®
Welcome!!!
Welcome to PCFA!! If you're researching a
Chastain, or like a spelling surname ancestor, this should be the
place for you!! Most Chastain lineage research generates a
direct or indirect relationship with the French Huguenot immigrant, Pierre
Chastain (1659-1728). Pierre's descendants, as with most
American families of this era, migrated westward from his original
home in Virginia, both across and up and down the Appalachian
Mountains, and of course, from there further westward. Later
generations came to use varied spellings of the surname, for various
reasons. Common spelling variations of Chastain include
Chastaine, Chasteen, Chastine, Chesteen, Shasteen, Shastine, and
Shastid. The spelling was also corrupted as Chasten and
Castain on many early legal documents.
The Pierre Chastain Family Association was formed in
1975 after Mr. Elby F. Bowan sent invitations to fellow
"Chastain" researchers to attend a conference on the
interests of further research and the coordination of these efforts
into a society or association. A group of interested parties
met on August 31, 1975 at Dyer, Arkansas that lead directly to the
formation of the association. The objectives were to collect,
document, organize, preserve, and eventually publish the lineage,
genealogical, historical, and related data concerning the
descendants of Pierre and in general that pertaining to the Chastain
surname.
There were fifteen charter members of PCFA and by
the time of the first issue of the association's
"newsletter", The Chestnut Tree©, in
January of 1976, the membership had grown to 42 members! Today
the membership numbers approximately 500. A computer database
of close to 40,000 individual records submitted by the membership
over the years in their research is maintained by a volunteer
Genealogist. The data includes not only the demographic data
associated with usual lineage material but also numerous census,
bible, land, and other legal records documenting the descendants of
Pierre, often covering 12 or more generations. Due to the
research efforts of the membership since 1975, a great amount of
documentation has been accumulated that allows almost instant
lineage verification and placed this material in print in volumes
such as "Pierre Chastain and His Descendants" for
generations to come.
PCFA is a non-profit membership fee
based family association that functions exclusively with volunteer
participation in the various administrative and clerical areas of
organization. As mentioned earlier, PCFA has a Genealogist
who supervises and directs the compilation of genealogical records
of the ancestors and descendants of Pierre Chastain. The Genealogist
provides the membership with assistance in accessing the existing
compiled data and provides research tips and advice to those doing
further research on any Chastain genealogy. The Association also has
a Historian who directs the
compilation and writing of biographies, family histories, and
personal histories pertaining to Chastain ancestors and descendants.
The Association's Librarian maintains a Family History Library of
all Chastain publications. PCFA has continued the tradition of the
founding members by holding a "reunion" or annual conference
at at various locations around the country, information and details
are posted under the link "Annual Reunion."
We are extremely interested in making
contact with anyone who has a Chastain ancestor and extend an
invitation of membership to all with interest in Chastain Genealogy,
detailed data can be found under "Membership
Information". If you have a Chastain ancestor, please
contact our Corresponding Secretary - Genealogist Emeritus, Gerre
Buland, and relate your ancestry, interest, etc. Gerre's mailing
address is noted under Association
Officers. It could be you who relates that missing link!