Updated 06-21-08

Only a small percentage of Pierre Chastain descendants are named Chastain. Many have very different last names such as Ballew, Robinson, LeSueur, and Salle. This page is devoted to them.

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A Chastain By Any Other Name
Descendants of Second Generation Chastain Daughters
Elizabeth Chastain LeSueur
Descendants of Third Generation Daughters
Descendants of Fourth Generation Daughters of Chastain Sons
Notable Descendants of Later Generations
Is Actress Joan Crawford the Most Famous Pierre Chastain Descendant?

A Chastain By Any Other Name

In his book, Little Otter to Lost River, page ii, Claude Cook states, "I have not included much history of the daughters. I have been raked over the coals for this several times by certain ladies, but to include also the information on the families [that] the Chastain girls married into would make this history about a million pages in length!" Though perhaps exaggerated, this is true!

Let us assume that families average half boys and half girls. In our case, the first generation is Pierre Chastain, himself. The second generation would consist of both boys and girls, all with the last name of Chastain. Therefore they would by 100% Chastains. But the girls would marry men of different last names to pass on to their children. In the third generation, half the children would be Chastain (children of the sons) and half would not (children of the daughters).

In the fourth generation, half the Chastain children would be Chastain (children of the sons) and half would not (children of the daughters). However, 100% of children born to third generation Chastain daughters who have new married names would produce children with names other than Chastain, so only a quarter (25%) of the fourth generation would be born as Chastains. The fifth generation would be one eighth (12.5%) Chastain; the sixth generation one sixteenth (6.25%). My son is tenth generation. By the time we reach his group, only .39%, not even a half a percent, would be Chastains. That means that 99.6% of Pierre's descendants of the tenth generation would have last names other than Chastain! If we could trace them all and publish their information, we may indeed have a work of a million pages, and almost none of those descendants would have any idea that they descend from a Pierre Chastain.

Of course, things are not quite so precise. Some families are much larger than others; the ratio of sons to daughters are not always 50-50; and Chastain daughters sometimes marry Chastains and so conserve or reclaim the Chastain name to pass on to their kids. But the point is that the vast majority of Pierre's descendants are not named Chastain, Chasteen, Chesteen, Chastine, or Shasteen, and it is impossible to accommodate all the names. However, on this page we will explore the daughters of the second, third, and fourth generations to discover some of the other names carried by Pierre's descendants from earlier years.

In Pierre's case, the second generation consists of three sons and four daughters who lived to maturity and produced children (the third generation). So far as we can determine, the three Chastain sons had among them 10 sons and 7 daughters who likely married. The four Chastain daughters had among them 21 such children, all with names other than Chastain. The total is 10 Chastains and 28 non-Chastains. So, if the third generation produced a balanced number of children, our ratio among the fourth generation is 26.3% Chastains, just a tad higher than predicted.

Our authority for Pierre's descendants is Pierre Chastain and His Descendants (PCD), three volumes, which is the most recent and most comprehensive genealogical resource for this study. These books are all available at the Pierre Chastain Family Association, and are well worth owning.

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Descendants of Second Generation Chastain Daughters

Judith Chastain Ballew

Judith Chastain was the oldest daughter of Pierre who lived to maturity. Her mother was Pierre's second wife, Anne Soblet. Judith was born around 1703, just a few years after her parents arrived in Virginia colony. She died sometime between 1765 and 1784 in Chesterfield County, Virginia. In the mid 1720s, she married Gille Ballew, who also was from France. He died by 1733, and we know of only one child they had together, Peter Ballew, born probably in 1729. Judith also had several children out of wedlock, perhaps all of them with Thomas Walker. At least two of them, William and Thomas, were given the last name Ballew, but PCD does not show descendants for any of the illegitimate children.

Peter Ballew (c 1729-c 1770) and his wife Alice had six (possibly seven) children, three sons and three (or four) daughters. Their daughter Sarah married a Leister. The only one of Peter's children whose descendants we know is the oldest child, Solomon Ballew (c 1755-1818). His one son, James Webb Ballew, was born in Virginia, but died in Kentucky in 1845. James' son, Newton Ballew was born in Kentucky in 1830 or 1831. Newton's son, John Nelson Ballew was born in Kentucky and died there in 1921. He had children as well.

Susanna Chastain Robinson

Susanna Chastain was the daughter of Pierre Chastain and Anne Soblet. She was born in Manakin Town, Virginia about 1705 and was named for her grandmother, Susanne Soblet. She married James Robinson. They had two sons and three daughters, but we have no information on additional descendants.

Elizabeth Chastain LeSueur

Elizabeth Chastain was the daughter of Pierre Chastain and Anne Soblet. She was born about 1711 in Manakin town, Virginia and married David LeSueur in the early 1730s. Elizabeth and David had nine sons and two daughters, and we know descendants of eight of them. This is the by far best attested lineage of the second generation daughters. See more at Elizabeth Chastain LeSueur.

Marie/Mary Magdalene Chastain Salle

Marie Magdalene Chastain was the daughter of Pierre Chastain and Anne Soblet. She was born about 1720 in Manakin town, Virginia and married Guillaume Sallee about 1740. Marie and Guillaume had eight children, and we know descendants of two of them. This is the second best attested lineage of the second generation daughters. We can only mention the more notable Sallee descendants.

Pierre Salle was born in 1743 in Manakin Town, Virginia and died perhaps in Kentucky. He had two daughters, Susana and Vienna.

• Susanna Sallee was born in North Carolina and married George Bruton, Jr., and they had one son that we know, James Burton.
• Vienna Salle was born in Kentucky and married David Van Winkle.

Olive Sallee was born in 1749 in Manakin Town, Virginia and died about 1830 in Mercer County, Kentucky. He had four sons, John, James, Olive Perry, and Rainey Shattein.

• John Sallee had three sons and a daughter.
• James Sallee had a son.
• Olive Perry Sallee was born in Virginia, lived in Kentucky and Indiana, and died in Illinois. He served in Captain Walker's Company for three years during the war of 1812. Olive had thirteen children.
• Rainey Shattein Salle seems to have spelled his name with one "e". He was murdered in 1838 by the brother of his first wife, Mary "Polly" Horn. Polly had died about 1826 before Rainey married his second wife. He had eleven children by his two wives.

• Rachel Sallee, great-granddaughter of Marie and Pierre Sallee married a minister, Rev. David Bruner.
• Olive P. Sallee, great-grandson of Marie and Pierre Sallee served during the Civil War in the Missouri Volunteer Infantry. He and his wife, Martha, had two sets of twins among their fourteen children.
• Felix Grundy Sallee, great-grandson of Marie and Pierre Sallee died March 31, 1865 during the Civil War aboard the steamer General Lyons off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, along with possible distant relative, Chester Shasteen.
• Abel Wright, great-great-grandson of Marie and Pierre Sallee served during the Civil War.
• William Harrison Sallee, great-great-grandson of Marie and Pierre Sallee died in Memphis in 1863, during the Civil War. He served in the Union Army, Illinois Infantry Volunteers.

Fourth Generation: Bruton, Van Winkle.

Fifth Generation: Bruner, Wright, Rice, Hughes, Greer, Whittinghill, Peavler, Bottom.

Sixth Generation: Hale, Reynolds, Grant, Pool, Orr, Towell, Pool, Storey, Winkler, Orr, Orr, Riley, Storey, McEwen, Healy, Funkhouser, Huff, Clinging, Pingleton, Chandler, Lacy, Stallings, Kidd, Knox, Poole, Young, Haney, Stout, Springer, Kimsey, Copple, Bryant, Norman, Pool, Smallwood, Baldwin, Seal, Martin, Sharp, Buckman, Jessee, Wilkins, Stobaugh, Stobaugh, Vincent, Clark.

Seventh Generation: Dare, Martin, Coble, Wheeler, Birchler, Fishback, Vick, Fenley, Snyder, Willmot, Kramer, Freshley, Carlisle, Young, Bennett, Stuteville, Evans, Scott, Goldsmith, Whitlock, Davis, Carroll, Harris, Hatcher.

The above lists includes some couples for whom we do not have children listed. Most of them would have had children, but a few may not have. Of course, there is a multitude of last names for which we have no record at all.

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Elizabeth Chastain LeSueur

Elizabeth Chastain was the daughter of Pierre Chastain and Anne Soblet. She was born about 1711 in Manakin town, Virginia. She married David LeSueur in the early 1730s. He was born in London, but was christened in a Huguenot church, so he was likely from a French family who had escaped Catholic persecution in France. Elizabeth and David had nine sons and two daughters, and we know descendants of eight of them. This is the by far best attested lineage of the second generation daughters. Here, we are able only to cover some of the more notable LeSueur descendants.

• Jacques LeSueur, son of Elizabeth and David, died in Edgefield District, South Carolina after 1799.
• Samuel LeSueur, son of Elizabeth and David was born in Manakin Town, Virginia, but died in Monroe County, Georgia around 1833. This family moved to Elbert County in north Georgia, and after a number of years settled in Monroe County in central Georgia. Records show that Samuel's son, Mead, was born in Elbert County, Georgia around 1793, which predates the earliest Chastains in north Georgia and the earliest Chastains in more distant Thomas County, Georgia by twenty years or more.
• Martell LeSueur, son of Elizabeth and David served in the Revolutionary War at age 16 or 17, apparently from Virginia.

• Charles LeSueur, grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Chastain LeSueur, served in the war of 1812.
• Martell LeSueur, grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Chastain LeSueur, served in the war of 1812.
• Samuel LeSueur, Jr., grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Samuel LeSueur, Sr., moved his family to Russell County, Alabama, where he died before 1841.
• Littleberry LeSueur, grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Peter LeSueur, moved to Alabama and married his second wife there in Madison County in 1813. Later, they moved to Mississippi, where they had a plantation in Holly Springs.
• Moseby LeSueur, grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Martell LeSueur, was a corporal in the 20th Regiment of the Virginia Infantry in the War of 1812..
• Grandison Bacon LeSueur, grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Martell LeSueur, moved his family to Phelps, Missouri in 1869. He and all his sons were Confederate veterans.

• Carey LeSueur, great-grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Samuel LeSueur, was a medical doctor.
• John Samuel LeSueur, great-grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Samuel LeSueur, was a medical doctor.
• Martha LeSueur, great-granddaughter of Elizabeth and David through their son, Samuel LeSueur, died in a school fire less than two weeks before her seventh birthday.
• Mead LeSueur, Jr., great-grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Samuel LeSueur, died in Confederate Soldier's Home in 1905.
• Martell LeSueur, great-grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Martell LeSueur, served in the Confederate 41st Virginia Infantry.
• James William LeSueur, great-grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Martell LeSueur, served in the Confederate 24th Virginia Infantry.
• William Mosbey, Martell Pleasant, James Alexander, Stephen Woodson, and George Grandison Martell LeSueur, brothers and great-grandsons of Elizabeth and David through their son, Martell LeSueur, were all Confederate veterans, along with their father. Martell Pleasant spent most of his time in hospitals due to his being wounded.

• Robert Jordan LeSueur, great-great-grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Samuel LeSueur, was a pharmacist and owned his own drugstore.
• Jordan Eldridge Mead LeSueur, great-great-grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Samuel LeSueur, served in the Confederate Army as an enrollment officer in Georgia. Later, he and another man purchased an acre of land for a new school.
• DeStaing LeSueur, great-great-grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Samuel LeSueur, ran a store and post office in Alabama.
• Madison D. C. LeSueur, great-great-grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Samuel LeSueur, served in the Civil War. He died in Atlanta during the war on February 10, 1863.
• John Hunter Etheridge, Jr., great-grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Samuel LeSueur, was a medical doctor.
• David Napolean Robinson, great-great-grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Peter LeSueur, left college in 1861 to enlist in Captain LeSueur's Company of the Confederate Army. He served until the surrender, and was severely wounded near Opelousas, Louisiana in 1863.
• David Hardeman LeSueur, great-great-grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Peter LeSueur, was born and died in Texas, but his first four children were born in Mexico between 1904 and 1913.
  Great-Great-Great-Grand Children of Elizabeth and David LeSueur
  
• Howard Alexander Akers, great-great-great-grandson of Elizabeth and David through their son, Martell LeSueur, served in the U.S. Army in France during WWI.

Third Generation: Thompson, Short,

Fourth Generation: Epperson, Mallory, Brown, Stratham, Davis, Langford, Christian, Bailey, Stephens, Evans, Clayton, Jones, Woodson, Acres, Beckett, Lavender, Stultz, Bolling,

Fifth Generation: Gardner, Proctor, Langford, Freeman, Burch, Gwin, James, Caldwell, Christian, Preston, Burt, Haynes, Sharp, Mitchell, Clark, Hendrick, Edwards, Holt, Etherage, Fryer, Edwards, Nelson, Burford, Robinson, Mitchell, Branch, Wade, Ford, Arnett, Crenshaw, Davidson, Waller, Scales, Bartley, Shelor, Prillaman, Prillaman, Bishop, Mosely,

Sixth Generation: Boyd, Beard, Bradshaw, McCleane, Dickard, Call, Powell, Harsh, Harsh, Cornelius, Briggs, Boyles, Vesscher, Foster, Perkins, Wallace, Booth, Wallace, Morgan, Slappey, Crawley, Farmer, Brown, Irvin, Cagle, Crawley, Hunt, Wooten, Vanduser, Jones, Hughes, Horsley, Sullivant, Warnock, Sledge, Jones, Cox, Kelley, Nolan, Thompson, Thompson, Hilton, Goolsby, Mizell, Kelt, Griffin, Lane, Matthews, Smith, Livingston, DuBose, Smith, Stewart, Humbert, Oslin, Faubion, Harper, Kerr, Mahan, Moore, Jennings, Trainer, Thompson, McMillan, Williams, Carothers, Bridges, Pack, Endicott, Self, Epperly, St. Clair, Rutroff, Surface, Counts, Sisk, McAllister, Bowman, Howery, Van Fleet, Turner, Sowers, Shell, Rambo, West, Weaver, Adams, Young, Sturgeon, Frame, Niles, Thomas, Stevenson, Brookshire, White,

Seventh Generation: Sandidge, Dobbs, Haynes, Stephens, Dupre, Kirk, Alston, Fletcher, White, Cochran, Yoder, Rush, Zwicker, Dismukes, Dismukes, Dean, Deakins, Anderson, Lide, Miller, Myers, Hamilton, Sanders, Spinks, Clark, Danielly, Jumper, Bridges, Bell, Holstun, Belcher, Beaty, Higgins, Moreman, Cornwall, Fletcher, Ellington, King, Hogan, Hunter, Phillips, Self, Brown, Tyler, Harris, Whiddon, Woodward, McLeroy, Eason, Feeley, Brown, Crawley, Holleman, Wyatt, Lockey, Love, Cooley, Bounds, Martin, Jackson, Dumas, Holly, Smalley, Socks, Ward, Jernigan, Wilmeth, Gore, Shafer, Blow, Miller, Patterson, Stell, Glover, Springer, Whitmire, Walpole, Mershon, Maddox, DeVant, Warthen, Easterling, Hodge, Cole, Bell, McElreath, Burget, Beauchamp, Rivers, Morell, Sappey, Sanders, Chesterman, Keel, McClellan, Nunnally, Preston, Stone, Blake, Cox, Randall, Mahan, Vance, McGaig, Amyx, Ballenger, Gragard, Cecil, Cauley, Commodore, Wolverton, Clark, Cheshire, Lovell, Chappell, Reynolds, Crowgey, Phipps, Gilkin, Barnett, Sowers, Winchester, Akers, Collins, Boss, Garrett, Brummit, Quarles, Cregger, Johnson, Helms, Plake, Trigg, Perkins,

The above list includes some couples for whom we do not have children listed. Most of them would have had children, but a few may not have. Of course, there is a multitude of last names for which we have no record at all.

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Descendants of Third Generation Daughters of Chastain Sons

• Mariann Chastain married Benjamin Witt
• Magdalene Chastain married William Porter
• Judith Chastain married Joseph Carter
• Magdalene Chastain married John Gevedon, Jr.
• Martha Chastain married James Edens
• Marianne Chastain married Charles McKinney
• Judith Chastain married a Mr. Winfree and Robert Lamar

• John Witt, son of Mariann Chastain Witt, was a general.
• John Carter, son of Judith Chastain Carter, served in the Revolutionary War from Buckingham County, Virginia.
• Joseph Carter, III, son of Judith Chastain Carter, married Magdalene Sallee Chastain, thus bringing additional Chastain DNA to both lines.
• Judith Carter, daughter of Judith Chastain Carter, married Joseph Gevedon, thus bringing additional Chastain DNA to both lines.
• Mary Carter, daughter of Judith Chastain Carter, married Joseph McKinney, thus bringing additional Chastain DNA to both lines. Rev. Rene Chastain performed the wedding.
• Priscilla Carter, daughter of Judith Chastain Carter, married Williamson Burnett, who served in the Revolutionary War. Their wedding was performed by Rev. Rene Chastain.
• John Givoden, II, son of Magdalene Chastain Gevedon served in the Revolutionary War and was present at the siege of Yorktown.
• James McKinney, son of Marianne Chastain McKinney, moved to Kentucky and married Levisa Whitley, who was born there in 1777. She was the second Caucasian girl born in Kentucky.

• Thomas Freeman McKinney, grandson of Marianne Chastain McKinney, was called Father of the Texas Navy. He financed the Texas Revolution against Mexico and commanded the schooner San Felipe in the war. The steamer Laura fired the first shots in the conflict. Both ships were owned by McKinney, Williams & Co, the largest firm in early Texas history. Thomas Freeman McKinney and his partner also organized the first legal bank in Texas in 1847.

• Hampton Hyder Edens, great-grandson of Martha Chastain Edens, died as a prisoner during the Civil War.
• Joseph Powell Edens, great-grandson of Martha Chastain Edens, died in Tupelo, Mississippi during the Civil War.
• Willis Green Carter, great-grandson of Judith Chastain Carter, was a doctor.
• James Perry Carter, great-grandson of Judith Chastain Carter, was drafted in 1864 and assigned to the 38th Indiana Volunteers. He suffered from exposure and hardship to the point that he was disabled for most of his life. He participated in Sherman's Atlanta Campaign and his March to the Sea.
• Benjamin Franklin Carter, great-grandson of Judith Chastain Carter, served in the Civil War and was wounded in the heel.
• Samuel Newton Carter, great-grandson of Judith Chastain Carter, enlisted in the Union army and served with the 60th Indiana Infantry. He contracted an eye disease while in service.
• John Waskins Carter, great-grandson of Judith Chastain Carter, served in the Indiana Volunteers during the Civil War and was severely wounded at the Battle of Resaca, Georgia.
• Rene Chastain Carter, Jr., great-grandson of Judith Chastain Carter, served in the Civil War with the Indiana Volunteers.
• Hampton Hyder Edens, great-grandson of Martha Chastain Edens, died in the Civil War as a prisoner of war.
• Allen Russell, great-grandson of Martha Chastain Edens, was 15 when his father died. Shortly after that, he left Missouri for Texas and worked as a cowboy for awhile before moving back to Missouri.
• Robert Russell McKinney, great-grandson of Marianne Chastain McKinney, was a doctor.

• Anderson Newton Johnson, great-great-grandson of Judith Chastain Carter, died at 17 in the Civil War Battle of Shiloh around 1863.
• Joseph Newton Wright, great-great-grandson of Judith Chastain Carter, served in the Civil War with the 40th Illinois Infantry.
• Archibald Marion South, great-great-grandson of Judith Chastain Carter, was a drummer in the Civil War and died in the Battle of Vicksburg at 17.
• Eliza Ann Oakley (b. 1835) and Cynthia Ann Oakley (b. 1859), great-great-granddaughters of Judith Chastain Carter, could both be called Annie Oakley.
• William Harlan McClure, great-great-grandson of Judith Chastain Carter, was a minister.
• Joseph R. Gevedon, great-great-grandson of Judith Chastain Carter, was a minister.
• Everett Jividen, great-great-grandson of Magdalene Chastain Gevedon, was killed in France in 1918 during WWI.

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Descendants of Fourth Generation Daughters of Chastain Sons

• Mary Chastain married Fell LeSueur, son of Elizabeth Chastain LeSueur, and added additional Chastain DNA to both lines.
• Frances Chastain married Richard Vaser
• Edith Chastain married Zachariah Wheat
• Jane Chastain married John Hewitt, Jr.
• Martha Chastain married John Blythe
• Mary Chastain married John O'Dell
• Elizabeth Chastain married Samuel Denton, Jr.
• Cleo/Chloe Chastain married John Denton
• Nancy Chastain married John Robinson
• Violet Chastain married William Akin
• Mary Lavina Chastain married first a Mr. Bowling and then William Shasteen, Sr.
• Emily Chastain married John Barrett
• Obedience Chastain married a Mr. Pace
• Nancy Chastain married William Few. They helped establish a new Methodist church near Greenville, South Carolina.
• Elizabeth Chastain married Christopher Elrod
• Elizabeth Chastain married first James Manning and then a Mr. Coleman, the Mannings were part of the initial migration of Chastains into Indiana
• Malinda "Linny" Chastain married Edmund Toney, they were part of the initial migration of Chastains into Indiana
• Rhoda Chastain married James Hudnall, Jr.
• Elizabeth Chastain married Peter Jones
• Mildred Chastain married William Ayres
• Martha Chastain married a Mr. Moss
• Lydia Chastain married Thomas Maxey
• Rhoda Chastain married James Ragland

• Hazael Wheat, son of Edith Chastain Wheat, inherited a sword that had belonged to immigrant Pierre Chastain. Hazael passed the sword on to his son, Otho Wheat.
• Jonas Denton, son of Elizabeth Chastain Denton, served in the War of 1812 from North Carolina and in the Cherokee Indian Removals of 1838.
• Benjamin Berry Chasteen, son of Lavinia Chastain Shasteen, served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. His father's name was Shasteen, but he and his siblings used the spelling Chasteen.
• Asa Maxey, son of Lydia Chastain Maxey, fought in the War of 1812 and was captured at the Battle of Raisin River near Detroit. He was then marched to Fort George in Canada along the Niagara River in bitter cold. He was released in February 1813.
• William Raney Maxey, son of Lydia Chastain Maxey, was a physician and a Christian minister.
• Elizabeth Ragland, daughter of Rhoda Chastain Ragland, married Elijah Carter, grandson of Judith Chastain Carter, increasing the Chastain DNA to both lines. His line was already DNA enriched through his father.
• Julia Ann Ragland, daughter of Rhoda Chastain Ragland, married her own first cousin, Berry Chastain. Her sister married Berry's brother.

• Zackariah Frederick Wheat, grandson of Edith Chastain Wheat, went west for gold, and was reportedly killed there.
• Otho Williams Wheat, grandson of Edith Chastain Wheat, inherited a sword that had belonged to immigrant Pierre Chastain. Otho passed the sword on to his son, Fitzhugh H. Wheat.
• Twins Joseph and Hiram Wheat, grandsons of Edith Chastain Wheat, were poisoned by a slave and one of the twins died.
• Levi Curtis Wheat, grandson of Edith Chastain Wheat, served the Confederacy during the Civil War. He was wounded at the Battle of New Market in October of 1864 and died the next month.
• Francis Marion Denton, grandson of Elizabeth Chastain Denton, died during the Civil War in Jackson, Mississippi on May 17, 1863 while in service to the Confederacy.
• Polly Ann Hudnall, grandson of Rhoda Chastain Hudnall, moved with her husband from Kentucky to Illinois in 1864 because they favored abolition. They began to build a place for school and worship, and Polly continued after her husband died in a hunting accident. She became the first Sunday school superintendent.
• Thomas Best Taylor, grandson of Rhoda Chastain Hudnall, was a soldier in the Union Army.
• John, Silas, and James Pieratt, grandsons of Lydia Chastain Maxey, served in the Confederate Army. John was killed early in the war.
• John Philpot Maxey, grandson of Lydia Chastain Maxey, was a minister in the Christian Church.
• Henry Lucius Maxey, grandson of Lydia Chastain Maxey, was a minister.
• Prudence Catherine Maxey, granddaughter of Lydia Chastain Maxey, was an educator who taught for more than forty years.
• Thomas White Maxey, grandson of Lydia Chastain Maxey, served in the Indiana Volunteers during the Civil War.

• Fitzhugh H. Wheat, great-grandson of Edith Chastain Wheat, inherited a sword that had belonged to immigrant Pierre Chastain. Hugh passed the sword on to his niece, Ann Arsel Wheat.

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Notable Descendants of Later Generations

Elby and Pauline Boman, PCFA founder and charter members
Geraldine Buland, PCFA charter member
Richard and Thelma Calvin, PCFA charter members
Claude E. Cook, author of Little Otter to Lost River: A History of the Chastain Family of Washington County, Indiana, 1976
Joan Crawford, Oscar winning film actress
Thomas Creekmore, PCFA charter member
Ella Daley, PCFA charter member
Helen Ezell, PCFA charter member
Mary Avilla Farnsworth-Milligan, PCFA charter member and author of Chastain Kith and Kin, 1984
Bill Finn, PCFA president
Benjamin K. Kincaid, genealogist
Susan Slape-Hoysagk, PCFA editor of The Chestnut Tree
Arlene Wilkin, PCFA charter member

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Is Actress Joan Crawford the Most Famous Pierre Chastain Descendant?

Soccer star Brandi Chastain is likely the most famous Chastain in the world. However, the most famous Chastain descendant of all is perhaps actress Joan Crawford. As was the case with many professional actors and actress, Joan Crawford did not use her original birth name, but chose a different name for her stage career. Her real name was Lucille Fay LeSueur.

Every source I have checked lists her parents as Thomas E. LeSueur (1867 or 1868-1938) and Anna Bell Johnson (1884-1958). It so happens that the LeSueur family line is the most attested of the Pierre Chastain lines other than Chastain itself. Therefore, Joan Crawford is an eighth generation American Chastain: 1. Pierre Chastain; 2. Elizabeth Chastain; 3. Chastain LeSueur; 4. James LeSueur; 5. Samuel Wesley LeSueur; 6; James Howell LeSueur; 7. Thomas LeSueur; 8. Lucille Fay LeSueur (Joan Crawford).

Joan Crawford is more closely related to Pierre Chastain than are the Brothers of Chastain Central, because she is eighth generation and we are ninth generation. She is only a seventh generation American LeSueur. David LeSueur, Elizabeth's French husband, at about twenty-years old came directly to the American colonies from London. The first mention of him in the colonies was in 1724. In 1736, he served as constable in Manakintown, Virginia, and he also served on the vestry at the Manakintown Anglican Church.

Lucille Fay LeSueur (aka Joan Crawford) was born March 23 probably in 1905, based on census records. However, other sources suggest it may have been 1904 or 1906. She claimed it was in 1908. Many think she took advantage of the fact that birth certificates were not required when she was born in Tennessee. Her father left her family when she was still young, and her mother married Henry J. Cassin, who raised her in her first few years. She did not discover he was not her real father until her brother Hal told her in 1915. Cassin left the family shortly after that.

Henry Cassin was in the theater business and both Lucille and her younger brother Hal became actors. Lucille began as a dancer using her own name, and was signed to MGM in 1924, also using her own name. After her first silent film, she changed her name because someone said it sounded to much like 'sewer'. She made numerous films with stars such as Lon Cheney, Sr., Fred Astaire, Spencer Tracy, Jack Palance, and especially Clark Gable. She left MGM for Warner Brothers in 1943.

Joan was named Queen of the Movies by Life Magazine in 1937. She earned the 1945 Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Mildred Pierce. In 1970, John Wayne presented the Cecil B. DeMille Award to Joan Crawford on the Golden Globes. In addition to film, Joan worked in radio and television. Her 1969 Night Gallery episode Eyes was the directing debut of Steven Spielberg. She also worked in the promotion and management of the Pepsi Cola company from 1959-1973, where her husband was Chairman; he died in 1959.

Joan married Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in 1929, Franchot Tone in 1935, Phillip Terry in 1942, and Pepsi-Cola Chairman Alfred N. Steele in 1955. Joan Crawford died on May 10, 1977.

Thanks to Chastine Bright for bringing our attention to this Chastain connection.

Links:

The Best of Everything
Book Rags
Filmography
Joan Crawford Interview (video)
Pierre Chastain Family Association, Pierre Chastain and His Descendants, two volumes

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