Updated
12-08-08
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Chastain Central FAQ answers many questions you may have. If you have further questions, email us.
To get started right away, browse the main menu on the Chastain Central home page, or take the Chastain Central Tour. Enjoy your visit! And do not forget to sign our guest book!
~Terry, Tim, and Tracy--the Brothers of Chastain Central
Chastain Central is very interested in genealogy and has a lot of information of genealogical interest, but it is more about Chastains today and in history. Genealogy is names, dates, and relationships. Chastain Central is more about the Chastain story.
The domain name "Chastain Central" was registered on May 4, 2004, and content for the site has developed quietly since then. Many people have stumbled upon Chastain Central already, but we hope to introduce the site to the world more strongly in the near future.
Chastain Central is the product of the three Brothers of Chastain Central (3Ts). Terry Chastain is the technical one. He conceived the idea of the website, secured the space, and designed the site. He continues as webmaster--the force behind the look and feel of the site. Tim broadened the idea from a family website to a more universal theme and contributed much of the research and content. Tracy is Sports Editor in addition to being involved every step of the way supplying general technical, conceptual, and content contributions. See more at Brothers of Chastain Central.
We certainly are! Our line of descent is 8-Robert Earl; 7-Silas Cannon; 6-William Howell "Cobb"; 5-James Edward; 4-Elijah; 3-Rev. John; 2-Peter, Jr.; 1-Pierre. See more at Eleven Chastain Generations.
The name Chastain comes from the chestnut tree Castanea, as do all the other names on this site. Though the names developed independently of each other, and though there is no blood relationship between many of the names, they all relate to the chestnut tree. Chastain Central focuses primarily on spellings used by descendants of Pierre Chastain, but there are pages for related surnames: Chastangs and Chestangs, Castaing and Related Spellings, Castagna, Castagno, Castano and Chesnut, Chesnutt, Chestnut, Chestnutt. By the way, on Chastain Central "Chastain" is sometimes used in a broad sense to include all spellings used by Pierre's descendants.
If you are searching a particular name, place, event, or other key word, go to the home page and enter the word into the site search engine at the top of the page. The result will give you a list of pages containing your key word. You can then search those pages using CONTROL-F or whatever method you use to search a page. If you wish to search additional key words, you may enter them into the box on the results page.
It is rewarding to help people find their Chastain roots! Our most comprehensive resource is Pierre Chastain and His Descendants, available in three volumes from the Pierre Chastain Family Association. However it lists only the first seven generations of known or very probable (and these are noted) descendants of Pierre. Other major resources used are Little Otter to Lost River, which deals with Indiana Chastains including additional generations, and Chastain Kith and Kin, which is particularly useful for North Georgia and Arkansas Chastain descendants through additional generations. We also use other resources depending on the information you provide us.
When requesting a search, please include as much information as possible: birth, marriage, and death dates and places, any other dates you may have, parents (as far back as possible), siblings, children, spouse's maiden name, occupation, military service, towns, counties, states, movements, and any scraps of stories or information you have. We do not expect you to have all this or you would not need us, but check with your oldest relatives for as much information as possible. If you tell us "Am looking for my ancestor John Chastain. I think he was a preacher" we cannot even do a search. There are far too many John Chastains, and we would not recognize him even if we found him, as there is not enough information to identify him. Much better is "Am looking for ancestor John Chastain, Baptist minister; born in Virginia; died 1805 in SC. Sometimes called 'Shilling Bell'. Married an O'Bryan." This is very searchable. However, feel free to contact us even if your information is scanty! We are often successful, but not always.
There are several ways you may wish to get involved in the Chastain Central website. Perhaps you have noticed a number of Chastain Central items submitted by readers. You may submit an article, a biography, or additions and corrections to articles we already have, and you will receive credit. You may also submit ideas for other features. Use the Submit Content form to submit information of any kind. It will be very welcomed!
You have no idea how encouraging it is to us when you take one or both of the following actions.
As far as we know, Chastain Central has more general, easily-accessible information on Chastains and related names than anywhere else in the world. Chastain-related genealogical information is concentrated in the publications of the Pierre Chastain Family Association (PCFA), and collections of primary sources are found for a fee in such places as genealogy.com and ancestry.com. If you suspect another place has more general Chastain-related information, let us know. We want to go there!
Depends on what you find interesting. You may want to browse Prominent Chastains and Chastain Biographies for these and other Chastains (various spellings):
For lots more connections, go to Chastain Connections!