This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/xg.2ADI/2085.3.1.1.2 Message Board Post: I am interested in any more information you may have on the founding and property of the African-American Methodist Episcopal Church in Sprinfield. I have found some references (barely legible) in the probate records (circa 1858-60) of my gr-gr-gr-grandfather, Joseph Klein Jr. The property that is now the fairgrounds belonged to him, and the Klein St. you reference is named for him. Joseph Klein Jr. was white, but I believe he may have been buried at the church, if there was a cemetery. His son is buried in a cemetery in Missouri which is now an African-American Methodist Episcopal Cemetery. Abraham Lincoln was Joseph's lawyer for several land dealings. I am very interested in whether Joseph Klein's involvement with the church was simply as landlord, or, as I suspect, he was in someway connected with the church.