Career
Renamed “The Charless Home" in 1977, the institution celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2003 and continues to provide housing and services to retired men (since 1996) as well as women. Her husband, a prominent merchant and banker, was assassinated in Saint Louis by a deranged bookkeeper, Joseph Thornton, who believed that Mr. Charless had ruined his character by testifying against him at trial.
Mr.
Thornton, accused of stealing nearly $20,000 from the Boatmen’s Saving Association, was acquitted of theft, but found guilty of murder. Born in Southampton, Virginia, Charless traveled with her family first to northern Alabama and then, in 1830, to Saint Louis where her father, Peter Blow (1777 -1832), briefly operated a hotel. At the time of his death, he or his family sold their slave Dred Scott (ca1799-1858) to Colonel John Emerson, who took Scott to the “free” state of Illinois and territory of Wisconsin.
When Scott returned to Saint Louis in 1842, he sued for his freedom.
After Scott"s final appeal to the United States Supreme Court failed in 1857, Colonel Emerson"s widow, by then married to a leading abolitionist, transferred ownership of Scott to Taylor Blow. Mr. Blow gave Mr. Scott his freedom in 1857.
