Simon Leslie White passed away on August 13, 1966 in St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Charles. He had suffered a heart attack at his home in O’Fallon, 509 Sonderen Street. He was the son of Rufus and Millee (nee Sallee) and born on August 7, 1881. He leaves behind his wife Cora (nee Abington) White and several children and grandchildren. The family was served by the O’Fallon Mortuary (Callahans) in O’Fallon.
Funeral services Held Today For S.L. White, 85
Funeral services were held today (Wenesday for Simon Leslie White, 85, who died Saturday, August 13, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Charles, Mr. White suffered a heart attack last
Friday and was rushed to the hospital. Services were at 2 p.m. at the O’Fallon Mortuary with burial in the Sage Chapel cemetery. Mr. White was a member of the Hopewell Baptist Church. Survivors include his wife, Cora Avington [sic] White; eight children, Sylvester White, O’Fallon, Mrs. Margaret McCormick, Arthur White, LuLurean Thornton, Beaulah White, all of St. Louis; Thomas White, Overland; Eugene White Chicago, and Harry White, St. Charles; three step-sisters, cousins, nephews, nieces and grandchildren. O’Fallon Community News, August 17, 1966.
On August 20th, in 1881, Mahala (Keithly) and her husband Jasper 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 Samuel Keithly could continue to be buried in this cemetery. That same deed conveyed a one-half acre parcel on Sonderen Street to be used for a church known as Sage’s Chapel. The members of Cravens Methodist, and Wishwell Baptist, also located on Sonderen Street, also used this cemetery to bury their families. None of these churches or their records exist anymore. Sage Chapel Cemetery is a former African American community cemetery that is maintained by the City of O’Fallon, Missouri, located at 8500 Veterans Memorial Parkway. It has 117 documented burials of which only 37 have headstones, of these we know that 17 were born enslaved. (2018) May they rest in peace “As long as a name can be spoken, that person shall not be forgotten.”
Sage Chapel Cemetery 