Picture courtesy of Jim Kuntz

AFRICAN INFLUENCE

Slave and free Africans migrated to St. Charles through the "underground railroad" by word of mouth from storytellers, which was a great art among Africans because they were descendents of different tribes, speaking different dialects. They brought with them knowledge of farming, trapping and fishing. They also brought with them skills in the butchering of animals native to the surroundings from which they came. They were employed as farm hands, domestics, cooks and some also worked on the railroad line. One very notable figure was Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, who founded the city of Chicago and then migrated to St. Charles in the early 1800s. He is buried in Borromeo cemetery.

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