Updated 06-23-07

Ask most Americans to name any Chastains they have heard of, and the result will be a short list. Brandi Chastain will top the list, with Misery Chastain likely coming in second. A significant number will have heard of writers Sandra Chastain and Thomas Chastain. Musician David T. Chastain would probably come in at number five. After that, other Chastains will be well known within specific fields of interest. Chastains have been part of the American story for three hundred years. The 15 on this page are among those most prominent Chastains (all spellings) from today and the past. Bios of other Chastains are found in Chastain Biographies.

Index

Brandi Denise Chastain, Soccer

(July 21, 1968- )

For extensive biographical information on Brandi Chastain, plus other Brandi Chastain features see Chastain Central's Brandi Chastain Fan Site.

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David T. Chastain, Musician

David is a prolific and versatile song writer, heavy metal guitarist, and record label executive with a discography of over 95 projects since 1983. David released albums with bands CJSS and CHASTAIN, recorded solo albums, and contributed to the albums of others. He has written over 200 songs. In 1985, David started Leviathan Records, his own record label based in Cincinnati, in order to have the freedom to record as he pleased. He signed other bands such as Kenziner, Event, Michael Harris, Candlemass, Imperium, and Joe Stump. Leviathan has since moved to Atlanta.

See more at Chastains in Music.

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Ed Chasteen, Ph. D., Activist and Bicyclist.

(1935-)

"We all come into this world knowing nobody, and the purpose of our earthly existence is to make friends of as many people as possible. That is what I believe and why I started HateBusters." --Ed Chasteen.

Ed is an activist against hate. He began multi-racial potluck dinners, called Human Family Reunions, in 1976. He founded HateBusters in 1988. In 1995, Ed left teaching to promote HateBusters full time. In 1996, he was chosen as one of the community heroes to carry the Olympic torch as it passed through Kansas City.

Ed Chasteen is a bicycle enthusiast, and uses cycling as therapy for his multiple sclerosis. In November, 2004, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society named Ed Chasteen a 2004 MS Achievement Award winner.

See more at Ed Chasteen.

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Elijah Webb Chastain, U.S. Congressman

(1813-1874)

See more at Elijah Webb Chastain.

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James Garvin Chastain, Missionary

(December 18, 1853-February 20, 1954)

James Garvin Chastain, Sr. was born in Mississippi. He was converted at a Methodist meeting, but joined the Baptist Church and was called into the ministry. He was ordained as a Baptist minister at age 21. He earned a B.A. degree at Mississippi College in Clinton, and he graduated from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as missionary to Mexico for 25 years.

James Garvin wrote two significant books. The first was 30 Years in Mexico, (1929), which dealt with the mission there. The second was a seminal genealogical work, A Brief History of the Huguenots and Three Family Trees: Chastain, Lockridge, and Stockton, (1932), which he wrote at 80 years old. He died in 1954 two months past his centennial birthday. See more at James Garvin Chastain.

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Jane Chastain, Sports Caster and Political Columnist

(1943- )

The five-foot-two-and-a-half Jane Chastain seems safe enough, but let her loose on a political opponent on a talk show and look out! Jane Chastain contributes a weekly political column to WorldNetDaily. Each Thursday, Jane comments on a range of issues from a conservative perspective. Her religious faith is an important part of her values, and she does not hesitate to take up religious themes from time to time as they bear on news of the day. For ten years, Jane hosted her own nationally syndicated program, "What Washington Doesn't Want You To Know." She also hosted "The Judicial Watch Radio Show" for Radio America, and was a regular panelist on "CNN & Company." Before becoming a political commentator, Jane Chastain made history as the first female sportscaster at both local and national levels. See more at Chastains in Politics.

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Rev. John Chastain, Pioneer Preacher

(c 1743-1805)

John Chastain was born in the Huguenot settlement of Manikin, Virginia that his grandfather Dr. Pierre Chastain helped establish. John was a third generation Chastain. His father was Peter Chastain, Jr. However, John broke with his grandfather's Anglican (Episcopal) Church. He and his brother James, along their cousin Rene were pioneers in the explosive growth of the Baptist movement in the 1700s. John founded churches in Tennessee and South Carolina. John was also a patriot of the Revolution.

See more at Rev. John Chastain.

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Madye Lee Chastain, Children's Book Author and Illustrator

(1908-1989)

Madye Lee Chastain was a children's book author and illustrator of the mid-twentieth century. She wrote 17 children's books from 1945-1964, most of them for Harcourt, and she illustrated children's books written by other authors as well as her own. Before her career as a writer and illustrator, she did portraits and etchings.

Madye was born in Texarkana, Texas on December 15, 1908 and married fellow artist Henry Kurt Stoessel in 1936. She studied at Oglethorpe University Art School of High Museum in Atlanta, at Grand Central Art School in New York, and at Columbia University. She died in December 1989, in Boulder, Colorado. See more at Madye Lee Chastain.

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Misery Chastain, Fictional Character

(1987)

There are many Fictional Chastains, but none so well known as Stephen King's Misery Chastain. However, Misery is not so much a character in a book as she is a character in a book-within-a-book.

The real book is "Misery," published by King in 1987. A film version followed in 1990, which won Kathy Bates an Academy Award. It is about an author named Paul Sheldon (James Caan in the movie). Injured in a serious car accident away from civilization, he is rescued by Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates). She turns out to be his "number one fan." One of his continuing characters is Annie's favorite person of all time-Misery Chastain, but in his last book, Sheldon has killed off Misery.

Annie demands that Sheldon bring Misery back. She is insistent. Her persuasion turns to terror. You will have to read the rest for yourself, but King's fictional Misery Chastain is perhaps the second most recognized Chastain in America (after Brandi), and she is only a secondary character in a book.

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Pierre Chastain, Immigrant and Patriarch

(ca 1659 - 1728)

Pierre Chastain immigrated to the colonies from France in 1700, and is the father of most Chastains and Chasteens in America. Pierre was born into a Huguenot (French Protestant) family in 1659 near the village of Charost in central France. The Chastain family had fled to this area from the city of Bourges at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of Huguenots by Catholics in 1572. After King Louis XIV revoked the edict of Nantes, which protected Protestants, Pierre, his wife, Susanne, and their five children fled France and settled in the Virginia Colony in 1700. Today, Pierre's descendents number in the tens of thousands. For a more complete article, see Pierre Chastain.

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Rene Chastain, Pioneer Baptist Minister

(1741 - 1823)

In the mid 1700s, there was explosive growth among the Baptists. Rev. Rene Chastain and his cousins, Rev. John Chastain and Rev. James Chastain, were in the forefront of this pioneer movement.

While John and James traveled around the south to spread the Baptist message, Rev. Rene remained in Virginia and was a stable influence among the new Baptist churches there.

See more at Rev. Rene Chastain.

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Brigadier General Ronald S. Chastain, U.S. Military

Major General Ron Chastain was Commander of the 39th Infantry Brigade of the Arkansas National Guard. He assumed command on 1 July 2000. Major General Chastain began his military career as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve, upon graduation from the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Arkansas Tech University on July 7, 1972.

He commanded the 25th Rear Area Operations Center during Operation Desert Storm. In March of 2004, the 3,000 soldiers making up the 39th Infantry Brigade shipped out to Iraq. The 39th returned home from Iraq in March and April, 2005. 33 members were killed during their deployment. In early August, 2005, after five years of leading the unit's 3500 soldiers, General Ronald Chastain turned over command of the 39th brigade to Colonel Mike Ross. See more at Chastains in Politics.

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Sandra Chastain, Romance Writer

(1936- )

Sandra Anglin Chastain was born in 1936 in Wadley, Georgia, 100 miles northwest of Savannah. She grew up in the south and began publishing romances in 1988. She is now a business partner and writer of BelleBooks, a publisher of southern books.

Read Sandra's biography and see a list of her books with reviews at Chastain Centrals Sandra Chastain Books page.

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Thomas Chastain, Mystery Writer

(1921-1994)

Pour through any fair-sized collection of used hardback books, and you may find a copy of Who Killed the Robins Family? by Thomas Chastain--for a quarter! There must have been a billion of them printed. It was a NY Times #1 bestseller for 1983 and finished the year at #11.

Thomas wrote many mystery novels, including two Perry Mason books. He was a long-time board member and president of the Mystery Writers Association and a founding member of the Adams Round Table, for which he edited several anthologies. On January 21, 1975, NBC ran Death Stalk, a TV movie based on his 1971 novel. The movie pulled a 36.66 share. Born in 1921, Thomas Chastain died in 1994. See more at Thomas Chatain.

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Troy Green Chastain, Fulton County Commissioner

(Nov 7, 1883-Aug 25,1945)

Chastain Park is the largest park in Atlanta and a favorite spot for Georgians in the Atlanta area, and many special events are held at the Chastain Amphitheater.

The park is named for Troy Green Chastain, who worked hard to shape the dream for the park, including the amphitheater. Troy Chastain suffered a heart attack in 1942 and died three years later on August 25, 1945. Originally named North Fulton Park, the Fulton County Commission voted to name the Park in Troy Chastain's honor and officially dedicated it in September 1946. See more at Chastains in Politics.

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