In 1696, a Huguenot physician and his family escaped from France, where the Huguenots were experiencing severe religious persecution. His name was Pierre Chastain, and he is the father of most Chastains (all spellings) in America. Pierre was born in 1659 near Charost, France. After King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685, Pierre, his wife Susanne, and their five children fled France to Switzerland, Holland, and finally to England where Pierre helped gather a group of Huguenots to colonize Virginia.

On July 12, 1700 the Mary and Ann sailed into the James River near Jamestown, Virginia Colony. They continued up river to the 10,000 acre site chosen for the new Huguenot settlement called Manakintown. The time of arrival was not good. It was too late in the year for the colonists to grow crops before the onset of cold weather, and not everyone survived the harsh winter. By the next year, Susanne and three of the five children had died. Pierre then married Anne Soblet, grandmother to most of the Chastain lines known today. Anne was the daughter of Abraham and Susanne Soblet who were also Huguenot immigrants.