August 2, 2017
Uncovering roots
Around Town
O’Fallon teachers connect with Haitian orphans through dance P.3
Cuivre River Electric sponsors students at leadership conference. P.4
School
FZN studets attend Missouri Girls State. P.8
Wentzville resident, 88 year-old George Abington stands in front of a house where his ancestors once lived on the Abbington Plantation in Foristell, Missouri.
Photo courtesy Dorris Keeven-Franke
Learn & Play
Wentzville man discovers family secrets and hidden history as he traces his family tree By Charlotte Beard Eighty-eight-year-old George Abington, born and raised in Wentzville, began a quest five years ago to find his paternal grandfather’s birth certificate after younger family members had questions about their roots. “My father really never talked about his childhood…his father,” George shared. “I knew his mother because we visited her. But he never mentioned his father and just never talked about his childhood. I had a couple nephews who wanted to know how this person [was] related…how that person [was] related. I said, ‘you know what let’s see if I can find out something’…I wanted to find out what my father’s name was, too. [I was asked] how are you going to do it? I said I am going to go to St. Charles…I’m going to see if I can find his birth certificate. So, I went to the court house and searched all the records.” George was told they didn’t have the record he sought. He was referred to the St. Charles Historical Society.
“I went over there… [the woman who assisted me] asked, ‘Can I help you?’ I said ‘yes I’d like to see if you can help me find my father’s birth certificate?’ So, she called Dorris.” Currently, Dorris Keeven-Franke, a public historian, is the Executive Director at the Missouri Germans Consortium, but she was working with the Historical Society when she and George connected on his quest five years ago. “I had been a professional genealogist for 30…40 years but it was like my second week [at the Historical Society] and I don’t know what made me but without thinking I said, ‘sure we can find your dad.’” Both she and George burst into laughter. Dorris had been gone from the Historical Society for three years before returning. “We worked on it [George’s search] over two years before we discovered it,” referring to the birth certificate. Dorris stated every volunteer at the Historical Society helped with the search. It is important to note that in finding
George’s paternal grandfather’s certificate, the only information he knew was his parent’s name and his paternal grandmother’s name. Dorris explained, “Over [a period] we dug every record…. After about a year or two of that we were finally getting it all narrowed down.” Dorris reviewed how much information they’d gathered about Sarah, George’s grandmother, in 1860 and that there were 25 slave possibilities that could be linked to her as George’s grandfather minus a name. The research included looking at white slave owners and their property. One slave owner that was researched, Henry Abbington, had a will that included slaves. (Note: the family used two b’s in the spelling) A notable house-slave of his, Sally, was inherited by Henry’s 75-year-old wife. There were details in the will about the maintenance and care for Sally, who was 14 years old. When Henry Abbington died, in the household See ROOTS page 2
Serving St. Louis, St. Charles, and Lincoln Counties | FREE Online at mycnews.com | Vol. 19 No. 31 | 636-379-1775
Make breakfast time anytime P.11
Movie In search of dollar movie theaters. P.16
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