Colonel Howard H. Hasting, Sr.
1950s-80s Daniel Haston Family Researcher
A Daniel Haston History Hall of Famer
Howard H. Hasting, Sr.
March 23, 1905-April 1, 2003
Oldest of six children. Graduate of the United States Military Academy, West Point in 1928. Separated from the armed service in 1931, he practiced law in Arkansas until he was recalled to duty after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He served in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps during the war, stationed at West Point. Served as the chief assistant to the American Judge for the War Crimes Tribunal for the Far East after the war.
I began my Haston family research in the fall of 1999 by “standing on the shoulders” of many men and women who had preceded me in researching the Daniel Haston and related families. A few of them I was fortunate to get to know and correspond with. Some are still living and active, to varying degrees. But many more had passed away or were late stages of failing health by the time I became active as a student of our family’s history.
I want you to know about some of these men and women who did so much to keep our family’s history alive and pave the way for the rest of us.
Howard H. Hasting descended from Daniel Haston through Daniel’s son Joseph: Joseph>Isaac (son of Joseph)>James Thomas>Isaac Thomas>James Isaac>Howard Hillman Hasting, Sr. You can read about this family line in Colonel Hasting’s family report. Howard’s father and other family members moved to Yell County, Arkansas in about 1880, where they (as a family group) changed their “Haston” name to “Hasting.”
Mr. Hasting conducted extensive research back in the day when there was no internet, no email, no cell phones, no personal computers, no interstate highways, no “Xerox” machines, and long distance phone calls were expensive. He traveled to Arkansas, Missouri, and even to Van Buren County, Tennessee in the summer of 1951, to visit cemeteries, old Haston homesites, and to talk to old-timers in or related to the Daniel Haston family. He corresponded with Haston family members in various parts of the country. He conducted research in small town courthouses and libraries, as well as the Library of Congress. i
True to his profession as an attorney, he was concerned about accuracy in his research, even though later research has revealed some errors in his work–which is the case for all family researchers.
In about 2002, I located a phone number for Howard H. Hasting, Sr. in San Antonio, TX and decided to give him a call. He answered and we talked briefly. He apparently had dementia at the time and only vaguely recalled some of the Haston names I mentioned. But, at least, I was able to speak with him. A few years after Mr. Hasting passed away, I was on a business trip in San Antonio and had the privilege of eating dinner with his son (Howard, Jr.) and his son’s wife. Howard, Jr. told me about his experiences as a genealogist’s son–more trips to courthouses and libraries than he wanted to remember.
Please inform me of other earlier, now-deceased, Daniel Haston family researchers who should be honored with a tribute.
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