Originally posted on ArcherAlexander.blog:
In March of 1863, a fugitive slave named Archer Alexander, perhaps the last fugitive slave in St. Louis, had fled a lynch mob in Saint Charles County after exposing his owner’s sabotage of the local railroad bridge. Local Confederates had sawn the timbers, and were waiting for the next train…
Author Archives: Dorris Keeven-Franke
History – We All Have It
I recently completed extensive research on the 150 historic properties that line St. Charles Main Street, the most famous Main Street of Missouri.
Missouri’s Emancipation Day
Originally posted on Missouri Germans Consortium:
AN ORDINANCE ABOLISHING SLAVERY IN MISSOURI Be it ordained by People of the State of Missouri, in Convention assembled That hereafter, in this State, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except in punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; and all persons held…
The Emancipation Monument
Originally posted on ArcherAlexander.blog:
“I warmly congratulate you upon the highly interesting object which has caused you to assemble in such numbers and spirit as you have today. This occasion is in some respects remarkable…Wise and thoughtful men of our race, who shall come after us…will make a note of this occasion, they will…
The first Thanksgiving
That first Thanksgiving celebration was not in Plymouth, Massachusetts. While the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags did indeed share a harvest feast in fall 1621, and early colonial leaders did declare days of thanksgiving when we were supposed to give our thanks for continued life. Today we celebrate Thanksgiving because of the crisis that we call the Civil War. Lincoln had declared a Proclamation appointing the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and Prayer on October 3, 1863.
A Veterans Salute
According to family legend this Revolutionary War Veteran heard the first reading of the Declaration of Independence.
Elijah Lovejoy
The mob scaled the building and was about to set fire to the warehouse when Lovejoy was shot five times and killed while defending his press and his right to publish his thoughts on the abolition of slavery. The mob overran the warehouse and threw his press into the Mississippi River.
October 8, 1829 – the final entry
Originally posted on ArcherAlexander.blog:
The final entry of William M. Campbell’s journal* simply reads… Reached home* Missouri When Archer arrived in Dardenne Prairie in Saint Charles County on October 8th in 1829, he was 23 years old. Born in 1806, his parents Aleck and Chloe were the property of the Alexander family. He was…
German America Day 2020
Originally posted on German American Committee:
JOIN US!? TUESDAY – 1:00 PM OCTOBER 6, 2020 ONLINE CELEBRATION! https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88524194600 Keynote program: WHAT MAKES MISSOURI SO GERMAN?! Dorris Keeven-Franke, President German-American Committee and Missouri Germans Consortium, Executive Director In St. Louis, Missouri, one of the largest strongholds of German-American heritage, the German-American Committee of St. Louis, was…
1 & 2 October 1829 – Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh entry
Originally posted on ArcherAlexander.blog:
The Survey of U.S. Army Uniforms, Weapons and Accoutrements by David Cole 2007 William Campbell’s journal of his move to Missouri, written in 1829, tells us the story of fifty people both black and white. They left Rockbridge County, Virginia on August 20th, and travelled across today’s West Virginia, Kentucky,…