. President of the Boone’s Lick Road Association. Executive Director of the Missouri Germans Consortium. She has been writing for over 35 years and published several books on local history, German immigration, and other topics. Currently working on To Tell a True Story – Archer Alexander.
  • Benjamin Oglesby

    Benjamin Oglesby

    Category: People

    Many of St. Charles County’s enslaved men would resist enslavement and risk everything to enlist in the U.S. Colored Troops. Leaving families behind, they used the network to freedom known as the Underground Railroad to enlist in the U.S Colored Troops during the Civil War. One man named Benjamin Oglesby was born in Bedford, Virginia in about 1821 while his mother’s enslaver was Marshall Bird. Benjamin was brought to Missouri by Bird around 1830 and according to St. Charles County historian Ben Gall “settled in property that sits to the southeast of the park along Meyer Road, in Sections 18 and 19 of Township 47 Range 1 East. During this time, Oglesby lived among seven other enslaved people while working the 260-acre farm. On this farm, he worked to cultivate corn, wheat, and tobacco, the last of which was their primary crop, producing 7000 pounds in 1860 alone.“ He would jump the broom and take a wife named Martha Bird, who he called Patsy, and together they would have eight children, Dora, Mary, Samuel, Sarah, Sophia, Oska, Albert and Belle. On November 14, he and several other St. Charles County slaves had left their owners and enlisted in the U. S. Colored Troops at George Senden’s store on Main Street. Soon after Oglesby was formally mustered into Company D as a Private of the 56th Infantry of the Union’s U.S. Colored Troops, at the age of 43 at Benton Barracks. His enrollment card says he is “copper-skinned, had grey eyes and black hair and was 5 feet 8 inches tall. “

    His Regiment, the 56th U.S. C.T. would see action in 1864 at Indian Bay on April 13, at Muffleton Lodge on June 29, they were in charge of operations in Arkansas July 1-31. They then saw action at Wallace’s Ferry and Big Creek on July 26, 1864. Their expeditions took them from Helena up the White River from August 29 till September 3. Another expedition would take them from Helena to Friar’s Point, Mississippi, on February 19-22, 1865.  They then had post and garrison duty at Helena, Arkansas till February of 1865. After the war ended, they had duty at Helena and other points in Arkansas till September 1866. The entire regiment was finally completely mustered out on September 15, 1866. The Regiment lost four Officers and twenty-one enlisted men who were killed or mortally wounded and they lost two Officers and 647 Enlisted men by disease.”  Oglesby’s Muster Card indicated he was honorably discharged on November 13, 1865, at Helena, Arkansas, and was still owed $66 of his $100 enlistment bounty.

    When he returned home, he and Patsy would rent a house and live south of Foristell, near Painter’s Store on the Boone’s Lick Road (Hwy N) where it crosses into Warren County (Hwy O today). Benjamin and Patsy would have four more children, Charles, Walter, Mount and Allie. According to Ben Gall “On March 2, 1871, Benjamin Oglesby purchased the property located along Meyer Road for $2000 from William Haggemann, who may have been a German immigrant. It appears that he acquired the funds for this land through a Deed of Trust, which they entered into with Henry Reinecke in March 1871. They paid off the property on March 14, 1877.

    That September, on the 23rd, in 1871, Benjamin’s son-in-law Jackson Lockett, along with Austin Pringle, Nathaniel Abington, Smith Ball, David Bird, Thomas McClean, Mark Robinson, Clayborn Richards, and Martin Boyd would become the Trustees for the Smith Chapel A.M.E. Church and Cemetery at Snow Hill. There the one-acre of land would have one-third dedicated to a black school, named Douglass after Frederick Douglass. The small one-room schoolhouse would be attended by area children until 1951 at least. The school has been moved to Ogelsby Park, where the Ogelsby family once lived, and a mile from the cemetery. The cemetery is less than a 1/4 mile north of Interstate 70 near Foristell.

    Benjamin’s wife of over forty years, Patsy, would pass away on the 12th of August 1888 and be buried at Smith Chapel Cemetery at age 58 years old. The family would attend their church, teach their children, and bury their family all at Smith Chapel. Then on the 15th of August 1901, Benjamin Oglesby would join Patsy in the cemetery. There his stone reads Behold the pilgrim as he lies, With glory in his view, To heaven he lifts a longing view, And bids the world Adieu.

    Smith Chapel Cemetery is on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

    For more information about Smith Chapel Cemetery see https://smithchapelcemetery.com/

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  • An O’Fallon Family Scrapbook

    An O’Fallon Family Scrapbook

    Bertha Krekel was born in O’Fallon, on December 25, 1859, she was the second child of Nicholas Krekel, who together with his brother Arnold Krekel, had founded the town on August 6, 1856. Her father Nicholas had been born in Germany on August 30, 1825 and had emigrated with his family at the age of seven. His father had brought his family to America in 1832 and had settled in southwestern St. Charles County, near Dutzow. Nicholas purchased the land where he would build a home for his wife, and live together after their marriage on August 15, 1857 from his brother Arnold. By the time Bertha was born, O’Fallon had its’ own Post Office and Train Depot, which her father managed.

    Bertha
    Bertha Krekel in 1888

    Bertha spent her entire life in that same house on Main Street (today’s Cleo Bridal Shop) where she would be surrounded by her family and in the center of the community. She and her father were very close. Her sister Mary would marry William Westhoff on October 13, 1892 and after their father’s death on February 6, 1910 Bertha would continue to live in what became William and Mary’s home, the Westhoff place.  A real hub of the community, it was just across the street from the Westhoff Mercantile. There the young lady, who never married, took a liking to writing about the bustling town’s events, and wrote about the daily life and its’ eventual history. As the City had a newspaper, and her uncle Arnold Krekel was also involved with two of St. Charles’ newspapers, there was an easy outlet for the young muse’s talents. She wrote under a pen name, which was a custom at that time – of Clio – the muse of history, who inspired the development of liberal and fine arts in ancient Greece.

    Here are a few newspaper clippings in Bertha Krekel’s scrapbook that bring the history of O’Fallon to life.

    June 1912  History of O’Fallon as written by a Ms. Keithly

    This was written by Miss Hortense Keithly and read at the graduating exercise of the O’Fallon High School.

    When the railroad came through this portion of the country O’Fallon began its growth as a town. Previous to that event, Cottleville and Flint Hill, with the exception of St. Charles had been the most rapidly growing towns in this county.

    The country surrounding the site of the present town was occupied by a a few very small trading places among which was Wellsburgen the Salt River Road, about 2 ½ mile south of the present site of St. Paul. It consisted of two buildings, one of which was occupied by a saloon, store, post office and a residence. The other contained a blacksmith shop. There was another store also on the Salt River Road, where Mrs. Anton F. Orf now lives, about ½ mile west of Audrain Bridge, where Dardenne is now situated, there stood a shop which contained what was know as Nailer’s Store.

    While Cottleville and Flint Hill were increasing in size, the site of O’Fallon was covered with timber, excepting a small area where the convent now stands and a plot surrounding the only house in the near vicinity. This house stood on the south side of the railroad and east of Main Street, just back of where Talleur’s baker shop and Ahren’s saloon are at present. It was occupied and owned by Mr. Henry Ernst. One of the most interesting and peculiar facts known concerning the physical features of the area occupied by the town, is that at the time Mr. Ernst lived here there was a spring near his residence. The portion of the country on the north side of where the railroad now is and easrt [sic] of Main Street was owned by Mr. Joseph Boegel; that on the same side of the railroad track, west of Main Street, belonged to Mr. Arnold Krekel.

    The part on the south side of the railroad track and east of Main Street was the property of Mr. Henry Ernst and the remaining portion was owned by Mr. Joseph Trevy.

    The North Missouri Railroad now known as the Wasbash was located in 1855. It was completed as far as Peruque Bridge in 1858 and the first train was run over the road as far as the bridge in the summer of that year.

    During the year 1855, Arnold Krekel, who was a prominent St. Charles County Attorney, who later became a United States Judge for the West Division of Missouri, laid out the original town of O’Fallon on the north side of the railroad and west of the north projection of Main Street.

    The town was named for John J. O’Fallon, a prominent business man of the city of St. Louis at that time. In 1856 Nicholas Krekel, the brother of Arnold Krekel built the first house and did the first business as a merchant and Post-master in the town and was also the first agent for the railroad here. Also about this time, Mr. McIntosh built a one story house where Mr. Peter Saali’s hotel stands at present. A few years later this property was bought by Love and Callaway who built part of the house and saloon, where the residence of Henry Ahrens is at present.

    In 1858 Ward & Ward [edited by crossing out] built a store just north of where the Werner Millinery Store stands. In 1854 Dr Woods built the residence owned by Mr Charley Himmelsbach. Later Dr. W.C. Williams bought the house built by Dr. Woods. He used it as his residence until he built the residence now owned by Mrs. Susie Johns. It was Dr. W.C. Williams and Dr. J. C. Edwards who bought the property previously owned by Mr. Henry Ernst and platted the part of the town of O’Fallon that lies east of Main Street and south of the Railroad.They presented the lot now now occupied by the Westhoff Grain & Mercantile Co. building to Mr. rufus Gamble on the condition tha eh build a brick house upon it. It was the first brick house in the town. The ground floor was used as a store; the second floor as a Masonic Lodge Room. The house is now a part of the Westhoff Grain & Mercantile Co.

    When O’Fallon was first settled there was no public road leading to or from the town. There were simply private or by-roads. For many years the road ran in front of Mr. Krekel’s business place which is now owned and occupied by Mr. Wm. Westhoff crossed the railroad west of where the present depot now stands, came into what is now Main Street in front of where Ward & Ward’s Store stood. It faced north, and ran south-westerly across what are now fields to the Mexico Road, where Woodlawn now stands. Main Street is now a part of the public road which is now a part of the public road which was afterwards located extending north to the Salt River Road and south to the Mexico Road.

    This is from a book of newspaper clippings kept by the Krekel family. Bertha must have been quite the historian, as she took it upon herself to freely editorialize facts published by Miss Keithly, and are what are shared in this story. Otherwise, it is exactly the way it was published in June of 1912, and shares quite a bit of history by someone whose family played a prominent role in the town of O’Fallon when it was young.

    Original Plat of the Town of O’Fallon, Missouri

    Note: The map is looking north, and all property shown on this plat lies WEST of MAIN STREET which is Hwy. K, which is the right hand border of where the town originally ended. (That is NOT Sonderen.)

    St. Charles County Recorder of Deeds
  • The Osage in Saint Charles

    The Osage in Saint Charles

    When French Canadian Louis Blanchette (1739-1793), founder of the City of Saint Charles, arrived in 1769, his only neighbors were the American Indians. The Sauk, Fox, Pottowatomie and Osage were the predominant tribes, using the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers for passage, to trade furs with the settlers in St. Louis.

    The Osage had been shoved eastward from the Ohio valley into Illinois, then here. Here, the tall fierce tribe would often clash with the others tribes over hunting grounds. They soon developed a closer relationship with the French-Canadians fur traders and other white settlers than some tribes, often intermarrying.

    As our area was traded back and forth between Spain and France, settlers from Kentucky and Virginia moved in. They followed the friends and families of trailblazer Daniel Boone, who had come in search of a wide frontier. As the early settlers found themselves United States residents again, with the Louisiana Purchase in 1804, the American Indians were overwhelmed. With the white man came disease, killing thousands. Everyone fought for the land, the British, the Spanish claimants, the American pioneers, and the Native Americans.

    When William Clark led his men The Corps of Discovery westward with Meriwether Lewis, he had spotted an ideal prominent point, which would later officially become Fort Clark, known by all as Fort Osage. He would return, led by Nathan Boone, by using what became the Boone’s Lick trail. In 1808, at Fort Clark,

    In the east, the War of 1812, often called the second Revolutionary War, would also affect us. Here, it was better known as the Indian War. While the settlers built forts in defense of depredations by Indians, the original residents fought for a way of life, and a land, that had been their home for ages. Afterwards, the settlers flooded the land once home for many tribes, including the Osage, and treaties were made. A treaty of 1804 had stated

    The United States being anxious to promote peace, friendship and intercourse with the Osage tribes, to afford them every assistance in their power, and to protect them from the insults and injuries of other tribes of Indians, situated near the settlements of the white people, have thought proper to build a fort on the right bank of the Missouri.

    George C. Sibley (1782-1863) would be appointed the fort’s manager, called the factor.
    By 1815, the United States would treaty with all tribes, at Portage des Sioux along the Mississippi, including the Osage.

    A treaty of peace and friendship, made and concluded between William Clark, Ninian Edwards, and Auguste Chouteau, Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, on the part and behalf of the said States, of the one part; and the undersigned King, Chiefs, and Warriors, of the Great and Little Osage Tribes or Nations, on the part and behalf of their said Tribes or Nations, of the other part... the said tribes do hereby solemnly promise and agree that they will put an end to the bloody war which has heretofore raged between their tribes and those of the Great and Little Osages.

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