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 (1845-?) 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.

     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 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. To add to the confusion, we
have in our possession a postcard photo of
Bertha Doerge who was a prominent
midwife in Ste. Genevieve for many years.
On the back of the postcard is written-
'my mother's grandma'.
The problem here is Bertha would not be
old enough to be Amanda's grandmother
and Bertha's husband 'Capt.' Charles
Doerge was fighting in the Civil War in
Arkansas during the time period in
question.

     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.

Click on the thumbnail below to view photo of Bertha Doerge.