Pumpkintown & The Oolenoy Valley

Samuel Edens and Rebecca Chastain are my 4th Great Grandparents. Samuel was born in Virginia in 1777, and is credited as one of the early settlers of the Oolenoy Valley of South Carolina which includes Pumpkintown. Rebecca is the Great Granddaughter of Pierre “Peter” Chastain my 7th Great Grandfather.

Samuel and Rebecca Edens raised 5 children. Margaret “Polly” Edens wife of Jesse Adams, William Elford “Dr. Bill” Edens who married Mary McClure, Mary Ester Edens (my 3rd Great grandmother) the wife of Pascal Sutherland, Malinda Edens who married Rev. Tyre Lewis Roper the longest serving minister of the Oolenoy Baptist Church, and Alexander L. Edens who married Margaret Keith the Great Granddaughter of Cornelius Keith.

Dr. Pierre “Peter” Chastain was born in 1659 in a village near Charost, France. He along with his wife Susanne Renaud, and their five children fled France to Switzerland in 1696 to escape severe religious persecution. From Switzerland they went to Holland then on to England where with a group of French Huguenots they boarded a ship for America.

On July 12th 1700 after a voyage of almost three months the London ship Mary and Ann landed near the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. Peter and his family did not stop there, they continued on and settled in an area that came to be known as Manakin Town, in the Goochland County, Virginia area. Peter was a Medical Doctor, Farmer, and also served as one of the original 12 vestrymen of the Manakin Town Anglican Church which was founded in 1701 and still exists today.

Manakin Town Anglican Church of 1895

Susanne and three of the Chastain children died that first winter mostly due to the fact that they arrived and settled here so late in the year that they did not have time to grow substantial crops to supply food for the harsh winter.

Peter married Anne Brian Soblet (my 7th Great Grandmother) and to this marriage my 6th Great Grandfather Peter Chastain Jr. was born beginning a long line of Chastains that came to settle in the Pendleton District of South Carolina.

Late in the year of 1728 Dr. Pierre “Peter” Chastain Sr. died in Manakin Town, Goochland County, Virginia. He was survived by three sons and four daughters.His Tombstone Picture tells the story of his immigration to America.

Peter Chastain Jr’s son John Chastain Sr. was one of the founders and also the first minister of the Oolenoy Baptist Church in present day Pickens County, South Carolina just south of the Pumpkintown Community, his communion table and pulpit from the Oolenoy Baptist Church still exist today. It is said that John's preaching voice was so loud and clear that he was given the nickname of “Ten Shilling Bell”.

Oolenoy Baptist Church and the Oolenoy Baptist Church Cemetery

John married Mary O’Bryan from Ireland, around 1763 and raised eleven children with her. Mary died in 1795 and John in 1805 they are both buried in the Chastain Family Cemetery in Pickens County, South Carolina.

Cornelius Keith was born in Loch Lamond Scotland in 1715 and is credited in the story of being the Scotchman who traded a pony to Cherokee Chief Woolenoy for land which is now the Oolenoy Valley and all fishing and hunting rights in the area. The W was dropped from the Chiefs name to create the name Oolenoy. A Historical marker in Pumpkintown, SC gives credit to the naming of the town to an anonymous traveler awed by the site of the Oolenoy Valley covered with Huge yellow Pumpkins, The marker also states many tourists who visited nearby Table Rock Mountain often stayed at (my 4th great grand uncle) William Sutherland's inn at Pumpkintown. Another story gives credit to a group of men sitting around arguing over what to call the town when one jumped up and said “Quit arguing and just call her Punkintown” and the name stuck. Either way Pumpkintown, SC was established before 1800 and is still going strong.

Driving in to Pumpkintown and up the road The Pumpkintown Opry on Hwy 11