SHASTEEN GENEALOGY
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 — Updated Jan 2014
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PIERRE CHASTAIN NOTES
(1659-1728)

Pierre Chastain Lineage

Note: Red highlights added by RDS, red in (parentheses) notes by RDS

Does not include sources from Vol. I of Pierre Chastain and His Descendants


FROM "PIERRE CHASTAIN REVISITED", Am. Gen. Vol 64 #3, p. 129-139, Cameron Allen
- a refugee of Issouden (Berry) France
-departed Vevey sometime after Sept 1698
-active in gathering the French speaking group of French Huguenots refugees in Switzerland, the Netherlands, England and perhaps Germany and native-born French-speaking Swiss for VA colonization.
-embarked from London on Mary and Ann 19 Apr 1700 with 5 children and wife; 3 children had died before the voyage.  Children on the voyage were Jean, Mary, Jane and Peter, Jr. and Walter [Povalle?]
 
FROM EXCERPT FROM "HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY, MISSOURI, by Miles and White
-Peter Chastain was a member of the French Protestant Refugees (more commonly known as Huguenots) who escaped from France during the religious wars, about 1685, when the wholesale escape of the Huguenots from France took place with the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes of that year.  He took up residence at Yverdon, Canton Vaud, Switzerland and was known to be a surgeon, later becoming interested in the new colonies of America.  He moved his young family to London, England in 1698.  In April 1700 aboard the ship "Mary Ann" along with 205 other French Refugees they set sail from Grovesend, England for their new land and home.  After 13 weeks voyage they arrived at Hampton, VA on the James River 23 Jul 1700. This small group settled and established a frontier village and community 20 miles west of Richmond above the Falls of the James River.  The village was known as Manakin Town and the community was known as King William Parish.
 
FROM VA CHASTAINS, LOWELL B. CHASTAIN, P. 20  (Henrico County, VA Wills, 1697-1704, p. 362)
-Indicates that Pierre was a coroner - when a death statement of Benjamin DuJoux  was sworn by a Mr. Chastain.
-in other estate settlement of some Huguenots at Manakin Town there were noted monies owed to Doctor Pierre Chastain
-Land deeds on 20 Mar 1731, James Robertson deeded land to John Twitty bounded by the land of Doctor Peter Chastain.  (Goochland Co. VA Deeds Book #11, p. 316)
-accounting estate of Antoinne Trabue 9 Dec 1727, the list of creditors includes Doctor Chastaine, Stephen Chastaine, John Chastain.  (Henry County, VA Deeds and Wills 1725-1737)
 
FROM "EARLY VA FAMILIES ALONG THE JAMES RIVER, Vol. I, Henrico County - Goochland County, compiled by Louise Pledge Heath Foley, 1974 (1624-1732 Abstracts of Land Patents, Patent Book #1, Part I, p 48)
-111 acres (N.L) Henrico County, on South side of James River, adj. Anthony Moloone, his own land, and the widow Gory's line, 23 Mar 1715, p. 266.  Part of the first 5,000 acres surveyed for the French Refugees.
 
FROM "TWELVE VA COUNTIES", Gwabhney, Dietz Press, Richmond, 1937, p. 219
-In 1698 Col. William Byrd was largely responsible for a special invitation for a large number of Huguenots in /England to come to VA.  They settled 20 miles above the Falls of the James River and the heart of the new colony was Manakin Town on the south side of the river........first party of Huguenots arrived on 23 Jul 1700.
-Names include: Pierre Chastain who came on the first ship, "The Mary and Ann".  King William Parish was set aside as their parish.
 
FROM "EARLY VIRGINIA FAMILIES ALONG THE JAMES RIVER", Henrico County- Goochland County, by Louise Pledge Heath Foley, Vol. I, p. 62
-to Capt. Peter Chastaine, 379 acres, 1R.10P (N.L) Henrico County - west side of Jones Creek on south side of the James River, beginning at Peter Ford's corner on Jones and Pleasant line; 9 Jul 1724, p. 1520 shelly and Imp. of 4 persons: Mary Chastain, Jane Chastain, Peter Chastain, Jr. and Walter Beatle.
-p. 48  111 acres (N.L) Henrico County, on south side of James River adjacent to Anthony Malone, his own line and the widow Gory's line, 23 Mar 1715, p. 266.  Part of the first 5,000 acres surveyed for the French Refugees.
 
FROM A LETTER FROM B. J. KINCAID TO MRS. LOYCE COOLIDGE, 26 Dec 1967:
-signed his will simply "Chastain"
-will discloses that Peter Junior was left a certain tract of land, 111 acres by his father.
-Kincaid feels we have to be satisfied with not knowing the name or names of the mother, or mothers of the issue of Pater Chastain, Sr.  He m. a widow who already had children and she bore him no more and she left all of her property to her children by a previous marriage.
 
FROM THE CHESTNUT TREE, VOL., IX #4, P. 9
-Copies of the manifest of the "Mary and 'Ann" as it arrived in VA in Jul 1700 (purportedly from the public record office in London) show:
           1) "Pierre Chatanier, sa femme et son pere"
            2) "Pierre Chastain, sa femmie et cinq enfants"
-Clearly there were on that ship, two men named "Pierre" who also had similar but different surnames.  The spelling of the manifest was poor - but you can bet there was nothing wrong with their arithmetic. They paid fares based on head count.  Duplication of a passenger's name on the manifest would have distorted the head count.
-Confirmation is supplied by a list of French Huguenots naturalized in VA, 1705.  Here we see "Peter Chatain" and "Peter Chataigmer"
-there were 3 different spellings: 1)Chastain, Stephen        2) Chataigmer, Peter        3) Chatain, Peter
-Marvin Chastain feels that Piere Chateigner was not our ancestor.   Undoubtedly the French genealogy was his and not that of Pierre Chastain.
-this still leaves the mystery of Pierre signing "Chastaing" to his will.  It also leaves a mystery of the source of the legend about 3 Chastain brothers immigrating to South Carolina.  He got this story from his father who got it from his grandfather
who had no contact with other branches of the family after 1863.  However he got the same legend from Chastains he corresponded with all over the country.
-There were a number of Chastains among the Huguenot refugees in London in the late 1600s and early 1700s.  There was a Thomas Chastain listed as a member of the London Huguenot Society in 1983  He wrote the society, but did not receive an answer.
 
FROM JASON COWARD CHASTAIN AND HIS FAMILY, p. 14
-Pierre Chastain settled a few miles up the James River from Richmond.  A number of Huguenots were already living on the site of an ancient Indian Village. Hence, the name of Mannichin or Manakin Town came about for the Huguenot settlement.
-Among all the documents, letter, deeds and wills which may be searched to validate the Chastain family records, three wills are presented as examples of piety, frugality, honesty, familial love and as a testimony that these folk of ours were not ignorant, poverty stricken refugees.  Their Christian stewardship is still a sterling example to their descendants.
 ---
 
FROM VA CHASTAINS, LOWELL B. CHASTAIN -concerning Pierre Chastain Family Burial Plot at Manakin Town, VA
-When Lowell B. Chastain and his wife Gladys restored the gravesite of Pierre Chastain in Aug of 1982, they found 4 other filed stones which were close to Pierre's gave marker, which also had been overturned since there at the 1981 visit.   It seemed to them that these 4 field stones, which varied in size, possibly had been taken from the James River and were intended to mark the graves of Pierre's 3 wives and small children.  However they only have proof of the location of Dr, Pierre's grave.  That proof came several years ago when they were escorted to the site by Beasley Hancock, living close by and who was on the Vestry of the Manakin Episcopal Church.  He stated that he once had the plot of all the burials in this family cemetery which was used by the Scott family for many years after Pierre Chastain was buried there. He had turned the drawing over to the Scott Family several years prior.  He stated he was positive of the location of Dr. Pierre's grave but could not remember the location of any others.  Mr. Hancock related the story of the nearby farm owner, who d. in 1929 and is buried at the Manakin Episcopal Church, who tore down the brick wall surrounding the cemetery and built himself a beautiful brick house.  The brick, a few of them still about the burial plot were all large homemade brick.
 
The present owner of Monacan Farm, upon which this burial plot is located, confirmed the location of Dr. Pierre's grave.  She related that she had the burial plot which Mr. Hancock spoke of.  However, she could not find it and would have to contact one of the Scott descendants about it.  They cut the weeds, which were higher than their heads with machettas, leveled the ground, built a 6'x8' form 6" deep and poured a cement slab.  Here they placed a chain link fence 6'x8'x5' with no gates.  The tombstone they imbedded onto the center of the concrete slab a few inches so that it could not be removed.  The granite marker cut to show a Huguenot Cross in the edge design.
 
The Pierre Chastain Family Association started a Gravesite Restoration fund at the annual reunion in 1978.
 
Mrs. Rebecca Denny, owner of Monacan Farms felt the brick wall should be restored around the entire original burial plot, and with a gate.  A cost estimate was $10,000.  Many would lie to see it restored with help from the federal and state governments.  The original wall was 3 1/2 inches high and 12" thick.   Mrs. Denny told LBC about 3 beautiful white marble tombstones that were found in her barn: Dr. R. W. Royster, Marta A. Royster, and Ella Scott Royster.
 
The land on which this cemetery was first owned from 1700-1728 by Pierre Chastain was a part of the original Huguenot Grant of 10,000 acres.  The same land was in the Scott family for about 200 years.
 
They placed the four extra field stones in the 6 'x8' area approximately where they were found.  The fence was attached permanently to the concrete slab.
 
FROM VA CHASTAINS, P. 184 (Henrico County, VA Land Grants
-to Pierre Chastain - 111 acres (N.L.) Henrico County, VA; on the south side of the James River, adj. to Anthony Malloone's, his own land; and the widow Gory's line, 23 Mar 1715, p. 266.  Part of the first 5,000 acres surveyed for the French Refugees.
-Capt. Peter Chastain, 379 acres, 1R.109 (N.L) Henrico Co, VA on the west side of Jones's Creek, on the south side of the James River, beginning at Peter Ford's corner; on Jones and Pleasant's line; 9 Jul 1724, p. 15, for r20 shillings and improvements of 4 persons.
 
FROM "ENGLISH DUPLICATES OF LOST VIRGINIA RECORDS", by Louis Des Cagnete, Jr. , 1958, p. 105.
-List of Patents granted for land in VA colony by  the Honorable Alexander Spotswood, His Majesty's Lt. Gov and Commander in Chief of Virginia Dominion, 1710-1718.  Pierre Chastain, 111 acres of land in Henrico County, VA, 23 Mar 1715.
 
FROM VA CHASTAINS, p. 228  (letter from William Ronald Cocke III, 1963 to Kenneth Chastain)
-"Monocan" was an old Chastain estate in Powhatan Co. VA and is now owned by Collins Denny, a prominent attorney, son of the Bishop of the same name of the Methodist Church.  Mr. Cocke believes it to be the home of Pierre Chastain.
-Pierre patented some 500 acres of land between 1714-1730 in Henrico and Goochland Counties, VA
 
FROM VA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPY, Vol. 32, p. 395, 396
-Pierre Chastain, 1714, 89 tithables living in King William Parish
-was a vestryman in 1707
-his will in King William Parish was proved in Goochland Co. VA Nov 1728.
 
FROM VA CHASTAINS, p. 177
-Dr. Pierre Chastain was never impowered, commissioned or authorized to rule and govern the French Refugees as proposed 24 Oct 1701 or proposed by William Byrd I.  This was due probably because he was too busy with the large number of refugees who were sick and dying, including Dr. Pierre's immediate family.
-LBC has seen records in the British Government files in London, England which show that the medicine kit was issued to Doctor Physician Pierre Chastain for the trip of the Mary & Ann to the Colony of Virginia.
-Traditions have been passed down from family to family concerning Dr. Pierre Chastian.  There is one from Dr. Porcher of the Santee Settlement in Jamestown, SC that states "Dr. Pierre Chastain of the VA Manakin Town settlement, and Doctor Lewis de Rochbrune of another settlement were both students of medicine at the University of Paris and in the same class.  Two of Dr. Rochbrune's descendants of Queen Anne's County, VA recently verified that the story is true.  Mr. Sam Ervin's article on the Richbourg Family of SC, verifies that Dr. Porcher was related to Claude Richbourg who m. Ann Chastain.
 
FROM THE CHESTNUT TREE, Vol. II, #1, p. 4 and 5
-Will of Pierre Chastain of Goochland Co, VA, Parish of King William:
        to John and heirs one tract of land lying between John Laviollane and Jacob Oninies, 90 acres.
        to Peter, one tract of land whereon he lived 111 acres and bounded on the lower side by Glebeland and his upper side by land of Susanna Keruer and Glode Gory.
        to Rene, one tract of land 379 acres on Jones's Creek being the land whereon William Bottom lives.
        to daughters, tract of land of 574 acres lying on the lower Manakin Creek to be divided equally.
        to Judith to have the lower part it being where she now lives.
        to Susanna to join Judith, Mary to join Susanna and Magdalen to join Elizabeth
        Sons John and Peter to be executors.  Dated 3 Oct 1728
 
FROM VA CHASTAINS, LOWELL CHASTAIN, P. 33

Pierre - a physician/surgeon and his wife and 3 children were among 207 Huguenot Refugees, who sailed on the Mary Ann from England.  Their arrival date at the mouth of the James River, near Jamestown was 23 Jul 1700.
There were directed and escorted in accordance with instructions from Col. William Byrd the First, to Manakin Town, which is located about 20 miles above the present day Richmond, VA.  Richmond did not exist at that time.
-William Byrd I operated a store below what is now Richmond and he was the most influential man in this area.
-It was mostly through Col. Byrd's influence that the Monacan Indians fields, at the head of the falls of the James River were selected for the settlement of these Huguenots.  The Dismal Swamp area of Virginia and present day NE North Carolina had formerly been selected for this settlement.  The Monacan Indian fields were considered to be the best land in the country at that time.
-a true copy of the Mary Ann manifest was made at James Town 31 Jul 1700 and the original was signed by Olivier De La Mace, Ch. Di Sailly, and Geo. Hawes, Captain of the Mary and Ann.  The original at that time being in the custody of Governor Francis Nicholson.  [Ref. p 378 and 379, "The Douglas Register"]
 
-Chastains listed on the manifest:   Pierre Chastain, sa femme et cinq enfants
                                                        Estienne Chastain
                                                        Quintin Chastain
 
            Similar names: Francoise Sassin
                                     Pierre Chatanier, sa femme et son pere
-Lowell Chastain can not understand how this could be a true copy, inasmuch as there are double entries for Estiene Chastain, Adam Vignes, Jean Menager et Jean Lesnard.  There is a possibility that these entries were meant to read
Estienne and his wife, Adam Vigner and wife, etc.
 
 
FROM THE CHESTNUT TREE, VOL. VIII, #4, P. 115
-documents preserved in the library of Guildhall, London, that have been quoted by Lucian Fosdick, in the "French Blood in America" and by Charles Baird in "History of the Huguenot Emigration", Vol II.
"In August (1700) the Bishop of London writes to the City Chamberlain:  "Sir: the Bearer Monsiur Castayne, is going out surgeon to ye French now departing for Virginia.  He wants 20 pounds to make up his chest of drugs and instruments......."
"It would appear that Chastain, the Doctor, was on the 4th ship that left around August, and not on the first ship, The Mary and Ann.  The request for 20 lbs. was carried from the Bishop to the Chamberlain in Aug 1700 some 4 months after the first ship with our Pierre, and the aforementioned Stephen left.  Four months is not long enough time for Pierre to have returned from a voyage that took 13 weeks and presumably another 13 weeks to return.
-"Could the records from the Guildhall have been miscopied, and this request for 20 lbs. have been made in Apr of 1700 or Aug of 1699?
 
FROM THE CHESTNUT TREE, VOL I #1, P. 4 
FROM CAMERON ALLEN IN HIS SERIES "The Chastain Families of Mankin Town in Virginia", AM. GEN. Jul 1963
 
-Pierre Chastain came over on "The Mary and Ann", the first of 4 ships which brought most of the French Huguenots to Manakin Town in Virginia in 1700.
-one probably called "Chalanier" on Miller's list of Feb 1700/01, and "Chalagenie" on William Byrd's list of Nov 1701 (Ibid. 5:46)
-It appears he did not remain in Manikin Town very long, that he possibly migrated to the Trent River settlement of the Huguenots in Craven Precinct, North Carolina and died without leaving any male issue.
 
FROM AMERICAN GENEALOGIST, VOL. 40, P. 4 AND 5 "The Chastain Families of Manakin Town in Virginia", by Cameron Allen
-Tithe lists of King William Parish in 1730: a negro slave belonging to Pierre's eldest son, Jean Chastain bearing name "Charo".
-Chastain's named his slave after his beloved home town in France.  Charost in the former Province of Berri, now in the Department du Cher, very nearly at the center of France.
-Conclusion is that Pierre Chastain came from Charost in Berri differs from account of the family by Rev. James Garvin Chastain's remarkable "A Brief History of the Huguenots and Three Family Trees: Chastain-Lockridge-Stockton.  1933, p. 258-308. leaps the centuries giving wrong parentage.
 
FROM AYRES, KIN TO KIN TO KIN, by Nellie Ayres, p. 81
-Pierre Chastain patented land 9 Jul 1724, 379 acres in Henrico County, VA using headrights Mary, Jane, Jane (again) Peter Chastain and Walter Boelhe, the land adjoining Peter Faure.
 
FROM CHASTAIN KITH AND KIN, Salser, p. 18, 19
-Pierre Chastain was elected to serve on the first vestry of the newly created Parish of King William, about 1701, again in 1718 he was elected both to the vestry and office of Church Warden, taking the oaths of both offices.  He was replaced in 1720, but in 1726 he was again serving as Church Warden. He remained on the vestry until his death.
-Pierre's second wife was Anne Soblet, daughter of fellow refugee immigrants, Abraham and Susanne (Briant) Soblet.  Following the death of his second wife, Anne, Pierre married third, Mrs. Magdlaine (Flournoy/Fleurnois) Trabue, a native of Geneva, daughter of Jacob Flournoy and widow of Antoine Trabue. 
-Pierre Chastain d. in the Parish of King William, then in Goochland County, VA between 3 Oct and 20 Nov 172, the dates of the making of his will and its being probated.  The will names his wife "Magdalin" who does not receive any of the 1,154 acres of land left to his three sons and 5 daughters.  This would seem to indicate that she had land of her own from her husband, Antoine Trabue.  Pierre names his 3 sons (John, Peter and Rene) and his 5 daughters (Judith, Susanna, Mary, Elizabeth and Magdalin.  John received the 90 acres on which he lived; Peter received the 111 acres that was Pierre's original land grant; Rene got 379 acres, the largest portion of any child, and 574 acres to be divided equally between his 5 daughters.  Peter's portion is described as bounded by" ye glebeland". The glebeland was that area assigned in the distribution to the immigrants for the support of the ministers of the church.  Pierre signed his will simply "Chastaing". 
 
SOURCE: BL 
 
 

 

  Other Sources & Items
GPS gravesite ? 37.343822 -77.42882 - http://www.chastaincentral.com/content/pierre.html  does not appear accurate, sw of Richmond, not W
  37.34637 - 77.42147
   
   
   
   
   
   

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