Our great-grandfather ¹Charles Edward "Ed" ANDRE
(1863-1948), was born in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.  Ed was
the mulatto son of a French doctor, Maurice Andre and a
slave by the name of Jane Arthur (1846-1912) who was
owned by Maurice Andre's mentor, Dr. Charles HERTICH.
Jane's mother's name was Mary Dix. Jane's step-father
was ²Richard "Dick" Woods.

     Jane had three more children; George LOUIS?/JANIS?
(last name unclear), Mary Ann Janis (m. Charles Randall)
and Henrietta Blanche Janis (m. Frank Randall). Mary Ann
& Charles had three children; ³Charles Gervey, Mary Burith
& Constance.  Henrietta & Frank also had three children;
Charles, Frank & Elizabeth Randel.

     Ed married Amanda CHOUTEAU DODGE (1863-1951).
Not much is known about Amanda's family except that
according to her baptismal record, her mother's name was
Agathe and she was owned by Vermont ALLEN. Amanda
was adopted and raised by Harriet THOMPSON/THOMAS.
Harriet also adopted Amanda's sister Jane Dodge
(unknown if Jane was Amanda's biological sister).
Harriet also adopted a boy named Wesley REMLINGER.

Click on thumbnails below to view marriage certificates & baptismal records of Ed & Amanda.  *Note: Baptismal records of Ed & Amanda do not mention the father's name as it was common practice during this time period when a 'colored' child was fathered by a Caucasian man.

     The question of Amanda's paternity. I can only assume
that the name Chouteau was Agathe's name. One story
from a family elder is that Amanda's father's name was
Dodge, no first name given. Another story was that her
father was a German or Dutch riverboat captain named
SCHMIT (or something close to that).
Thus far I have not been able to find a riverboat captain by
that name, however I did find a riverboat captain by the
name of Pierre Chouteau, from the same community and he
would be in the correct age group.
    
     Amanda is listed as 'mulatto' in the 1880 Federal Census.
  As was so very common during slavery, many women of color
were taken advantage of by slave owners and men of power.
The mystery of what happened to Amanda's mother Agathe
and who her biological father was are those common brick
walls genealogist run into and present even more of a
challenge when researching our African-American roots.

     Ed and Amanda migrated to Nampa, Idaho around 1898
with two other families; George & Mary C. (AMOUREUX)
MAYSE and William & Mary (RIBEAU) AMOUREUX. According
to family history, William "Babe" was a cousin to Amanda.
Although we have not been able to confirm this family
connection yet, these three families together left behind
many of their friends and families in search of a better life.

Bertha Doerge: Midwife who delivered all of the Andre children that were born in  Ste. Genevieve. Click on the thumbnail below to view photo of Bertha Doerge.