The English Theory of Daniel's Roots

Some members of Daniel's family, after leaving White County, TN, did adopt the Hasting/Hastings spelling of the name.  According to Howard H. Hasting, active Daniel Haston researcher in the 1950s and 1960s, "The Arkansas family held a 'family meeting' in Yell County, not long after moving to that county, at which it was decided to spell the name 'Hasting," because--as they said--that was the correct and original spelling."  Mr. Hasting goes on to explain that this must have been done after 1880, because the 1880 census for that county lists the family name as "Haston."  (Source: page 33 of Howard H. Hasting's notes on Daniel Haston's family)  One wonders if they just got tired of having people confuse their name for Hasting.

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Note:  Although you can find just about any possible variant spelling of Haston in the process of researching this family, David Haston and Joseph Haston (the two children of Daniel who were known to be literate) spelled their names "Haston."  One could argue that (1) this indicates that they knew that this was the proper way to spell their names or (2) they agreed between themselves to standardize the spelling of their name to "Haston" for some unknown reason.  

2.  Some family tradition and oral history points to an English ancestry.

A biographical entry for "P.D. Hastain" was included in the Portrait and Biographical Record of Johnson and Pettis Counties, Missouri (published 1895, by Chapman Publishing Company of Chicago, now in the Library of Congress [F 472 JE P8] ).  Pleasant Dawson Hastain was the son of Daniel M. Haston/Hastain, who was son of David Haston, son of Daniel Haston.  The record states that the name was originally "Hasting" and that his grandfather (would really have been his great grandfather, Daniel) came from England.  

Note:  This work was published nearly 70 years after Daniel Haston's death, so the information was not directly given by him or even by one of his sons, or even his grandson.  Who knows who gave this information.  It could possibly have been an editor's assumption that any name beginning with "Hast" had to have an "ing" ending to it or it could have been given by a family member who had an informed and accurate knowledge of Haston/Hastain family history.

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A similar entry from another source* for John Lawrence Haston (son of David Lavender Haston, grandson of Isaac T. Haston, great grandson of David Haston, great-great grandson of Daniel Haston) stated that:   "The Haston name as used in this country is a derivation from the old English Name of Hastings, borne by the progenitor of the family in America.  As the years have passed, like many other names, this has gradually changed to its present form.  The great-grandfather of Mr. Haston, who spelled his name Hastons, came to Tennessee from the Carolinas, and settled in Warren county, where he reared a large family."  

Note:  The credibility of this reference is weakened by the fact that known errors appear in the account.  For example, David Haston settled in White County, not Warren County.  The account goes on (just below the aforementioned reference) to state that John Lawrence Haston was the son of D.L. Haston, who was the son of J.H. Haston.  The various sources we have indicate that John Lawrence Haston's father, D.L. (David Lavender) Haston, was the son of Isaac T. Haston, David's son.  We have no record of David having a son with the initials "J.H."

*Source: Page 1725, Volume VI of A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans by Will T. Hale and Dixon L. Merritt; Chicago and New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1913.

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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 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.

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Woodson A. Hastain, was the son of Daniel McCumskey and Anna (Green) Haston/Hastain.  A biographical entry for him, in the History of Henry County, MO, states that "It will thus be seen that the Hastains are of the purest and oldest American stock of undoubted colonial ancestry of English origin."  The reliability of the source, however, is called into question due to several known errors in the entry (dates of David & Margaret Haston's births, etc.).

Source:  Page 446 of History of Henry County, MO by Uel W. Lamkin; Historical Publishing Company, 1919.

3.  There were many English Hastings who settled in America in the colonial period.

The 1790 Federal Census recorded 136 heads of households with the Hastings surname.  Contrast that with two Haston households (one in Maine and the other in New York).  However, we must remember that the 1790 census did not include pioneers living in areas of America that were not yet states, such as Tennessee.  Seven of the Hasting households were in CT, eighty were in MA, two were in ME, twelve were in NC, twenty-one were in NH, one was in NY, five were in PA, one was in RI, and seven were in VT.  

One large family of Hastings descended from its progenitor, Thomas Hastings (about 1605-1685), who came from England to Watertown, MA in America in 1634.  The Thomas Hastings descendents probably account for most of the New England Hastings families, which was by far the majority of the Hastings in America in 1790.  The Thomas Hastings family was documented in a book published in 1866, The Hastings Memorial, A Genealogical Account of the Descendants of Thomas Hastings of Watertown, Mass. From 1634 to 1864 by Lydia Hastings Nelson.

Another family of Hastings trace their American roots to John & Mary Hastings who appeared in Henrico County, Virginia (Richmond area) in 1703.  John died in about 1719, and his known sons, John, George, and Henry extended his legacy, west of Richmond into Amelia County and Mecklenburg County.   The name "Hastin" was adopted by many of these descendents of John & Mary.  Some members of this Hastin/Hastins/Haisten/Hastings family moved down into various counties of North Carolina, Fayette County, Georgia, and later to other southern and western parts of the new country.  The classic historical and genealogical study on this family is Robert Wayne Haisten's Haisten: A 250-Year History of the Haisten Family (copyright 1983).  

The Henry Hastings family of Orange County, NC has often been connected to the Henrico-Amelia-Mecklenburg VA counties family.  In his book, Robert Wayne Haisten wrote "The Henry Hastings under discussion (son of George Hastings and grandson of immigrants John and Mary Hastings)...seems to have removed to Orange County, North Carolina."  However, in his January 31, 1985 updated addendum to the book, Mr. Haisten published a correction to this statement.  Apparently, there is evidence to suggest that the Henry Hastings of Orange County, NC was not connected to the VA family, but that he was first-generation to America, arriving from England through Maryland to Orange County, NC.  The Hastings families of south central Tennessee (such counties as Bedford & Franklin & Williamson & Marshall) are descendents of this NC Henry Hastings.  

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Note:  The will of Orange County, NC Henry Hastings was previously available on a Keener family website, but that site may not currently be active. The Keener site also stated that Hastings researcher Giles Hastings claimed Henry Hastings "to be the son of Theopholis Henry Hastings who was sent from England in 1715 to the North Carolina Colonies to aid the Colonists in the organization of the fight against the Indians."  The site also acknowledged the original claim of Robert Wayne Haisten's book that Henry Hastings was the son of George Hastings (of Amelia County, VA).

4.  One great grandson seems to have claimed that Daniel's wife was at the Rev War Battle of Bunker Hill.

A survey of known living Tennessee veterans of the Civil War was conducted by the state of Tennessee in two phases; form one was sent in 1914 and form two was sent in 1920.  Question nine of the second form asked the veterans to give remarks regarding their ancestry (ancestors' war service, country of origin, etc.).  One of Daniel Haston's descendents who responded to form two was S. S. (Samuel Shockley) Haston.  Among the statements concerning his other ancestors, he stated that his paternal grandparents were David Haston and Margret Roddy.  Then, just after this statement of his paternal grandparents, he says that "great paternal grandmother Ruthy (perhaps Ruth or Rutha, writing seems to have been unclear) Brown she was at ___ battle at Buncker [sic] hill and carred watter." (blank line indicates that the transcriber was unable to decipher his writing at this point)

Taken at face value, Samuel Shockley Haston was saying that David Haston's mother (Daniel's wife) was at the battle of Bunker Hill (outside of Boston, MA) and probably, although the handwriting wasn't readable, he was saying that she was at another Rev War battle.  Why did he not mention Daniel, particularly since he was a Rev War veteran?  In what sense was this female ancestor at the June 16, 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill?  Was she serving as a "camp follower," a "Molly Pitcher" type person for the battle effort?  

Note:  "Molly" was a slang term used to refer to female "camp followers" during the Revolutionary War.  They assisted with cooking, nursing, mending, washing clothes, etc.  They were often the wives of soldiers.  Their children, if they had them, also accompanied them.

Before we get too excited about the possible genealogical and historical significance of this quote, we need to remember that S. S. Haston was 78 years old when he responded to form two.  He may or may not have been able to think clearly at that time.  However, his other remarks seem to be quite lucid.  Also, we know that on his Shockley side of the family, he had a grandmother by the name of Ruth Young who was born in 1766 in NC and lived to be 101 years old.  She lived with her son Samuel Shockley until her death in 1867 and is buried in the Big Fork Cemetery in Van Buren, County.  Perhaps S. S. Haston was confused about her surname.  However, her date of birth would have meant that she (Ruth Young) was only ten years old at the time of the Bunker Hill battle in 1775.  Maybe Ruth Young's maiden name was Brown and she was just there as a little girl, because she had lived in the Boston area.  On the other hand an Isaac Brown was granted 100 acres near where Daniel lived on Cane Creek on September 26, 1808 and a William Brown purchased 267 acres adjacent to Daniel in White County, TN on August 22, 1811.  Would these men have been Daniel's in-laws?  Was Daniel's wife, Ruth Brown?

Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that Daniel was indeed married to a Ruth Brown who witnessed the battle of Bunker Hill in the summer of 1775.  That would make sense, perhaps, if Daniel was from the English Hastings family that lived in the Boston area.  We do know that there were several Hastings from that area that fought in the Rev War.  But how would he have ended up in the NC Continental army?  Perhaps Daniel and his wife moved southward, for some unknown reason, in the early years of the war (after Bunker Hill, which was really a pre-Rev War battle).  Or perhaps he joined the NC Continental army after they moved north to Valley Forge.  We do know that the NC Continental Army was offering land grant incentives for soldiers to enlist, and that those soldiers did not have to be natives of NC.

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Note:  It is interesting that he does not mention David and Margaret's country of origin, although he does mention that one of his grandfathers (Sam Schockley) was from Scotland and that his great grand father David Hoodenpile was from Holland.  Does this mean that he didn't know his European country of origin for the Haston side of his family?  

5. The descendents of NC Henry Hastings moved to middle TN about the same time that Daniel's family moved to White County.

According to the 1886 Goodspeed History of Tennessee (The Goodspeed History of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford, Marshall Counties of Tennessee),  Robert Hastings, Henry Hastings, and Stephen Hastings were among the earliest settlers in Bedford County, TN, which is in south central TN and approximately 50-60 miles from where Daniel's family settled in southern White County.  The county was formed in December of 1807 and Robert and Henry Hastings were there by 1808.  At least some of Daniel Haston's family moved from Knox County to what became White County prior to July 22, 1806.  Thus, the migrations of these two families to middle TN occurred at about the same time.  Perhaps they were related families and traveled together, with the Hastings going farther west.

The plot thickens when we read that Peggy Hastings, daughter of John T. Hastings of this same Henry Hastings family, married John Ault in Knox County, TN on November 22, 1809.  The marriage date of Peggy Hastings took place about two years after Daniel's family moved from Knox County.  If the John T. Hastings family lived in Knox County for two or more years prior to Peggy Hastings' wedding, they would have been there the same time that Daniel's family was there.

For years, some Daniel Haston researchers assumed that Peggy Hastings was a daughter of Daniel Haston.  However, the 1830 Franklin County, TN will of John T. Hastings clearly indicates that Peggy Haston was his daughter, not the daughter of Daniel Haston.

6.  Apparently, a member of this NC Hastings family lived next door to Isaac Haston in Greene County, MO in the mid 1800s.

According to the Isaac Haston timeline ("About 1824" entry), Daniel Haston family members have asserted that a James Hastings was born to Isaac and Agnes Simpson Haston.  The 1850 census records indicate that a James Hastings was living next door to Isaac Hastings at the time of the census.  The NC Hastings researchers state that this James Hastings was James Bell Hastings, son of John Holloway Hastings, son of John T. Hastings, son of Henry Hastings who moved from Orange County, NC to Bedford County, TN.  

It would certainly be an interesting connection between the Daniel Haston family and the NC Hastings family, if it is true that the James Hastings who lived next door to Isaac Hastings in Greene County, MO at the time of the 1850 census was a member of the Orange County, NC English Hastings family.  

One Hastings researcher has suggested (on the previous Keener website, see 40. John Holloway Hastings entry) that some of the daughters of John Holloway Hastings & Rachel Cannon Hastings (father & step mother of James Bell Hastings) may have moved to CA with Isaac Hastings family in 1857.  These would have been step sisters of the James Bell Hastings who lived next door to Isaac.  If this was true, it would suggest a "more than mere neighbors" connection between Isaac Haston/Hastings and the English Hastings families of NC.  No documentation is cited by this Hastings researcher.

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Notes:  
(1)  Please contact us if you have documentation to support the theory that this Greene County, MO neighbor of Isaac Haston was a member of the extended Orange County, NC Hastings family.
(2)  Some researchers have suggested that possibly Isaac Haston (thought to be Daniel Haston's son) was actually a member of the Orange County, NC Hastings family.  But DNA evidence has discredited that suggestion by connecting a descendant of Isaac Haston to the Swiss-German Hiestand family.

7.  Some of the Amelia County, VA Hastings moved to Warren County, NC where a "Daniel Haston" supposedly received a Revolutionary War land grant.

As Hastings people of Amelia County, VA began to migrate into NC, some of them settled in Warren County, NC, which was only 50 miles or so south of Amelia County, VA.  Warren County, was formed in 1779 from Bute County.  In that same year, the county seat of Warrenton was established.  

Warren County's northern border is the NC-VA line.  Thus, if Daniel Haston was a transplanted NC Hastings who  lived in Warren (old Bute) County, NC, it would be easy to understand how his son David could have been born in VA in 1777 while he (Daniel) was a Rev War soldier in the NC Continental Army.

Where did Daniel go to receive his military bounty land grant on September 29, 1785?  He went to Warrenton, NC (county seat of Warren County).  The grant was issued by "Colonel" William Faircloth, who was a lieutenant under Colonel Abram Shepard in the 10th regiment of the NC Continental Army.  We have no record of the particular regiment in which Daniel served, but there is evidence that a Oliver Hastin (conjectured by some to be a cousin, if not a brother, of Daniel Haston) served under William Faircloth.  Oliver Hastin (entry 1836, web version says "Hostin" but print version* says "Hastin") was granted back pay through William Faircloth in 1786 in Warrenton.  

Do these Warrenton connections mean that Daniel Haston was from the Hastings family of north central NC that migrated there from Amelia County, VA?  If so, then he was almost certainly of English stock.

*Source:  NC Revolutionary Army Accounts, Volume III, Book C, page 319.
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Note:  William Faircloth was later found guilty of payroll fraud that was perpetrated out of the Warrenton, NC office in 1786.  The Oliver Hastin payment record was one of the many suspicious payroll entries that led to Faircloth's  imprisonment.  Investigators, in this case, concluded that Oliver Hastin never appeared on a muster roll. Thus, they could find no evidence of his Rev War service.  However, some regiments were very sloppy in their record keeping (the 10th NC regiment records were known to be in that category) and some muster rolls were destroyed (on purpose by officers to avoid the hassle of vouching for soldiers or, undoubtedly in many cases, by various unintentional causes).  So, absence from muster rolls does not necessarily mean that a soldier did not enlist and serve in the war.  There is also a record of Oliver Hastin's heirs receiving a 640 acres military bounty land grant (warrant # 3008) on September 30, 1785 (day after Daniel received his, but delivered through Thomas Butcher, not William Faircloth)*.  Oliver's land grant was not mentioned in the Glasgow Land Fraud Case (different fraud case from the Warrenton, NC pay fraud case), which probably means that it passed the scrutiny of investigators...meaning that they found evidence that he mustered and met the other standards for receiving a land grant.  What happened to Oliver Hastin?  Did he die in the war?  Who was he?

*Source:  NC Revolutionary Army Accounts, Part XV, page 2077.  

8.  One professional researcher has suggested that Daniel Haston may have been from an English-rooted NC Aston family.

In addition to the possibility of an English ancestry for Daniel Haston through the VA and/or NC Hastings, some researchers have thought that perhaps Daniel's surname was "Aston," which is also an English family.  One Haston researcher hired an attorney from Raleigh, NC to investigate the possibility that Daniel Haston's surname was "Aston" and that he was from Dobbs County (now Greene County), NC.  The assumption was based largely upon the fact that Rev War Lt. William Faircloth, who granted Daniel's military bounty land grant, was from that county, as was Col. Abram Shepard who was commander of the 10th regiment of the NC Continental Line.  

Here are some comments from the report that Attorney Charles R. Holloman made to his clients:

• "I believe you are correct in surmising that Daniel Haston returned from Revolutionary War services to   Dobbs County.  I believe (but have not, as yet, found proof) that he was a son or other close relative of one John Oston..."  (Oston was a variant spelling of Aston, he later explains.)

• "You mention Captain (he was actually a Lieutenant during the war) William Faircloth and his have obliged [sic] Daniel Hasten by receiving and bringing home for Daniel a military land warrant..."

• "I am very familiar with the community where Captain William Faircloth lived on his plantation..."

• "...from the 1769 poll tax list you will see on it William Faircloth and son William Faircloth as poll taxables.  Also, on the tax list is John Aston."

• "I long ago...found that John Aston resided about 2 miles west of the Faircloth Plantation, at the place now called Lindell."

• Notation by Attorney Holloman written beside the John Oston on the 1769 tax list:  "Probably Haston with the H silent."  "I suggest that Haston derives from Aston, a prominent Colonial Virginia family."  

• Another notation on the same page of the tax list:  "The first syllable has to be accented.  The vowel in second syllable is weak (use any vowel).  Aston was usually pronounced "AHAH-st'n" in Virginia.  In early Carolina it would easily come to be spelled OST'N to force choice of the Virginia pronunciation.  Likewise, some families of the name would spell it HAST'N to force the first syllable to be pronounced as a "HAS."  The apostrophe means to use any vowel."

Source:  July 9, 1990 letter from Attorney Charles R. Holloman of Raleigh, NC to some (unknown to us) Haston researcher. 

Just for the interesting "for what it's worth" department, it should be noted that some segments of the English Aston family lived in Amelia County, VA and the surrounding area.

It is relatively easy for advocates of the Scots-Irish view to brush the William Carroll Haston aside by saying that, perhaps, he spoke Gaelic, which had harsh Germanic-sounds.  Advocates of the English view have a more difficult time explaining the idea that a man whose ancestors were from English could scarcely speak the language of his mother country.  

2.  There is no specific connection to any documented English family that seems to be very plausible.

There are several pieces of circumstantial evidence, as stated above, that might possibly point to an English ancestry for Daniel.  However, there are no highly promising leads, at this stage in the family's genealogical research.  We might pass that off to the lack of emphasis given to the English view by Daniel Haston researchers.  On the other hand, researchers for the Hastings families of MA and NC have been quite diligent in their family studies for a long time and, to our knowledge, none of them has discovered a lead that would suggest that Daniel Haston was a member of their families (as contrasted with Hiestand family of the German-Dutch view).