Rev.
N. C. Chasteen
THE CIRCUIT
RIDER
"The first year I preached," said Rev. N.C.
Chasteen, with a smile, "I received $80 in cash, a pair of wool sox and
a pair of gloves. But as I grew older and my circuit increased, my salary
as I recall, was $350 a year when I quit preaching. My circuit comprised
four counties and I made it on horseback, riding the ridges when possible
and fording streams because the hereabouts was mostly swamp land."
The ministry was in the main a side issue for
Rev. Chasteen. He was a farmer, grist mill owner, merchant, legislator,
and above all, friendly counsel to hundreds of persons in this section.
Virtually all of his years were spent in this one locality.
BLOOMFIELD BECOMES HOME
Rev. Chasteen was born in Fayetteville, TN in
1847. He was three months old when his parents moved to Missouri, in Howell
County where they farmed for two years, and then came to Stoddard County,
near the present site of Bloomfield. Bloomfield was a mere settlement.
His father stopped the oxen in the woods and said this was their home.
He cut down a few trees and built a little shack which served as shelter
until the log cabin was built.
Here the Chasteen family lived for many years.
Cape Girardeau was the only town of size within riding distance, and such
food staples as were needed were carted to Bloomfield over roads that led
through dismal swamps and over streams that were unaffordable during the
rainy season. But they didn't have to depend on the grocery stores for
food stuffs. The forests were full of game; they ground their own meal.
Generally, they got one pair of shoes a year--at Christmas. Sometimes they
wore coarse sandals made from deer hide. There were no public schools,
and such education as they received was in the so called subscription schools
which were made possible by parents paying the teachers individually. Rev.
Chasteen never went to school more than three months in any one year.
CIVIL WAR TRAGEDY
During the Civil War there was much guerrilla
fighting in the vicinity of Bloomfield, and on one occasion Rev. Chasteen
and his mother were witnesses of the Round Pond massacre, in which a number
of Union soldiers were killed by guerrillas. Rev. Chasteen’s father was
arrested by Union soldiers and charged with aiding and abetting the enemy.
He was found not guilty and released, but was bushwhacked and killed by
guerrillas on the way home. Rev. Chasteen was a boy of 16 at the time,
and that was the end of his schooling. At the age of 18 he was married
to Miss Mary Jane Proffer, who lived on an adjoining farm.
HE FELT THE CALLTO PREACH
Chasteen was l0 years old when he joined the church--the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Lick Creek Chapel. As a boy he was
not particularly religious, but the Bible was virtually all the literature
he had to read, so that is what he read, and it brought him a knowledge
of Holy Writ that I later years was to make him a preacher. In reality,
he was a farmer trying to wrest a living from the soil. His opportunities
for education were so limited that he was forced to continue his studies
as he worked. This he did at night. He became a self-taught minister of
the gospel when he was 21 years old. He was given the Piketon Circuit,
consisting of thirteen widely-separated churches, non of which could be
reached except on horseback.
PIONEER LIFESTYLE
One day, Chasteen recalled, neighbors came by
and said they were going on a rattlesnake hunt. He joined the party and
they kill 200 snakes that day with clubs. They carded and spun their own
cotton. They had to pick out all the seeds by hand. They also made their
own dyes from certain berries in the woods that gave fast colors. Moss
scraped from trees and mixed with walnut juice was one of their best dyes.
For entertainment they had dances, foot races, and hunting parties. They
put on plays and song songs. There were quilting bees and husking bees.
Friendships were strong.
GALA CHRISTMAS
Christmas in those pioneers days was a gala occasion.
It was the time for family gatherings and tables would do the traditional
groaning beneath the weight of food piled high. The forest contributed
its varied quota of wild game, supplemented by pig hams and smoked sides
of bacon. The women folks would draw upon their supply of canned goods
and there would be pumpkin pies and berry pies, and cakes of seven layers.
And, there would also be a "whisky stew." Corn whisky sold for 25 cents
a gallon and it was pure stuff made in the local stills. Peach brandy was
also an ingredient. To a jug of whisky there would be added spice, ginger
and hot water. The result was an aromatic and potent punch.
On the days before Christmas and New Year's
shootings were held. Every man polished up his rifle and shot at a target,
the winners getting the turkeys, chickens, ducks or geese that were offered
as prizes.
A marriage in the neighborhood was always the
signal for a charivari. The happy couple usually compromised with the crowd
of visitors by giving them enough old hens to make a savory stew. They
would then go into the woods, dress the chickens, prepare a fire under
a large kettle, and make the stew.
For fifty years Rev. Chasteen served as an
intermittent preacher, farmer, and grist mill owner. He also served three
terms in the State Legislature, served as presiding judge of the Stoddard
County Court, and was appointed by Gov. Major as a member of the Board
of Managers of Farmington State Hospital.
The End.
***Condensed from a story that appeared in
the January 26, 1930 Globe Democrat Magazine.
Reprinted in the Bloomfield Vindicator.
HOME