ST. CHARLES COUNTY HISTORY
By Dorris Keeven-Franke
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Tag: Smith Chapel Cemetery
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This film follows a determined group of community leaders and students working to keep history alive at Smith Chapel Cemetery in Foristell, MO: a site founded in 1871 by nine formerly enslaved individuals fighting to build a future for their families. It will be shown Saturday August 23rd in Ogelsby Park with a program beginning…
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In February of 2025, Audrey Pinson and other students from the University of Missouri Columbia – School of Journalism, contacted those working on this project and began work on a documentary about the Smith Chapel Cemetery. The public is invited to the Premiere showing of this documentary on August 23, 2025 at 6:00pm where the…
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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…