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.

Tag: Benjamin Oglesby

  • Freedom Seeker Benjamin Oglesby

    Freedom Seeker Benjamin Oglesby

    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…

  • Douglass School

    Douglass School

    In 1871, one of the proudest moments for the Trustee’s of the Smith Chapel A.M.E. Church was to build a schoolhouse for their children, grandchildren and all future generations. This was a generation that it had been against the law written in 1847, for them to even learn how to read or write. They proudly…

  • Benjamin Oglesby

    Benjamin Oglesby

    After Freedom seeker Benjamin Oglesby served in the 56th U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War, he returned home…