Possible Daughters of Daniel Haston - by Howard H. Hasting, Sr.

POLLY HASTINGS OF KNOX COUNTY, TENNESSEE

POLLY HASTINGS ( ) married on 4 Sept. 1805 in Knox County, Tennessee, to James Milliken. We know nothing more of her.

Editorial Note: In earlier years, Polly was a common nickname for Mary. There were two women with the name "(Mary) Polly Hastings" in TN at about the same time.

One was the daughter of John T. Hastings, who was born in Buncombe County, NC and later moved to middle TN. This "Polly" married Thomas Thomas and was mentioned in her father's 1830 Franklin County, TN will as "daughter." Her sister, Peggy Hastings who married John Ault, was also mentioned in this will (see will transcription in the John T. Hastings section of this Hastings family page). Note: This Peggy Hastings was the sister of John Holloway Hastings who lived in an adjacent section to Isaac Haston/Hastings in Greene Co, MO in the mid 1850s.

According to Knox County, TN marriage records, the other (Mary) "Polly" Hastings married James Milliken in Knox County on September 4, 1805. They were buried in the Ridge Cemetery in Shelby County, Illinois. The tombstone markings were transcribed and can be found in Inscriptions of Shelby County, IL Cemeteries, Volume III, as recorded 1971-1972 by Edward H. Boedecker (published January 1973). This volume can be found at the Shelby County (Illinois) Historical Society.

Debbie Clark visited this cemetery on February 10, 1999. At that time, Mary's stone had fallen flat on the ground but was still readable. Mary's stone read:

Mary wife of James Miliken
Died Jan. 20, 1849
Aged 67 yrs

James' stone was unreadable in 1999 and had been broken. But according to the Boedecker 1971-1972 transcription, his stone once read:

James Miliken
Died Sept. 20, 1836
Aged 45 yrs

These inscriptions put Mary's birth year at 1782 and James' birth year at 1791. According to Mary E. Fouts, a petition from the May 1849 term of the Shelby County, IL Court referred to the time of James' death as having been in "the month of May, 1830."

We have no documents that link this Mary "Polly" Milliken with the Daniel Haston / Hastings family. However, the time (September 4, 1804) and place (Knox County, TN) of her marriage to James Milliken do seem to indicate that they may have been in the same county in east TN at the same time. Daniel was known to have been in Knox County as late as October 7, 1801. Perhaps he was there for a few more years, because July 22, 1806 is the earliest that we know that he was in White County. We have no documentation to specify the exact year that Daniel left Knox County, however we do know that Daniel's son David remained in Knox County until late in 1806 or early 1807 (later than his father, Daniel).

Also, a letter* remaining in the Knoxville Post Office for John Millikin was sent to him in "care of Samuel Cowen" (Cowan). This Samuel Cowan was the man who sued Joseph Haston in the 1800-1802 Knox County, TN "timothy lot" case. Samuel Cowan owned land adjacent to the land that Daniel Haston was renting from John and Jane Wood in the period around 1800. Perhaps John Millikin lived on the Cowan land (which would explain why a letter was addressed to him in care of Samuel Cowan) adjacent to Daniel Haston and perhaps Mary "Polly" Hastings was the the daughter of Daniel Haston (Hastings) and she married the son of neighbor John Millikin (Milliken), who was James Milliken.
*Source: November 14 & 21, 1796 issues of the Knoxville (TN) Gazette.

Some researchers believe that this Polly Hastings Milliken was the daughter of Henry C. Hastings of Orange County, NC, John T. Hastings' brother. But, this Henry C. Hastings married Mary Cates in Orange County, NC on February 15, 1790. This was eight years after (Mary) "Polly's" birth. Also, there is no proof that Henry C. Hastings ever lived in east TN. He was on the Orange County, NC census (as per Ancestry.com) for the years 1800 and 1810. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Bedford County in middle TN.

There was a James Milligan on the 1820 census of Bedford County, TN, but he was over 45 and Polly's husband was 35 at the time. (According to a Deane Porch transcript of the Bedford Co, TN 1820 census, the census numbers for this James Milligan household were: 110002-20110.)

PEGGY HASTINGS OF KNOX COUNTY, TENNESSEE

PEGGY HASTINGS ( ) married on 22 Nov. 1809 to John Ault. We know nothing more of her.

Editorial Note: Peggy Ault is mentioned as a daughter of John T. Hastings, in his 1830 Franklin County, TN will. This family had roots in Orange and Buncombe counties of NC. She was the sister of John Holloway Hastings who lived in an adjacent section to Isaac Haston/Hastings in Greene County, MO in the mid-1800s.

CAROLINE HASTON OF WHITE COUNTY, TENNESSEE

CAROLINE HASTON ( ) married in 1817 in White County, Tennessee to John Austin. We know nothing more of her.

Editorial Note: Where did Mr. Howard H. Hasting, Sr. get the name "Caroline" as one of Daniel Haston's daughters? A September 4, 1978 letter from Dave R. Haston of Sparta, TN may have been his source. Dave Haston's letter says "a Caroline Haston married John Austin, Sr., in 1817/19 here in White Co. Since there were no other Hastons here, that we can find records of, we are assigning her to Daniel Haston."

The (second) wife of John Austin, Sr. was "Catherine," according to her tombstone in the Lost Creek Austin Cemetery. Also, a published (in 1887) biographical sketch of her son, Pleasant Austin, states that his parents were John and Catherine (Haston) Austin.

Perhaps Mr. Dave Haston's comment to Mr. Howard H. Hasting, Sr. was written spontaneously and he simply plucked the name "Caroline" from his memory, instead of "Catherine."

Editorial Note: There are other possible daughters of Daniel Haston, not mentioned in Howard H. Hasting, Sr.'s research nor mentioned in other research records of Haston family researchers.

The Danl Heaston who appeared on the 1775 Dunmore County, VA census had two daughters (apparently) who were born before November 1775. If this was the same man as the White County, TN "Daniel Haston" then there were at least two sisters in Daniel Haston's family who were older than David Haston, the oldest known son of Daniel.

It is possible that the "Elizabeth Haston / Houston / Haiston" who married James Roddy in Washington County, NC (now TN) on December 21, 1793 was Daniel's daughter. In January of 1800, Daniel Haston and Elizabeth Roddy were administrators, in Knox County, TN, for the estate of James Roddy. It appears that she may have married again to James Cox in Knox County, TN on April 9, 1801.

In the early 1800s, a Jacob Mitchell lived adjacent to Daniel Haston on the Big Spring Branch that flowed into Cane Creek on the south side of the Caney Fork River in what was then White County, TN. One Mitchell family record (that we have not seen) is said to indicate that this Jacob Mitchell was married to a Lucinda Hastings. This circumstantial evidence would suggest that Lucinda Hastings Mitchell was a daughter of Daniel Haston.

Mildred Mobley Warren (Mrs. R.E. Warren of Smackover, Arkansas) wrote a 1957 letter to White Co, TN researcher Mary (Mrs. B.K) Mitchell, "searching for the marriage record of Thomas Jefferson Johnson and Elizabeth Hastings or Hastins abt 1805 or 1806, White County." The Daniel Haston (often spelled Hastings or Hastin) family was probably the only family with a surname such as that in the the "White County area" at that time. Was this "Elizabeth Hastings/Hastings" a daughter of Daniel Haston? (Source: Frame # 002014 of TSLA microfilm AC # 1421-3, Charles Leonard Papers)