Patterson Families--Early Settlers in Union

With our annual Thanksgiving celebration immediately past we have fond memories of our own family get-togethers, traditional turkey and dressing and other excellent food, and the good times such family events provide for us. We are grateful for such a highlight in our year and mark each as worthwhile and a time to draw together as family.

We don’t know to what extent the early settlers to Union County observed Thanksgiving. Maybe they, too, gathered family members and had a special time of gratitude for blessings and sharing food. I took time to examine the 1834 Union census, and discovered that the surname recorded with the most families with the name living in the county then was Patterson. Four families made up the Patterson population with heads of households listed as Joseph (8 males, 4 females), Amos (5 males, 2 females), John (4 males, 3 females) and George (4 males, 3 females). That count brought the Pattersons living in Union at the time of the first census to 33 persons. Some of the Patterson families settled in the Ivy Log District of Union County along Ivy Log Creek.

The marriages recorded in Union records before the 1840 census were as follows:

Lewis Patterson to Jerushia Denton on December 6, 1836 by J. B. Chastain, Justice of the Peace;

Margaret Patterson to Gravit R. Foster on November 9, 1837 by William Patterson;

Sarah Patterson to William Carroll on December 31, 1838 by A. Chastain, Justice of the Peace;

John Patterson to Sarah Beasley on March 13, 1839 by John B. Chastain, Justice of the Peace.

By the 1840 census, which gives only names of heads-of-households and the number of males and females and their ages by categories of under 5, 5-10, 10-15, 15-20, 20-30, etc. to over 100, we find ten Patterson families listed. The four families resident in Union had remained, Joseph, Amos, John and George, and six more Patterson families with heads of households named William, John, Samuel, Lewis, John (the elder—he and his wife were between 70 and 80), and Bailey. Those in Patterson households numbered a total of 55 for the 1840 population.

Those searching their genealogy are always grateful to come to the 1850 census, for therein they find names of husband, wife, children and any others living in the household when the enumerator visited. There were eleven households of Pattersons in Union in 1850. I list them here as I found them enumerated:

Household #45: William Patterson, 37, born in NC, wife Elizabeth, 32, born in GA, and ten children, all born in Georgia; Mary, 13, Joseph, 12, John, 11, William, 9, Samuel, 7, James, 5, Nancy, 4, Alfred, 3, Manerva, 1, and an infant, gender and name not given, 4 months.

Household # 184: John Patterson, 35, born in NC, Sarah, 29, born in NC and children all born in Georgia: Lidey, 9, Nancy 6, Elizabeth, 4, Andrew, 2, and Nathan, 6 months. These, I think, are the John Patterson and Sarah Beasley married on March 13, 1839

Household # 187: Samuel Patterson, 44, born in NC; Jane, 3 (?) born in TN, Carroll, 17, born in NC, Decator, 15, born in NC, and the remaining children born in Georgia: Amanda, 13, Julius, 11, Mercilla, 9, Nathan, 6, Sarah, 4, Julian, 2, and Samuel, 6 months.

Household # 333: Joseph Patterson, 61, born in SC, wife Agnes, 55, born in SC, children still at home all born in Georgia: Solomon, 24, Mary, 20, Elizabeth, 18, and Melissa, 16. Listed in Joseph’s household is Margaret Patterson, age 83, his mother (?), born in SC, and Ann Patterson, 47, his sister (?) and Sary Durham, 84, born in VA, his mother-in-law (?).

Household # 335: Amos Patterson, 26, born in Georgia, Jane, 24, born in NC, and children Mary, 4, born in GA, James 3, born in NC, and Nancy, 1, born in GA.

Household # 373: John Patterson, 28, born in NC and Mary, 24, born in SC.

Household # 454: John Patterson, 52, born in NC, owns one slave; Sarah, 47, born in SC, and children all born in Georgia: Andrew, 18, Humphrey, 15, John, 11, George, 8, Sarah, 3; and Margaret Patterson, age 83, listed again here in her son John’s household (she was also enumerated in her son Joseph’s household), and Lucinda Hix, 45, born in SC, who probably was a sister of Sarah Patterson, John’s wife.

Household # 455: Joseph Patterson, 25; Mary, 22, both born in Georgia, and children all born in Georgia: George, 5, Sarah, 3, and John, 2 months. A marriage is listed for Joseph Patterson and Polly Hawkins on October 24, 1844 by William Poteet, Justice of the Peace. “Polly” was a common nickname for Mary.

Household # 456: William Patterson, 23, Margaret Patterson, 22, Lucinda 5 and James, 2, all born in Georgia. I do not find a marriage listing for this couple in Union’s records unless the one for W. H. Patterson and Elizabeth Akins on November 5, 1853 by Hampton Jones, Justice of the Peace is the entry, maybe using Margaret’s other name.

Household # 608: George Patterson, age 50, born in North Carolina; no wife listed; children all born in Georgia: William, 19, Elizer, 17, John, 13, Elijah, 11, and Margaret, 6.

Household # 902: James Patterson, 34, born in NC; Easter, 26, born in NC, and children all born in Georgia: Martha, 6, Adaline, 4, Jonathan, 2, and Nathan, 11 months. James Patterson and Easter Nicholson were married in Union on Christmas Day, 1843 by Rev. Abner Chastain.

These 11 households of Pattersons in the 1850 Union census numbered 73 in population, plus one slave, with 38 males, 34 females, and one infant with gender not specified nor name given at age four months.

c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published December 1, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Pierre Chastain "The Immigrant" and His Continuing Influence

Elijah Webb Chastain, the fifth generation from Pierre Chastain, “The Immigrant” was noted as a military man, lawyer, and politician. He was the seventh of ten children born to Benjamin Chastain (1780-1845), who moved his family in 1837 and was an Indian agent in the area that became Fannin County, Georgia. Elijah Webb Chastain’s mother was Rebeckah Denton Chastain (1779-1872). This tenth child was born in Pickens County, SC September 25, 1813 and died in an accident in Murray County, Georgia on April 9, 1874.

His sixty-one years were notable. He married Clarissa Susan Braselton on June 18, 1838 and they had twelve children: Marian Josephine who married Dr. Judson Linton Rucker; Rev. Benton Forsyth Chastain who married Nancy Elizabeth Morris; Benjamin Perry Chastain (1841-1859); Georgia Anne Chastian (1843-186) who married Lewis Crayton Allen; Rev. Oscar Fitzallen Chastain who married Mary Zenobia Addington; Mary Jane Chastain who married John Sullivan Addington; Lewis C. Chastain (b/d February 16, 1848); Eugenia Virginia Chastain (1850-died young); Emma Maria Chastain (1853-1916) married William Dallas Smith; Judson Rucker Chastain (1855 -1920) married Emma Frances Greenwood; Ida Amanda Chastain (1858-1930) married Allen Burton Dickey; and Sidney Johnson Chastain (1860-1882) married Thomas A. Willson. Of the twelve children, nine lived to adulthood, married and eight of the nine had children. Descendants of the famed Elijah Webb Chastain are now found in a broad geographic distribution.

Elijah Webb Chastain was termed “Colonel,” receiving this designation because of his service in the Seminole War in Florida in 1838 and later his service in the Civil War. He studied law, as was the practice then, by “reading” law in the office of established lawyers. He was admitted to the Georgia Bar in 1849. He practiced in Gilmer and Union Counties and at the young age of 21 he made a memorable speech on July 4, 1835 in Ellijay, Georgia that was printed in area newspapers at the time. Gifted as an orator and persuasive speaker, this quality would be a complement to his political career. He was elected Georgia senator from Gilmer County and served in that capacity from 1839-1849. He served as a representative to the U. S. Congress from 1851-1855. Some of his speeches in Congress have been preserved: notably on Union and States’ Rights (1852), the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) and the annexation of Cuba (1855). He was a member of the Georgia Secession Convention and voted for Georgia to secede from the Union at a hotly-debated contest at the state capital in Milledgeville, Georgia on January 19, 1861. He resumed his military career at age 47 and was commissioned a Lt. Colonel of the First Regiment, Georgia Regulars and later of the Eighth Regiment, Georgia State Troops. He and Civil War Governor Joseph Emerson Brown were good friends. Many of Chastain’s Civil War letters to the governor on behalf of his constituents in North Georgia plead dire circumstances, need for salt, and rampant lawlessness from raiders and renegades. He was appointed by Governor Brown to serve as the state attorney for the Western and Atlantic Railroad in 1857-1861, a railroad very vital to the Confederate forces.

Following the end of the Civil War, Elijah Web Chastain returned to Fannin County where he continued his law practice and managed his large farm. On a legal trip to Dalton, Georgia in April, 1874, he was drowned in Holly Creek April 9, swollen and flooded from spring rains, as he and his friends Col. John B. Dickey and Senator John A. Jervis returned from Dalton, Georgia where they had pled for the Dalton-Morganton Railroad. His body was recovered the next day and burial occurred at the Toccoa Baptist Church Cemetery, Morganton, GA on land Col. Chastain had given to the church only a year prior to his death. The eulogy written by Congressman Hiram Parks Bell has been preserved and gives a lofty account of this man whom Chastain historians as well as Col. Bell and others term “the most prominent Chastain of all time.” His “magnetic personality…soldierly bearing…and aggressive manner drew him into the limelight and his magnetism and easy success kept him there.” So wrote James Garvin Chastain about Col. Elijah Webb Chastain in his “A Brief History of the Huguenots and Three Family Trees” (in The Chestnut Tree, February, 1974).

Next in our line of notable Chastains we come to a son of Elijah Webb Chastain, namely Rev. Oscar Fitzallen Chastain (1844-1906) [sixth generation from Pierre “the Immigrant”] and his notable wife, Zenobia Addington Chastain (1848-1907). We can hardly remember one of these without also recalling the other, for their careers and interests motivated them as a solid team for good. Zenobia Addington established an academy in 1868 in Morganton and was able to get funding for this mountain school from the Peabody Foundation. Oscar Fitzallen Chastain had served in the Civil War, as had his illustrious father. When he and Mary Zenobia, daughter of March and Amy Elizabeth White Addington, were married December 18, 1872 in Union County by the Rev. Thomas M. Hughes, Oscar was a clerk in a store in Morganton, the then county seat town of Fannin County. No doubt, Oscar had been attracted to the outstanding teacher of the school known as Zenobia’s Academy.

Morganton Baptist Association of Churches was organized in 1893. In 1899, the association took a bold step and organized the North Georgia Baptist College in Morganton, to be operated as a boarding school appealing to mountain students. “College” was a broad term, for classes were offered from first grade through all the grades, high school, and about the first two years of college. Zenobia Chastain, one of the best-educated women of the area at the time had graduated from a noted academy in Ellijay, Georgia headed by Professor M. C. Briant. There she had been instructed in history, the classics, mathematics, Latin and Greek. She was asked to come aboard the North Georgia Baptist College as a teacher. Her husband, Rev. Oscar F. Chastain, who had been ordained to the gospel ministry on May 17, 1884, was named business manager of the college. At one time, due to severe financial needs at the struggling college, the Chastains mortgaged their own farm and home to raise funds for operation of the school.

Oscar and Zenobia Chastain had three children, daughters Mariam, Mary and Nettie, all of whom preceded their parents in death. They took relatives and others into their home to board so they could attend the college in Morganton. In 1906 the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention began joint sponsorship with Morganton Association of the North Georgia Baptist College and named it as one of its “Mountain Schools.” Nearby Blairsville operated a similar school called the Blairsville Collegiate Institute from 1904-1930. Oscar Chastain died in 1906 at age 62 and his wife Zenobia died in 1907 at age 60. Their joint tombstone in Morganton Baptist Cemetery has this epitaph: “They loved God and their fellowman.” Many who went through the educational programs at Zenobia’s Academy and later the North Georgia Baptist College became noted teachers, lawyers, doctors, politicians and upright citizens. These two made a distinctive mark as their vision and hard work become reality. Theirs were noble lives, nobly lived.

[Next: Continuing “Learning from the Past, Shaping the Future” we will feature Jason Coward Chastain, another sixth generation descendant of Pierre “the Immigrant” Chastain.]

c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Sept. 22, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Denton Families Important to Towns County Development

Last week’s column introduced the Denton Family early settlers to Union County, dating back as far as 1834, when the first census revealed that seventeen by that name in three families were living in the county. The heads of Denton households then were James, Elizabeth and Eliza Denton. In the 1840 listing, we found five households headed by Levina, Samuel, Jonathan, Elijah and George M., with the Union population of Dentons then numbering twenty-three. In 1850, the Dentons were in six families numbering a total of thirty-one, headed by George, Samuel, Jonathan, Samuel, Jr., William, Elihu, and Elijah.

A precursory examination of the 1860 and 1870 Union census records did not reveal a single household of Dentons in Union. What had happened to most of these families of earlier decade census tabulations? Had a mass exodus of Denton families occurred within the twenty year period between 1850 and 1870? Furthermore, an examination of the Union County Cemetery records did not reveal marked Denton graves within the parameters of Union.

Knowing that Denton was a very prominent name in neighboring Towns County, it was rather easy to surmise what had occurred. When Towns County was formed from portions of Union in 1856, several of the Denton families, without moving from the properties they had occupied when the 1850 census was taken, had been absorbed into the new principality of Towns.

Take, for example, the family of George and Catherine Wood Denton, present in Union in 1840 and 1850. They were within the parameters of the new Towns, and were quickly oriented to life there, not having moved at all. In fact, George Denton helped the new county in its early years by being appointed (or should we say “elected”) the county’s very first Tax Collector—maybe not a very popular job but a necessary one, nonetheless, to the government of the new county.

In addition to being a farmer in the Upper Hightower section of Towns County, George also was a land surveyor. He used this skill to map out the county seat town of Hiawassee and to survey farms and holdings of other citizens. Last week’s column listed six children of George and Catherine Wood Denton. Altogether, George and his wife, the daughter of William and Nancy Osborn Wood, had eleven children whose names and birth dates are as follows: Elizabeth J. (1837), William J. (1839), Elisha H. (1841), Nancy (1843), Samuel M. (1845), Jeremiah J. (1847), John M. (1851), Martha Ann (1853), Lucinda A. (1856), Margaret M. (1856), Mary C. (1860) and Georgia (?). George and Catherine moved from the Upper Hightower section of Towns to White County. When George was back for a visit to one of his children still residing there, he became ill and died, and was buried in the Upper Hightower Baptist Church Cemetery. It is believed Catherine died and was buried in White County.

The third child of George and Catherine, Elisha H. Denton (1841-1922) joined the Confederacy during the Civil War, enlisting on August 24, 1861 and serving through January, 1865, having reached the rank of Lieutenant during his enlistment. Returning to Towns County, he married his sweetheart, Cinthia Berrong, on January 18, 1865. She was a daughter of another well-known pioneer family, Andrew Jackson and L. Osborn Berrong. Elisha and Cinthia made their home in the Swallows Creek Community of Towns County where ten children were born to them: Lillie A. (1867-1936) who married Taylor Wood and Alex Parker; Robert M. (1868-1934) who married Maggie Rogers; Louisa Caroline (1870-1938) who married Elisha Eller; James L. (1872-1941) who married Esta Foster; Ollie M (1874-1892), never married; Phairella O. (1876-1955) who married Joe Hooper; Erastus M. (1878-1936) who married Nannie McLucas; Demascus (1881-1961) who married Minnie Smith; Esco (1884-1952) who married Ora Foster; and Doll (a son, 1886-1964) who married Myrtle Eller.

Of the many descendants of George M. and Catherine Wood Denton, we can identify businessmen, bankers, educators, politicians, farmers, developers—almost every occupation.

For example, James Young Denton (1899-1982), son of Robert M. and Maggie Rogers Denton, became a noted banker and financier, having been instrumental in the growth of the Bank of Hiawassee and in securing the charter for the Union County Bank in Blairsville, and getting it established. He married Emma Belle Maney on May 20, 1920 when she was only fourteen years of age. Young was then a teacher, and he enrolled his young bride in the Hiawassee Academy. J. Y., as he was better known, and Emma Denton became quite a team. She, too, became a noted worker and director of the Bank of Hiawassee, was a horticulturist with her daylilies known far and wide. They had six children, five of whom reached adulthood and became productive citizens. Their children were J. C. Denton, Evelyn Denton (Groves), Elois Denton (Anderson), James Lanier Denton who died young from whooping cough, J. William Denton, and Emma Jean Denton (Anderson).

Another of the children of Robert M. and Maggie Rogers Denton was their daughter Isabel, born April 28, 1906, who became a noted elementary school teacher mainly in Towns County but also in White and Forsyth Counties in a career that spanned forty-three years. When my husband, the late Rev. Grover D. Jones, was pastor of the McConnell Memorial Baptist Church in Hiawassee, among our loyal members were Mrs. Isabel Hall and her beloved husband, Mr. Leonard Hall. As a young ministerial couple, we were “taken in,” encouraged and loved by this couple who often had us in their home as guests. Isabel Denton married widower Leonard Hall, a veteran of World War I, on June 29, 1947. Mrs. Isabel Denton Hall was noted not only for her work in the school system, but she served a total of twenty-five years as Hiawassee Baptist Association’s Church Training Director. When Leonard and Isabel passed on, we felt like we had lost some of our very dearest friends.

Doll Denton (1886-1964), tenth and last child of Elisha H. and Cinthia Berrong Denton, and grandson of George M. and Catherine Wood Denton, also lived in Towns County. Beset by Hodgkins disease, one of Doll’s legs had to be amputated in 1960. But he learned to walk with his prosthesis as he carried on a near-normal work life on his farm and later assisted his son-in-law, Ayscue Hopper (married to Doll’s daughter Grace), near Tuckaseegee, NC with the operation of his farm. Doll Denton married Myrtle Eller on September 10, 1905. To them were born nine children, seven daughters and two sons: Mae Belle, Grace, Gladys, Dorsey, Edith, Ethel, George, Opal and Earl. Remembered for their strong work ethic and their stalwart Christian influence, Doll and Myrtle Denton stand out as productive citizens of the area. After Doll’s death in 1964 and his burial at Lower Hightower Cemetery in Towns County, his widow Myrtle lived alternately with her daughters Edith Denton Chambers and Ethel Denton Everett in Blairsville until Myrtle’s death on March 31, 1970.

Denton is a place name deriving from the Old English word “denu” meaning valley. Scots and English settlers came to America in the early migratory years and found similar valleys to their European homelands among the hills of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. We are grateful for these hardy settlers who made a dinstinctive “Dent” in the way of life in these mountain communities.

c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 12, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Denton Families ~ Early Settlers in Union County

After a brief diversion to pursue another topic, I return in this column to write about families with the surname Denton who were early settlers in Union County.

In the 1834 Union County census, three families had the name Denton, with seventeen total Denton residents, eight males and nine females. Two heads of households of these early settlers were women with similar names: Eliza Denton had two males and two females in her household. Elizabeth Denton had two males and one female residing in her home. The third Denton household was headed by James Denton whose family had four males and six females.

I expected to find these three households listed in the 1840 Union census, but the search for these three Denton families was not that easy, for none of the three appeared as heads of households in 1840 or in 1850.

Five residences in 1840 had Dentons as follows: Household numbered by the census taker as 115 had Levina Denton (one female between the age of 20 and under 30).

Further on, in household 328. was Samuel Denton, with three males under five, one male aged 20-30, 1 female under five, and 1 female aged 20 – 30. (Note: This Samuel Denton is not to be confused with the Samuel Denton, Jr. who, we will learn shortly, married Elizabeth Ann Chastain.)

Jonathan Denton in household numbered 331 had the largest of the 1840 Denton families with one male (10-15), two males (15-20), one male (40-50), one female (5-10), one female (10-15), one female (15-20) and one female (30-40). We will see that his household is also listed in 1850.

In Elijah Denton’s family (house # 469) was one male (10-15), one male (40-50) and one female (30-40).

The last Denton household in 1840 was # 471, George M. Denton, with one male (under 5), one male (20-30), one female (under 5), one female (20-30) and 1 female (60-70). The older female in Jonathan’s household may have been either Eliza or Elizabeth listed in 1834, who possibly was the mother of George Denton.

By the 1850 census, the number of Denton households had climbed to six in Union’s census, and we find that some of the names are the same as those we discovered living in the county in 1840. The total Denton population in 1850 in Union numbered 31 as follows:

Household 929: George Denton, age 37, his wife, Catherine, age 31, both born in North Carolina, and six children, all born in Georgia: Elizabeth, 13; William, 11; Elisha, 9; Nancy, 7; Madison, 5; and Jeremiah J., 2. This household had also been in Union since 1840. We will hear more about these in next week’s column.

Household 1057: Samuel Denton, 25, born in Tennessee, his wife, Missa, 23, born in North Carolina, and children John, 6; Mary, 4: and Melissa, 4 months. A search of the Union marriage records shows this Samuel Denton married Artemica Berrong on August 5, 1842. She must have preferred her shortened name, Missa, to Artemica.

Household 1081: Jonathan Denton (remember he was listed in the 1840 census), age 56, his wife, Agnes, age 46, both born in North Carolina, two older children also born in North Carolina, Francis, 20 and Rachel, 15; and three more children born in Georgia: Jonathan, 10; John, 7; Agnes, 5. Living in the household with them (as in 1840) was Betsey Denton, age 79, born in Virginia, no doubt the Elizabeth listed in the 1834 census. By searching the Pierre Chastain Family History (for several Dentons married into this line of Chastains), I discovered that Jonathan Denton was a son of Samuel Denton, Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth Chastain Denton. “Betsy,” living with Jonathan and Agnes in 1850, was, indeed his mother who was the Elizabeth Denton in Union by 1834. Her father was the famous Rev. John “Ten Shilling Bell” Chastain, known for establishing several Baptist churches in Virginia and the Carolinas. Her mother was Rev. Chastain’s first wife, Mary O’Bryan Chastain. Samuel Denton, Jr. was born in 1775 and died in Haywood County, NC before some of the Dentons moved into Union County prior to 1834. Elizabeth and Samuel Denton, Jr. had these known children: Jonas, Jonathan, Jemima Mimi who married John Middleton; Elijah who married Jane Coward; Hulda who married Mark Burrell; John N. who married Sarah (mnu), Cloey who married James Coward; Isaac; and George (1813-1881) who married Catherine Wood (more on this family later).

This second son of Samuel, Jr. and Elizabeth Chastain Denton, Jonathan Denton, was born May 12, 1794 and died February 17, 1881. His wife, Agnes, was a McConnell, born in 1804 and died August 23, 1860.

Jonathan and Agnes had two older children who were already married and gone from home by the 1850 census. Their oldest was Samuel (b. 1822) who married Artimissey (sic) Berrong in 1842. They were living in their home near his parents in 1850.

Jonathan and Agnes’ other older child, gone from home in 1860, was Elizabeth Ann Denton, born in 1824, who married Walter Mounteville Burrell on July 16, 1840, with Rev. Abner Chastain performing their ceremony. This family lived in Household numbered 1090 in 1850. He was 33, she 25, both born in North Carolina. Their children were William, 9, Jonathan, 7, John, 6, Marcus, 4, Laura, 2 and Sarah, 4 months.

Household 1082: William Denton, listed as a teacher, age 30, and his wife, Betsy Ann, age 27, both born in North Carolina. They had three children in 1850, all born in Georgia: Jane, age 8, Sarah, age 5, and Elizabeth, age 7 months. Union marriage records show William Denton married Elizabeth Ann Chastain on January 26, 1841 with Rev. Abner Chastain performing their ceremony.

Household 1085: Elihu Denton, age 23, born in Georgia, his wife, Marcena, 20, born in North Carolina, and their one month old male son, Pinckney, born in Georgia. I looked for this marriage record in Union’s listings, but did not find these names.

Household 1086: Elijah Denton, born in South Carolina, age 52, and his wife, Jane, age 47, born in North Carolina. This couple was listed in the 1840 census with a son, age between 10 and 15 still at home then. From what I learned in the Chastain book, Elijah was the fourth child of Samuel Denton, Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth Chastain Denton. Elijah was born in 1798 and married Jane Coward.

In next week’s column, we will pursue some of these Denton families to other places where they became a part of the fabric of new counties as they formed.

[Note: My columns have not gotten to the paper by the deadline on a regular basis recently because of computer breakdowns due to severe storms. Call the delays an “act of nature” rather than my being ill or negligent. We were not severely damaged, like hard-hit areas, but we were without power for three days and many electronics were damaged in the storms that raged at different times My computer was a “victim”, and hard was the task to get up and running adequately again.-EDJ]

c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 5, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Fort Chastain and Indian Removal

Last week's column traced the movements and family of Benjamin Chastain (1780-1845) who served in Georgia's state legislature from Habersham County before he moved to the large Cherokee Lands and settled near the Toccoa River and Star Creek. He had been appointed an Indian agent. He established the Tuckahoe Post Office on March 15, 1837.

An interesting fact I did not mention in last week's article was that Benjamin Chastain and his wife, Rebeckah Denton Chastain, moved into a hewn-log house vacated by a Cherokee Indian family with an English name. According to information furnished by Brett Riggs, archaeologist, "spoliation claims filed from 1838-1847 indicate that Benjamin Chastain commandeered the home and farm of George Owens, Sr., a Cherokee, of Tuckahoe Town." The location of the cabin and Fort Chastain built on Chastain farmlands is now under the waters of Blue Ridge Lake. This departure point was once a gathering place for those removed westward on the Trail of Tears.

When gold was discovered on Duke's Creek in Habersham County (now White) in 1828, and in other north Georgia locations, a virtual gold rush started. Greed was the name of the game. By 1829, gold rush fever was rampant and prospectors poured in with get-rich quick schemes. Unscrupulous in their dealings with the Indians, the white men confiscated lands.

To Georgia's discredit, the state was a moving force in Indian removal. In 1828, a bill passed the Georgia Legislature which put all Cherokee under state law and declared their government and customs null and void after 1830. Georgia guards were sent to patrol and bring to court Indians who infringed on restrictions set in the 1828 law.

In 1830, the Removal Act passed the U. S. Congress.

After that law passed, when President Andrew Jackson was in office, many Indian Agents were appointed to deal with the Cherokee on terms of removal. Negotiations were made for purchase of Indian lands, but at inferior prices. Thirty-seven treaties signed by 1828 between the Cherokee and government had to do with "a tract of land ceded to…" with white settlers as recipients. It was thus that Benjamin Chastain, Indian Agent, received the farmland and home of George Owens, Sr, Cherokee, of Tuckahoe (or Taccoa) Town.

President Jackson's successor, President Martin Van Buren, continued to push for Indian Removal. In 1836 he appointed General Winfield Scott to commandeer the removal. He ordered his army to be humane and to appeal to Indians to go voluntarily to collection points—the forts that were quickly built in various locations in the Cherokee lands.

Fort Chastain at Star Creek on the Toccoa River was one of the collection points. How long the Indians had to wait there before being removed over the long Trail of Tears is uncertain. Their life in the forts was not easy. Forced to vacate cabins and possessions, the Indians were allowed to take only the barest necessities with them. They lived in very crowded conditions in the forts. Sanitation was poor and hunger and sickness prevailed. Being herbalists in medical applications, they no longer had available to them the natural herbs and cures for the illness that beset them. Many, especially among the elderly and very young, died before they left on the Trail of Tears.

One of the soldiers with General Scott's army wrote in his memoirs: "I later fought through the Civil War and have seen men slaughtered, but the Cherokee Removal was the cruelest work I ever knew."

Benjamin Chastain on whose land Fort Chastain was built was of the fourth generation of Chastains in America from Pierre, Sr., Pierre, Jr., John "Ten Shilling Bell" Chastain, the famous preacher, and then Benjamin himself. Benjamin's great grandfather had left Europe because the Huguenots endured bitter persecution. The Chastains had followed the paths of freedom, with Benjamin's father, John, pledging his support to the American Revolution. Circumstances occur in the rush of history that, when we look back upon them, fill us with mixed emotions. Such were the times in the 1830s when Benjamin Chastain, citizen of Georgia, state legislator, pioneer farmer, and Indian agent, due to circumstances in which he lived, had to make some hard decisions.

c 2009 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 25, 2009 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Focus on Benjamin Chastain (1780-1845)

This series of articles on various Chastain family members who settled in North Georgia in the nineteenth century and made a difference here in politics and way of life are necessarily tied together. In the first article June 4, I listed the first Chastains who settled in Union County in the 1830s. In the June 11 article, I retraced the Chastain lineage back to Dr. Pierre Chastain (1659-1728), French Huguenot settler and planter who settled in Manakin, Virginia in 1700.

This article will focus on Pierre's great, great grandchild, Benjamin Chastain, ninth child of the Rev. John "Ten Shilling Bell" Chastain and John's first wife, Mary O'Bryan Chastain.

Benjamin Chastain was born July 6, 1780 when his father, the Rev. John Chastain, lived in North Carolina in a section that later became Sullivan County, TN. A migration from that section saw the Chastains, with others of their neighbors, move to the Pendleton District of South Carolina. There he grew up, met and married a lady named Rebeckah Denton.

Old land deeds often give information of the whereabouts of a person. Benjamin was still in the Pendleton District in the 1800 census. By 1812 he owned land there. He sold 153 acres on Chasteen's Mail Creek at the Woolonoy Fork of the Saluda River for $50 to William Allen. The land Benjamin sold had been willed to him by his father, the Rev. John Chastain.

Benjamin and Rebeckah Chastain had eight children born to them before they left their South Carolina home: Mary, Jonathan Davis, Jeremiah S., John Bunyan, Benjamin Franklin, Nancy B., Elijah Webb and Rebecca Denton.

Land was opening up for settlement in Habersham County in North Georgia, and Benjamin and Rebeckah Chastain moved their family there about 1817. Their last two children were born in Habersham County, Jeremiah on June 10, 1818 and Martha Denton on June 16, 1821.

Being a leader in his community, Benjamin Chastain followed his desire to make a difference by entering politics. He represented Habersham County in the Georgia State Legislature in 1826, 1827 and again in 1832-1834.

With much turmoil occurring about Indian lands and negotiations with the Indians, Benjamin Chastain was appointed an agent to the Cherokee. That necessitated another move for his family. This time, they located near the Toccoa River. He opened the first post office in what would later become Fannin County. First called Tuckahoe, subsequently named Tocoah and still later Morganton, this post office was opened on March 15, 1837.

Another task assigned to Benjamin Chastain, former legislator and current Indian agent, was the building and operation of a fort at the intersection of the Toccoa River and Star Creek, on land now under the waters of beautiful Blue Ridge Lake. At that fort, the Cherokee were gathered together to await the long journey westward to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears.

Benjamin Chastain died January 1, 1845 at his homestead in Old Gilmer County, bordering Union, prior to Fannin County being established in 1854. His wife, Rebeckah Denton Chastain, who was born August 28, 1779, died January 1, 1872 in Fannin County, Georgia. I find no cemetery markings for them listed in Cemeteries of Fannin County (2003). The Pierre Chastain Family History book states they were buried in the Old Antioch Cemetery near the Toccoa River. Perhaps unidentified, unmarked graves mark the final resting places of these pioneer settlers.

The account of Fort Chastain is another story. That article is forthcoming, as well as Benjamin Chastain's part in its location on his property in 1838.

c 2009 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 18, 2009 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Where Did Union County Chastains Originate?

The federal census of 1834 for Union County reveals that John B., Edward and Abner Chastain had established households in the county early in the county's history.

Where did these Chastains originate? What is significant about their ancestry?

Tracing these Chastain settlers in Union back to Pierre Chastain (about 1659 - 1728), known to subsequent generations as Dr. Pierre Chastain, the Immigrant, we find that this first of the line in America came to Virginia in 1700 because of religious persecution in France. Pierre was a son of Estienne Chastain and Jeanne Laurant Chastain. They were members of what became known as the French Huguenots. They were adherents of the French Reformed Church (also called Calvinists because of their leader, Jean Cauvin, English name John Calvin [1509-1564]).

With other Huguenot immigrants, Pierre Chastain and his first wife, Susanne Renaud, settled on land at Manakin, Virginia near present day Richmond. Pierre had multiple occupations. First and foremost, he was a physician (surgeon). It has also been noted that he was a perruquier (the French term for barber and wig maker). He was a planter and plantation owner.

After the death of his first wife, Susanne, by whom he had eight children, he married Anne Soblet, whose family had also escaped France under Huguenot persecution. Dr. Pierre Chastain and his wife Anne had eight children, making a total for The Immigrant Chastain of sixteen. Three of his children with Susanne died young, for in February, 1700, he was listed with five children and no wife in the Manakin area census. Dr. Pierre Chastain's third marriage was to Mary Magdalene Trabue, widow of Antoine Trabue.

Pierre Chastain was active in the Manakin Town Episcopal Church where present-day visitors are told of the Chastain pew, third from the front on the left side of the church. Descendants of The Immigrant also take pride in visiting the home of Dr. Chastain, a two-story white frame house in Manakin Town, Virginia. The gravesite of Dr. Chastain and his three wives and some of his children has been identified and marked. The Pierre Chastain Family Association, organized in 1975, has for its aim the development and preservation of Chastain family records and information. Many places dear to The Immigrant and his descendants have been marked and identified as they spread out from Manakin Town, Virginia to surrounding areas and moved to other pioneer regions of the country as migrations occurred.

The book of genealogy, Pierre Chastain and His Descendants, Volume I: First Five Generations in America was published by the Association in 1995 and has become a much-sought after volume for history on the Huguenot settlers in Virginia and their dispersion throughout America.

In more recent years, the Chastain Family website posts additional genealogical and historical information, and The Chestnut Tree, the Association's quarterly newsletter, keeps interest in the Chastain family alive and well.

As I studied and read the Chastain family history book, I was interested in how names were passed down through generations. There were many with the name Pierre, to honor The Immigrant. But in subsequent generations, Pierre became anglicized to Peter. Jean became John.

As mentioned in last week's article, one of the Johns was John Chastain (1743-1805) the famous John "Ten Shilling Bell" Chastain, noted Baptist minister and church planter. This John was a son of Pierre Chastain, Jr. (1707- after 1775), third child of Pierre and his second wife Anne Soblet. The records on the second Pierre are somewhat fuzzy as courthouse fires in Buckingham County, Virginia where the family lived took major records.

Pierre, Jr.'s son John's first wife was Mary O'Bryan (1765-1797), born in Ireland and died in Pendleton District, South Carolina. Following his first wife's death, he married second, Mary Robinson, a widow, whose maiden name is unknown. It is through this John Chastain that many of the North Georgia Chastains descend. For those who can trace their lines back to John "Ten Shilling Bell" Chastain, they can claim a Revolutionary War patriot, for he signed the oath of allegiance in Powhatan County, Virginia.

A brief listing of John Chastain's children by his first wife, Mary O'Bryan show Abner (1764-1846) who died in Pickens County, SC. John, Jr. (1766-1844) who died in Pickens County, SC. Martha (1768- 1794) who married John Blythe and died in South Carolina. Edward Brigand (1769- about 1834) who lived in Union County, GA, died in what is now Fannin County. Mary (1771-?) married John O'Dell. Elijah (1776-1853) died in what is now Gilmer County, GA, married Hannah Adams, Anna Middleton and Catherine Carson. Elizabeth (1777-after 1850) married Samuel Denton, Jr. Cleo (or Chloe) (1799 - ?) married John Denton. Benjamin Chastain (1780-1845) was in Union County, died in what is now Fannin, married Rebekah Denton. Nancy Chastain (1783-?) married John Robinson. Joseph Chastain (1783-after 1850) married Nancy Young, went to Missouri.

John Chastain's children by his second wife, widow Mary (maiden name unknown) Robinson were Violet (1798- ?) married William Akins. William (1801-after 1860 and before 1875) married Margaret Dobbs, died in Habersham County, GA. Mary Lavina (1803 - 1845) died in Franklin County, Tn. She married three times.

From Pierre the Immigrant to the generations cited here, the Chastains migrated to many sections of our country and became involved citizens in the life and growth of their communities.

c 2009 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 11, 2009 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.