THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
Dr. Pierre Chastain (ca.
1659-1728) , known
as “The Immigrant,” made giant ‘footsteps in the sands of time’ in at
least
three of the four areas pinpointed:
improved living conditions, religious life, economy and
agriculture.
Let us look briefly at his family for
whom he sought to leave a memorable legacy.
He and his first wife, Susanne Renaud, had eight children: Jean Adam, Marie Susanne, Pauline Elizabeth,
Pierre, Arthuze, Jeanne Francois, Pierre Samuel, and Suzanne. Of these, seven died young, leaving only Jean
Adam Chastain of his first children to carry on the Chastain name.
Susanne
Renaud and four of their children died by 1701 in Manakin Town,
Virginia.
By his second wife, Anne Soblet. Pierre
Chastain had eight children. Perhaps
living conditions were more conducive to rearing children in a
healthier
atmosphere for six of eight of these lived to adulthood and married.
The
children of Pierre and Anne were:
Judith, Susanna, Pierre (Jr.), Mary, Elizabeth, Rene, Janne and
Mary
(Marie) Magdalene. Of these, Mary and
Janne did not marry, died young. Pierre
Chastain married, third, to widow Mary Magdalene Trabue but had no
children by
her. All of you gathered at the Pierre
Chastain Reunion in 2011 have traced your roots back to your inimitable
ancestor, Pierre, the Immigrant, over whose name we proudly write the
superscription 1.
Not to show partiality, by any means,
but by way of illustration, I have selected stories of Chastain
descendants
from several generations to bear out the truth that many of Pierre’s
progeny
did, indeed, make a difference in the four areas of society we have
named: (1) improved living conditions; (2)
religious
life; (3) politics and government; and (4) agriculture and the economy. Let us learn from their lofty examples and
make a difference now and in the future.
Selections include (and there could be many more):
Rev. John “Ten Shillings Bell”
Chastain
(1743-1805), third generation, son of
Pierre Chastain and Mildred Archer Chastain.
He was born in Manakin, Goochland County,
Virginia. His migrations took him to
various places. He died and was buried
at Table Rock in Pendleton District, Pickens County, South Carolina. He had a distinctive nickname:
“Ten Shillings Bell.”
It has been reported that this
minister of
the gospel, in association with such well-known evangelicals at the
time as the
Rev. Shubael Starnes and others of the “Great Awakening” movement on
the
frontier, was known for his resonating voice, one that carried well to
great
crowds gathered to hear the gospel. The
cost for a well-wrought bell, one that resounded clearly, was ten
shillings. Hence the nickname, a
compliment to Rev. John Chastain’s ability as an orator and preacher. Before the term “church planter” was known in
American parlance, Rev. John Chastain traveled far and wide
establishing and
strengthening churches of what became the Baptist faith.
In Western North Carolina in 1774, an area
that became Sullivan County then Carter County, Tennessee, he
ministered at the
Sinking Spring Baptist Church. Moving
about forty miles to Pendleton District in South Carolina (Pickens
County) in
1790, he preached there, then became pastor of the Middle Saluda
Baptist Church
in the Greenville District. He founded
the Oolenoy Baptist Church in Greenville District in 1795 and became
its first
pastor. Prior to leaving Virginia, he signed an oath of allegiance at
the
beginning of the Revolutionary War to be faithful to the colonies. Anyone tracing their ancestry back to the
Rev. John Chastain can claim him as a patriot to qualify for membership
in Sons
and/or Daughters of the American Revolution.
In all four areas of our consideration, the Rev. John “Ten
Shillings
Bell” Chastain made giant steps in the sands of time.
John Chastain and his first wife Mary O’Brien
had eleven children: Abner, John, Jr.,
Martha, Edward Brigand, Mary, Elijah, Elizabeth, Cleo (Chloe),
Benjamin, Nancy
and Joseph. Following Mary O’Bryan
Chastain’s death about 1797, he married, second, a widow, Mrs. Mary
Robinson. Their children were Violet,
William and Mary Lavinia.
Rev. John Chastain’s son, Benjamin
(1780-1845), was selected as an Indian agent and settled in 1837 on the
Toccoa
River (Union County) in what became Fannin County, Georgia (1854). The story of his work in dealing with the
Indians on land sales, and heading up Ft. Chastain, a holding station
for the
Cherokee prior to the Trail of Tears, was the subject of an earlier
Chastain
article.
Next in our line of Chastain greats is
the Rev. Abner Chastain, (1803-1871), fifth generation from Pierre the
Immigrant, and tenth of fifteen children of Edward Brigand Chastain
(1769-1834)
and Hannah Brown Chastain (1771-ca 1832-1837).
Migrations and land holdings show that this Abner Chastain (not
to be
confused with his uncle by the same name, son of Rev. John “Ten
Shilling Bell”
Chastain) was born on Christmas Day, 1803 in Pendleton District, South
Carolina. His parents took him to North
Carolina by 1809. Just where and when
Abner Chastain was ordained a Baptist preacher, we have not discovered
the
record. However, in minutes of Choestoe
Baptist Church, Union County, Georgia (organized perhaps by 1832;
minutes
intact and preserved from 1834 to the present), this Rev. Abner
Chastain was
pastor. Like his grandfather, Rev. John
Chastain, Abner was a church planter, leading Choestoe Church to assist
with
organizing other churches within the vicinity of the mountain region. According to history, 1869 had been a bad
crop year due to draught and depleted lands.
Rev. Abner Chastain led in organizing a massive wagon train of
250
people and started the long trek west to Colorado to settle on lands
available
there. We can only imagine the
responsibility of leading enough wagons to accommodate a crowd of 250
men,
women and children, and the hardships, illnesses and challenges they
faced
along the journey. Abner’s first wife,
Susan Pemberton O’Kelley, may have died on the way west or shortly
after they
settled there at the Heurfano River two miles east of St. Mary’s at
LaVeta,
Colorado. True to form, Rev. Abner
Chastain soon started a church in the new settlement.
In the fall of 1870 he baptized the first
convert there in the Heurfano River. He
married, second, Amanda Elzy, Unfortunately, Rev. Abner Chastain died
of
pneumonia on April 1, 1871, leaving behind a new settlement and a
church
without the dynamic of his much-needed leadership.
But he, too, even in his 67 years of life,
added significantly to Chastain “footsteps in the sands of time.”
[Next:
Elijah Webb Chastain, political leader; Oscar Fitzallen and
Zenobia
Chastain, educators; and Jason Coward Chastain, farmer, in the saga,
“Learning
from the Past - Shaping the Future.”]
c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Sept. 15,2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
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