View source for Chasteen C. Stumm

{{Short description|American minister, newspaper journalist, publisher (1848–1895)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Chasteen C. Stumm
| image              = Rev. Chasteen C. Stumm.png
| other_names        = C .C. Stumm
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1848|04|11}}
| birth_place        = Airdrie, [[Muhlenberg County, Kentucky|Muhlenberg County]], [[Kentucky]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1895|11|09|1848|04|11}}
| death_place        = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| resting_place      = Fairview Cemetery, Staunton, Virginia, U.S.
| education          = [[Berea College]],<br/> [[Roger Williams University (Nashville, Tennessee)|Roger Williams University]]
| occupation         = Minister, teacher, journalist, editor, newspaper publisher
| known_for          =
| spouse             = [[Elizabeth Stumm|Elizabeth Penmen]]
}}
Rev. '''Chasteen C. Stumm''' (1848–1895) was an American minister, teacher, journalist, editor, and newspaper publisher.<ref name="Pegues">{{Cite book |last=Pegues |first=Albert Witherspoon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJA-AAAAYAAJ |title=Our Baptist Ministers and Schools |date=1892 |publisher=[[Wiley Company|Willey & Company]] |pages=472–481 |language=en |chapter=Rev. C. C. Stumm}}</ref><ref name="KAAE">{{Cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Gerald L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-0AoCgAAQBAJ |title=The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia |last2=McDaniel |first2=Karen Cotton |last3=Hardin |first3=John A. |date=2015-08-28 |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |isbn=978-0-8131-6066-5 |language=en|page=8}}</ref><ref name="Penn">{{Cite book |last=Penn |first=Irvine Garland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y80OAAAAIAAJ |title=The Afro-American Press and Its Editors |date=1891 |publisher=Willey & Company |isbn=978-0-598-58268-3 |pages=248–256 |language=en |chapter=Rev. C. C. Stumm, Editor Philadelphia Department of the Brooklyn National Monitor}}</ref> He was from Kentucky, and also lived in Tennessee, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
== Early life and education  ==
Chasteen C. Stumm was born on April 11, 1848, in [[Airdrie, Kentucky]], a former iron mining town in Muhlenberg County.<ref name="Penn" /> He was African-American and raised on a farm, where he periodically attended [[subscription school]]s.<ref name="Pegues" /> For three sessions he attended a segregated school for White students in [[Greenville, Kentucky|Greenville]], Kentucky, which caused disruption in the community.<ref name="Pegues" /> Eventually this teacher agreed to give him private lessons, in order to prepare him for college.<ref name="Pegues" />
In 1871, he attended [[Berea College]] for one year; followed by a few years study at the Baptist Theological Institute (later known as [[Roger Williams University (Nashville, Tennessee)|Roger Williams University]]) in Nashville, Tennessee.<ref name="Penn" /> He had two periods of absence from Roger Williams University due to his health, and in his time off he studied with private teachers.<ref name="Penn" />
== Career ==
In 1866, Stumm became a member of the Methodist church.<ref name="Pegues" /> At age 17, he started teaching Sunday school near [[Paradise, Kentucky|Paradise]] in Muhlenberg County.<ref name="Pegues" /> Under the advice of Rev. Samuel Elliott, he joined the [[A.M.E. Church]] in [[Hartford, Kentucky|Hartford]] in Ohio County, Kentucky and became a licensed minister.<ref name="Pegues" /> By age 19, he became a teacher, which was unusual during that era.<ref name="Penn" />
While he was still attending university, Stumm was asked by a local newspaper editor to report on the proceeding on the convention of the Baptists.<ref name="Pegues" /> As a result, he acted as a correspondent for various newspapers including [[The Standard (Paducah, Kentucky newspaper)|''The Standard'' (Paducah, Kentucky newspaper)]], [[The Pilot (Nashville, Tennessee newspaper)|''The Pilot'' (Nashville, Tennessee newspaper)]], [[American Baptist (Louisville, Kentucky newspaper)|''American Baptist'' (Louisville, Kentucky newspaper)]], [[The Tribune (Danville, Kentucky)|''The Tribune'' (Danville, Kentucky)]], and the ''[[Baptist Companion]]''.<ref name="Pegues" /> He wrote a children's column called "Uncle Charles" for the ''American Baptist''.<ref name="Pegues" /> Stumm also had a column in the ''[[Bowling Green Democrat]].''<ref name="Pegues" /> He published the ''[[Bowling Green Watchman]]'' for many years,<ref name="Pegues" /> where his wife served as a journalist.
At age 22 around 1870, Stumm built his first church building in Chaplaintown, Kentucky.<ref name="Pegues" /> He had witnessed a religious debate between Methodist and "[[Campbellite]]" preachers, which prompted him to look deeper into the Baptist religion and church leadership.<ref name="Pegues" /> He eventually converted to Baptist, joining the First Baptist Church of Nashville, Tennessee led by Rev. Nelson G. Merry.<ref name="Pegues" /> Within the year of joining the new church, he was licensed as a minister and a year later he was [[Ordination|ordained]].<ref name="Pegues" />
He married Elizabeth Penmen in 1875, a fellow student from Berea.<ref name="Pegues" /> Soon after their marriage, Stumm was called to missionary work to run a church and spent two years at his first station, before being transferred to [[Elizabethtown, Kentucky|Elizabethtown]], Kentucky.<ref name="Penn" /> From 1879 to 1881, Stumm was placed as minister of the Independent Baptist Church of Frankfort.<ref name="Pegues" /> This was followed by work at the largest church in the state in Bowling Green, and later work as assistant pastor at the Spruce Street Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee.<ref name="Pegues" /> Stumm was briefly the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Boston, Massachusetts but left due to a dislike of the weather.<ref name="Pegues" /> In October 1885, he joined the struggling Union Baptist Church in Philadelphia, where he increased the size of the congregation and was able to build a new church building.<ref name="Pegues" />
He was an active participant in the Baptist Ministers' Conference, which was attended by both Black and White clergy.<ref name="Pegues" /> In 1887, he became the editor of the ''[[Baptist Monitor]]'', a newspaper by the New England Missionary Convention.<ref name="Pegues" /> In 1890, the Stumms began publishing ''[[The Christian Banner]]'', a religious journal, for which he acted as the editor, and his wife served as the business manager.<ref name="Penn" /> He was awarded an honorary [[doctorate of divinity]] in 1890 from the [[University of Louisville]].<ref name="Pegues" />
== Late life and death ==
In 1891, the couple moved to [[Staunton, Virginia]], where Stumm took over the Mount Zion Baptist Church.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxZ1bNYk7-4C&pg=PA57 |title=Augusta County Heritage Topical |publisher=S. E. Grose |pages=57 |language=en |chapter=Mount Zion Baptist Church}}</ref>
He had been sick and was hospitalized in October 1895 at the [[Freedman's Hospital|Freeman's Hospital]] (now Howard University Hospital) in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1895-10-26 |title=The Staunton Letter |pages=3 |work=[[Richmond Planet]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121250921/the-staunton-letter/ |access-date=2023-03-20}}</ref> Stumm died on November 9, 1895, in Washington, D.C., and was buried in Fairview Cemetery in Staunton, Virginia.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 20, 1895 |title=Death of Rev. C. C. Stumm |pages=3 |work=Staunton Spectator |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8902025/death-of-rev-c-c-stumm-the-staunton/ |access-date=2023-03-19}}</ref> He was profiled in the books, ''[[The Afro-American Press and Its Editors]]'' (1891), and  ''Our Baptist Ministers and Schools'' (1892).
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |last=Penn |first=Irvine Garland |url= |title=[[The Afro-American Press and Its Editors]] |date=1891 |publisher=Willey & Company |isbn=978-0-598-58268-3 |pages=248–256 |language=en |chapter=Rev. C. C. Stumm, Editor Philadelphia Department of the Brooklyn National Monitor |author-link=Irvine Garland Penn}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pegues |first=Albert Witherspoon |title=Our Baptist Ministers and Schools |date=1892 |publisher=[[Wiley Company|Willey & Company]] |language=en |chapter=Rev. C. C. Stumm |pages=472–481}}
== External links ==
* {{Commons-inline}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stumm, Chasteen C.}}
[[Category:1848 births]]
[[Category:1895 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Muhlenberg County, Kentucky]]
[[Category:People from Staunton, Virginia]]
[[Category:19th-century African-American educators]]
[[Category:19th-century American educators]]
[[Category:19th-century Baptist ministers from the United States]]
[[Category:African-American Baptist ministers]]
[[Category:Berea College alumni]]
[[Category:Roger Williams University alumni]]
[[Category:African-American journalists]]
[[Category:19th-century African-American writers]]