Dr. M. T. Chastain of Marshall, a former Benton Countian, wrote the
following letter to Mr. Fristoe in 1917, concerning the Parks family
and others in the area:
I knew Judge Samuel Parks and every member of his family. We were
frequent visitors to their hospitable home, as they were to ours.
We may not be aware that when my father and mother and their two
children--Mrs. Sandidge and myself--came to this state, we spent some
time in the neighborhood of the Perrys, Garretts, Walls, Fewells,
Coopers and Drapers (and a splendid community it was, too) before we
visited my father’s uncle, Jacob Chastain on Clear Creek in Benton
County.
Judge Parks and the Chastains were neighbors and warm personal friends.
How well can I remember how Mrs. Parks would feed us little folks on
goodies between meals. And her “dinners?surpassed in menu and
elegance those of Delmonico in New York and on one occasion, while
taking dinner at this noted hostelry, a friend said to me: “Did you
ever partake of such a sumptuous repast?? My reply was: “Yes--even
better at the home of Judge Parks in Missouri.? My father purchased the Dr. Purnell farm some four or five miles east
of Judge Mark Fristoe’s, your grandfather, and my mother held her
membership in the Clear Creek Baptist Church, then located between
Judge Parks?and the Chastain’s, some three miles west of your
father’s, Mr. Henson Fristoes, making it some seven or eight miles to
church. My mother would always go horseback and take me behind her to
the business meetings on Saturday, as well as those on Sunday. On one
occasion I met Judge Parks there, and we were both outdoors (Saturday)
and he had me to sit down by him. He said, “Tandy, are you going to
school now?? “No,?I said, “There is no school near us,?nor had I
ever attended school a day until after I was ten years old. “You can’t
read, can you?? “Oh yes, I can read in McGuffey’s third reader, and
spell every word in Webster’s old elementary spelling book by heart.?
”Do you study arithmetic?? “Yes, I am in addition, multiplication.?
He then got a walnut, hickory, and oak leaf--it being in the
timber--and requested me to name each, which I did. He asked me to
explain the difference, securing two or three different kinds of grass,
requested me to name them. Then gathering several wild flowers
requested me to name them.
I had often been in crowds of men but this was the first man of any
prominence, aside from homefolks, who had taken me in on such familiar
and confidential terms. I told my mother about it, and it pleased her
very much. Said she, “Judge Parks is a very highly cultured gentleman,
always treat him with due courtesy and respect, pattern after him and
you can learn much, and be greatly benefited by his advice and
example.? His oldest daughter who married Mr. Spencer, like your mother (Miss
Davidson) before her marriage, would frequently spend the weekend at
our home. It was a most remarkable coincidence to me that Mr. Spencer
and Mr. Fristoe would visit us on Saturday evening after the ladies
came, remaining over night, accompanying them home on Sunday evening,
but when I became of more mature years, I thought I could solve the
mystery.
