Eldora Abington, wife of Liberty Abington, passed away on March 28, 1921, in her home, next door to Sage Chapel A.M.E., in O’Fallon [on Sonderen Street]. She was born June 15, 1868, the daughter of Alex Welch. She leaves behind Jessica born 1887, Bessie born 1889, Allie born 1892, Todie born 1896, and a son Eddy born 1903. After a memorial at the church, E.A. Keithly of O’Fallon served as the undertaker for the Abington family for the burial in Sage Chapel Cemetery.
On August 20th, in 1881, Mahala (Keithly) and her husband Dr. Jasper N. Costlio had transferred to the Trustees of an African Methodist Episcopal Church for the use by the Conference, one acre of land, which became known as Sage Chapel Cemetery. This was done so that the former slaves of Mahala’s father Samuel Keithly could continue to be buried in this cemetery as it became the burying for many African Americans in Saint Charles County throughout the 1900s. Sage Chapel Cemetery is located at 8500 Veterans Memorial Parkway and is owned and maintained by the City of O’Fallon, Missouri. That same deed conveyed a one-half acre parcel on Sonderen Street to be used for an African Methodist Episcopal church known as Sage’s Chapel A.M.E. that no longer exists. The cemetery has 117 documented burials of which only 37 have headstones, of these we know that 17 were born enslaved. The Cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 13, 2018. May they all rest in peace and “As long as a name can be spoken, that person shall not be forgotten.” For more about this cemetery, and those that rest here see https://sagechapel.com/
Sage Chapel Cemetery 