*Note:  Some Haston researchers have suggested that this William Carroll Hasten/Hastings (not to be confused with David Haston's youngest son who had the same name) may have been a son of Daniel Haston and, thus, a brother of Isaac Haston/Hastings.  Read more about this William Carroll Hasten.

*Note:  The supposed connection between Henry C. Hastings and the John Hastings (b. 1670) family of VA was established by Robert Wayne Haisten on page 77 of his book, Haisten: A 250-Year History of The Haisten Family (1983).  In a 1985 loose leaf update, R.W. Haisten stated a "correction" regarding that relationship between Henry C. Hastings and the VA Hastings family.  Instead, he asserts that Henry C. Hastings probably came to Orange County, NC from England through Maryland.  Source of revised statement: Haisten: A 250 - Year History of the Haisten Family, Update Number 1, January 31, 1985 (inserted in the package with the book purchased in November 2000).

Although there are differences of opinion (see note above) related to the specific ancestry of Henry C. Hastings, grandfather of John Holloway Hastings, in either case his family origin appears to be from England.  The Henry C. Hastings clan (at least many of them) moved from Orange County, NC to the Bedford County, TN area prior to 1808, which is approximately 75 miles from where the Daniel Haston family settled in that same general era.

• John Holloway Hastings information

• James Bell Hastings information

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Evidence that Supports a Possible Kinship Relationship Between Isaac Haston/Hastings and John Holloway Hastings

1. Isaac Hastings and John Holloway Hastings lived very close to each other in Greene County, Missouri.

As stated and illustrated above, John Holloway Hastings lived in an adjacent section to Isaac Hasting in Greene County, MO. 

This was not the first time that these two families had lived within the same area.  Apparently, John Holloway Hastings' father's family lived in Knox County, TN at or near the same time that the Daniel Haston family lived there.  Peggy Hastings, who married John Ault in Knox County, TN on November 22, 1809, was the sister of John Holloway Hastings.  She has sometimes erroneously been identified as a daughter of Daniel Haston, because she lived in Knox County in the same general era as Daniel's family. 
Source:  John T. Hastings will

The Daniel Haston family and the John T. Hastings (father of John Holloway Hastings) family both moved to middle Tennessee (Daniel Haston - White County, John T. Hastings - Bedford County) in the first decade of the 1800s.

2. Daughters of John Holloway Hastings (& Rachel Cannon Hastings) probably traveled to California with the Isaac Haston/Hastings family.

We do know that John H. & Rachel Hastings' daughter, Margaret Ann Elizabeth Hastings, and her husband, Isaac Ackerson Delzell, moved to California. 

In Sonoma County, California, Isaac's son, Fletcher Dilay Hastings, lived next door to William B. Delzell, probable son of Isaac Ackerson Delzell and Margaret Ann Elizabeth Hastings Delzell.  Source:  Page 58 of Illustrated Atlas of Sonoma County, CA - 1897-1998.

3. The change of Isaac Haston's name to Isaac Hastings might have been influenced by John Holloway Hastings.

Although the surname for members of the Daniel Haston family was often spelled "Hasting" or "Hastings" by various clerks, Daniel's sons David and Joseph (the only family members known to have been literate) always spelled their surname "Haston." 

When Isaac (who apparently was not literate) moved to Missouri, his name was sometimes spelled "Hastin" or "Hasten."  On the Federal census it was spelled "Hastings" and "Hasting."  Later, in California the "Hastin" and "Hasten" spellings continue but it appears that, later in life, the name gradually shifted to "Hastings."  Perhaps John Holloway Hastings convinced Isaac that "Hastings" was the appropriate spelling of Daniel Haston's family surname.  

4.  Some members of the Daniel Haston family have stated that their ancestry was rooted in England. 

In a November 3, 1960 letter from Samuel Perry Hastings (grandson of Isaac and great-grandson of Daniel) to his niece Laurann Coleman, Mr. Hastings wrote, "Pleasant (Henry Pleasant Hastings, Perry's brother) told that Pa told that there were three brothers who came over from England."  (Source:  letter in Wayne Haston's Isaac Haston file)  It isn't clear if the "Pa" was Pleasant's and Samuel Perry's father, Hartwell Greene Hastings, or their grandfather, Isaac Haston.  In either case, here is a statement of English ancestry by someone who was historically fairly close to Daniel Haston.  If this were true, it would make it probable that there was some kinship between John Holloway Hastings and Isaac Haston/Hastings.  See the English roots section on this site for more information.

Evidence that Argues Against a Possible Kinship Relationship Between Isaac Haston/Hastings and John Holloway Hastings

The strongest evidence that argues against a kinship relationship between John Holloway Hastings and Isaac Haston/Hastings is a lack of evidence to establish such a familial relationship.

1.  In the East Tennessee and Middle Tennessee sojourns of these families, there is no known evidence to indicate that they had any interactions.

2.  As far as we know, no family researchers for the Haston and Hastings families have ever found any evidence (other than the Greene County, MO geographical proximity) to tie Daniel Haston's family to the family of Henry C. Hastings who migrated from Orange County, NC to Bedford County, TN.

3.  The only two members of the Daniel Haston family who were known to be literate, David & Joseph, consistently resisted what would have been the easy shift toward the "Hasting" or "Hastings" spelling of their family name.