A couple of weeks ago, my wife, Jane, and I had an unusual experience — one that we are still talking about.

The national Pierre Chastain Family Association was holding its annual reunion in Greenville and found me online. I was asked if I would come speak to the group and take them on a tour of sites in the Table Rock area related to the Chastain family. I agreed to do that, and I put together a slideshow presentation on our family history in this area.

These folks had come from all across the country and shared exactly one thing in common: They were all descendants of one man — Pierre Chastain, an early immigrant to this country, who landed at the mouth of the James River in Virginia in 1700.

I am also a descendant of Pierre Chastain. Specifically, I am descended from one of his grand

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