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Cassity, John Barnard
1/1/1905
July 4, 1838 - 1905 |
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| Reverend John Barnard Cassity was born July 4, 1838, in Morgan County, Kentucky. The youngest child of Jesse Cassity and Margaret Kelly. His parents were among the early settlers of Kentucky. His father was a member of the Campbellite Church. His mother lived and died a member of the Methodist Church. His opportunities for an education were limited to those that a common country school afforded. His early training was good, and deep impressions were made on his childish heart so that he often preached when quite a boy with a great deal of earnestness to his playmates, and would have connected himself with the church when about twelve years of age, but was opposed. At the age of seventeen, being restless and somewhat reckless as well, he left home for the far West, with the blessings of his Christian mother. It was then he began a career that made his life so unsatisfactory ever after. He stopped first in Missouri, then on to Utah, where he became a soldier in the United States Army under General A. S. Johnson until honorably discharged by General Barnard Bee. This was in 1858. From then until 1862 very little is known of his life save that it was spent in daring recklessness among the early settlers and Indians of the then Wild West. When the War between the States began he joined the Confederate Army. In 1862, or 1863, the battery to which he belonged, the “Val Verde,” was ordered to Texas, and camped at or near San Antonio. In 1864 they were ordered to East Texas and camped near Scottsville. Later they were transferred to Louisiana and camped near Shreveport, where at the close of the war they were disbanded. He was First Lieutenant until a short time before they disbanded, when he was elected Captain. In 1865 he was married to Miss Mattie Colquitt, when he bought a farm and engaged in farming near Keithville. In January 1868, with a number of friends, he moved to British Honduras, where he remained until 1873. His wife died there in 1869. Returning to Louisiana he was again married, this time to Miss Georgia V. Williamson. Locating at Stonewall he engaged in the mercantile and blacksmithing business. He had now become a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and in 1874 was licensed to preach from Old Friendship Church, where lie had received some years before that impression by the Spirit, which transformed his whole life: As a local preacher he did regular work during 1875. As such he served the Caddo Circuit in 1876 and joined the Louisiana Conference that year. He was appointed to the Pleasant Hill Circuit, serving that charge 1877-78-79, receiving into the church during those three years over seven hundred members; 1880-81-82 he served the Coushatta and East Point Circuit; 1883-84, North Bossier Circuit; and in1885-86, Caddo Circuit, In 1886 Reverend Cassity’s wife died, leaving him with six children. From1887 to 1890, he was Presiding Elder of the Shreveport District. In1887 he was again married, this time to Miss Lizzie Schumpert. In 1891 he served Mansfield Station; in1892-93 he was at Franklin and Jeanerette; in 1894-95 Minden Station; in1896 to 1898 Rayville Circuit; in 1899 Abbeville; in1900, Wilson Circuit in 1901 and 1902, Zachary Station in1903, Franklinton Circuit in 1904, Vernon Circuit in 1905, and was then superannuated on July 22, 1905. The same year he fell asleep at his home in the town of Ruston, and was laid to rest there to await the final call of his Lord, whom he so intensely loved and so faithfully served. |
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| Source: Journal of the Louisiana Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; 1905; Pages 60-61; by W. F. Henderson | |
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