Dead End on Huguenot Chastain Line

[jchastain]

Hello,

I have been doing some research on my family but have reached a dead end. When I first started, all I knew was that my family had come from Schwabendorf, Germany in 1860. I knew that my ancestor who came from there was born in 1820. After some research, I was able to contact a historical society in Germany and they provided records back to 1717. The first Chastain in their records is a Pierre Chastain who moved to Schwabendorf form Louisendorf, Germany. Louisendorf was originally known as Hammonshausen when Huguenot refugees settled it in 1688. Schwabendorf was also founded by Huguenot refugees in 1687.

So, I have not been able to find any more records and was wondering if anyone had any advice. My goal is to try to find where my Chastain line came from in France. I'm currently reading 'A History of the Huguenots of the Dispersion at the Recall of the Edict of Nantes' by Reginald Lane Poole. It has a few pages on Louisendorf and Schwabendorf. It says that most of the Huguenots that settled there came from the town of Die in the former province of Dauphine, France. Today Die is in the Department of Drome.

So does anyone have advice on how I could try to continue working backwards from Pierre in Louisendorf, Germany to find out where and when he was born and who his parents were? Is it worth researching records in Die, France even though that's just a somewhat educated guess that that's where Pierre or his parents came from? I appreciate any advice that you could give. Thanks! 

[garstonite]

Hiya and welcome to Rootschat ...I don`t know how reliable this tree is - back to 1270 in
Patai ,Germany ...never heard of Patai ??
http://gw.geneanet.org/frankie49?lang=en&v=CHASTAIN&m=N
there is an e mail address for the owner ...have a look -if nothing else comes of it it is an interesting tree for Chastain - I would have thought it would have had French origins - there are over 3,000 trees for Chastain on www.geneanet.org
good luck

[jchastain]

Hello! Thanks for the reply. That is an interesting tree for sure. I hadn't seen that one before. However, it is not my direct line. The Pierre Chastain mentioned there is famous in Chastain circles as being the first Chastain in America. He settled in Virginia and died there. The Pierre Chastain I am looking for died in Schwabendorf, Germany in 1731 and his first known whereabouts were Louisendorf, Germany in 1717. I found a few more leads that will hopefully lead to something. Anyways, I appreciate the reply! I'll look at other trees on this site and will keep digging.

[dawnsh]

Hi

There is a chatter here who always seems to have a lot of the answers for Huguenot ancestry so I have sent him a personal message and asked if he can help.

Fingers crossed.

Dawn

[richarde1979]

Hello JChastain

There are some 17th century Huguenot Chastains listed here:

http://huguenots-france.org/english/dauphine/dieulefit/ix43n0.htm#H

The family seem to have been based in Dieulefit,Drome, about 30km from Die.

[jchastain]

Hi

There is a chatter here who always seems to have a lot of the answers for Huguenot ancestry so I have sent him a personal message and asked if he can help.

Fingers crossed.

Dawn

Thanks, Dawn!

Hello JChastain

There are some 17th century Huguenot Chastains listed here:

http://huguenots-france.org/english/dauphine/dieulefit/ix43n0.htm#H

The family seem to have been based in Dieulefit,Drome, about 30km from Die.

Richard, thank you! I had never seen this Chastain family mentioned anywhere before. I will see if I can find out any more information. I did find another lead for working backwards from Germany too. So maybe I can work from both directions and fit some pieces together in the middle. I really appreciate you bringing this to my attention.

[jchastain]

Well, I was able to dig back a little further. I found a book titled Hugenotten und Waldenser in Hessen-Kassel. It details the Huguenot migration to the Hesse Province of Germany. It lists Pierre Chastain as the schoolmaster of Louisendorf, Germany (a Huguenot Colony) from 1692 - 1715. And it says the Chastain family arrived in 1687 from the Dauphiné Province. Now I'm back to 1687 instead of 1717, but still no new information about a specific town in Dauphiné or any information about Pierre's parents. I'm trying to get my hands on some of the sources that this book used. A lot of them are in the Hessian State Archives in Marburg, Germany.

Anyways, I'm continuing to research. Anybody have any other ideas?

[jchastain]

So I've finally found it! I wanted to share because this might be useful for others. The following site - http://refuge-huguenot.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/index.php - has a searchable database of the charity or assistance records from Switzerland for the Huguenot refugees that settled or passed through there in the late 17th century. Most of the refugees who settled in Germany passed through Switzerland.

I knew Pierre Chastain (my earliest known ancestor) came from the Dauphiné province in France and settled in Louisendendorf, Germany by the summer of 1687. I also knew he was a doctor.

I searched the database and found 3 records for a Pierre Chastain. He received monetary assistance once in Neuchatel, Switzerland in November of 1686. Then again two days later in Neuveville, Switzerland. Then finally, in February of 1687, several months before he was known to be in Germany, he received assistance in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. If you are familiar with the Huguenot Trail, this follows that path exactly into Germany with each stop getting closer to the German border. (http://www.surlespasdeshuguenots.eu/carte-sentier-mai-2013.pdf). The trail passes through all three of these and then on up into the Hesse Province of Germany where Pierre settled.

Now, onto the big discovery. Along with the assistance records stating the name, they also state the province of origin of the refugee. For this Pierre it was Dauphiné, which is a match with my earliest known ancestor. It also states his occupation as a doctor, which is also a match with my earliest known ancestor. And the fact that he was in Swiss towns on the way to Germany in the exact years and months that I would expect him to be, I think chances are very high that this is the same Pierre Chastain in my family tree. So, the big discovery? The records mention the town of origin for the refugee, which I had not been able to discover until now. The town is Vesc, France. A very small town once in the Dauphiné Province and now in the Department of Drome.

I now know where in France my family originally came from, and so I can try to pick up the trail there. Even if I don't find anything more, I'm very pleased with the discoveries I've made. I wanted to share this story and the link to the charity registers in case it's useful to others. Cheers!

[Liesa]

Hi, I recently discovered a Chastain link through 23andme and have been told my family descended from hugenouts.  My grandfather William Fredrick (born in ?1889/91) was a Leverenz and his father lived in Berlin, on the wrong side of the wall. I am unsure if the link is from my great grand father or grandmother and my contact in Germany (a third cousin) does not have much in the way of family history.  Since there is significance in the Chastain line for an unusual type of previously unknown dementia in the family and being a medical scientist, I am rather curious to discover our family connection. Any ideas of how I might be able to trace this?
Liesa