The Story of the Daniel Haston Family

Description

In this book, I tell a story–a historically true story–about a Swiss Hiestand (later, “Haston”) family’s roots in Europe, beginning near the end of the Middle Ages–1401, specifically.  The story continues as I describe some of the dreadful experiences they were forced to endure in Canton Zürich, Switzerland, and on the Rhineland of Southwest Germany because of their evangelical Christian (Anabaptist/Mennonite) faith.  I explain the route and means that brought Henrich Hiestand, our immigrant ancestor (earliest-to-America ancestor), to America.  However, the most extensive part of the story focuses on how our American forefathers moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia, from Virginia to Tennessee and Kentucky, and from there, all across the United States.

Chapters 10-31 tell the story of Henrich Hiestand’s youngest son, Daniel, who moved in 1783 to the western wilderness of North Carolina (later, Upper East Tennessee).  Daniel and his family spent about 10 years in Upper East Tennessee and another 10 years or so in Knox County (where “Hiestand” morphed into “Haston”).  The Daniel Haston family lived “south of the Holston River, opposite Knoxville” when Tennessee gained statehood on June 1, 1796.  In about late 1803 or early 1804, the Hastons moved over the Cumberland Plateau and settled on the Big Spring Branch, near the mouth of Cane Creek as it flowed into the Caney Fork River.  Then and there, they were “squatters” on Cherokee Indian land.  Daniel was one of the signers of the 1806 petition to establish White County, Tennessee.  He and his family were TRUE true American pioneers.

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