Genealogical Memoir of the Chase Family

by George Bigelow Chase and Horatio Gates Somerby

A

 

GENEALOGICAL MEMOIR

 

OF THE

 

CHASE FAMILY OF CHESHAM, BUCKS,

 

IN ENGLAND,

 

AND OF HAMPTON AND NEWBURY

 

IN NEW ENGLAND,

 

WITH NOTICES OF SOME OF THEIR DESCENDANTS.

 

by

 

GEORGE B. CHASE.

 

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REPRINTED FROM THE HERALDIC JOURNAL.

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BOSTON:
H. W. DUTTON & SON.
1869.

NOTE

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The following brief memoir of the Chase Family was written for the Heraldic Magazine, at the request of the Editor, and is found in the number for October, 1868.

At the request of several of the descendants of the family living in New England, it is now reprinted. It was not the writer's intention to prepare at this time any extended account, from the materials at his command, of the history of the family in England or America. The present memoir embraces all of general interest to the descendants of the founders of Hampton and Newbury. It gives the pedigree of the family in several branches from the early part of the sixteenth century to the present time, and the arms which, in accordance with the rules of Heraldry, the lineal descendants of Thomas and Aquila Chase have the right to claim.

Boston, February 1, 1869.

THE CHASE FAMILY.

From investigations made by H. G. Somerby, esq., and the papers of the late Theodore Chase, esq.

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An old story, and one often, though never wholly told, is that which at one time called "Lord Townley's Estate," at another the "Chase Inheritance," ran through our New England press about twenty years since, setting forth with much apparent precision the conditions under which vast landed estates with centuries of accumulated rental awaited the decision of the English Chancery Courts in favor of the lawful heirs of Aquila and Thomas Chase, brothers, who settled in New England soon after the landing of the Pilgrims.

Into the history of this delusion we have not the space, nor is the place to enter, although on some accounts desirable, as there are many respectable people in Massachusetts, shrewd and cautious otherwise in all their dealings, who still declare that there is "something in it," and who,—while unable to tell even the names of their grandfathers,—are, or till quite recently were, ready to subscribe money to test the claims of ancestors from whom they cannot and never have undertaken to prove descent. The late Mr. Theodore Chase, of Boston, as the possessor by inheritance of some of the family papers of Aquila Chase, who was one of the first settlers and grantees of Hampton, in 1639 or 1640, was often applied to by persons of the name when the periodic excitement relative to these fancied claims arose. Yet, while he possessed and carefully preserved many records and papers relating to each generation of his family in this country, proving his descent from Aquila of Hampton, he had never himself Instituted any search for traces of his family in England, and was unable to give any information beyond the simple but essential fact,—which, wearied at last by the calls for information that were made upon. him, he caused Messrs. Baring Brothers & Co. to obtain from their legal advisers,—that there were no estates awaiting heirs of the names of Chase or Townley in Chancery at all.

A short time after his death in 1859, the story was revived and inquiries were made of Mr. George B. Chase, by several respectable people of Essex County, who had agreed to raise funds for a new investigation in England;— a scheme, however, which fell at once to the ground on their learning from him that their first course, even if they believed in the existence of the Estates in Chancery, was to find out the names and dates of birth of their grandfathers, of which, all but one of their number were ignorant.

In 1861, Mr Theodore Chase's voluminous Collection of papers were submitted to Mr. Somerby for classification and to enable him to take full notes for investigations to be pursued by him on his return to England in the spring of that year. Mr. Somerby's investigations, which were very diligent and thorough, and which led him among the records of every county in England, continued at intervals for some years, until he had noted the names and dates of birth of all of the name of Chase during the latter half of the sixteenth and early part of the seventeenth centuries. From them we extract the following pedigrees, and the facts relating to them.

In the Herald's Visitation of Buckinghamshire in 1634, the Coat engraved at the head of this article is found, with the note, "This coate is testified by a letter from Mr. Robert Calvert, dated at Whitehall, July 18, 1634," together with a pedigree entered by Matthew Chase, which we copy, as follows:—

Thomas Chase of Chesham,

John Chase of Chesham,

Matthew Chase of Chesham, eldest son, now living.

Elizabeth, dau. of Richard Bould.

Ralph Chase of Great Marlow.

Richard Chase

Mary, dau. of —— Roberts of Welsden in Middlesex.

Francis, John, Matthew, Thomas.

Ralph, William, Bridget.

Richard.

As Aquila Chase was supposed to have come from Cornwall, no importance had ever been attached to this pedigree by the American genealogists, and Mr. Somerby, influenced by the traditions that Aquila and Thomas Chase were mariners, had searched in vain for some months the records of Cornwall, Hampshire, Kent, and other sea-coast Counties, for traces or indications of the emigrant's family. Cornwall, especially, had been most diligently searched, as Mr. Coffin, in his "History of Newbury" had stated that Aquila Chase was from that County. Although Mr. Coffin had, upon inquiry, stated to Mr. Somerby, as he had also done to the writer, that this statement rested merely upon tradition, it led at the outset to the most thorough investigation of that County's registers.

Turning at last to the interior, and recurring to the above pedigree, Mr. Somerby visited Chesham to examine its parish register, which from the time of 1538 he found complete to the present day, with the exception of baptisms in the reign of Queen Mary. From the larger pedigree made by him from this register we give the following extract, which shows the births of two brothers, Aquila and Thomas Chase, towards the end of the sixteenth century.

Thomas¹ Chase, of Hundrich, in the Parish of Chesham.

John² Chase, of Hundrich, bap. Nov. 30, 1540.

Richard Chase², of Chesham, bap. Aug. 3, 1542.

Agnes,² bap. Jan. 9, 1551.

William,² born in reign of Queen Mary.

Christian,²⁠"⁠"⁠"⁠"

Richard² Chase of Chesham m. Joan Bishop, April 16, 1564. Their children were

Robert,³ bap. Sept. 2, 1565.

Henry,³⁠"⁠Aug. 10, 1567.

Lydia,³⁠"⁠Oct. 4, 1573.

Ezekiel,³ bap. April 23, 1576.

Dorcas,³⁠"⁠March 2, 1578.

Aquila,³ " Aug. 14, 1580,

Jason,³ " Jan. 13, 1583.

Thomas,³ " July 18, 1585.

Abigail,³ " Jan. 12, 1588,

Mordecai,³ " July 31, 1591.

The discovery of the unique name of Aquila, found no where else in England, before or since, In any records of families bearing the name of Chase, was deemed conclusive proof by Mr. Somerby, as it has been since by other distinguished antiquarians, of the identity of the American with the English families. The date of birth coincided with another tradition lingering in some branches of the American family, that Aquila Chase, of Newbury, had called his first son, but the fifth child that was born to him, after his father's name as well as his own, "that Aquila the first was Aquila the second, too." The register at Chesham contains no other mention of Aquila, Thomas and Mordecai than the record of their births. Of the seven remaining children of Richard Chase, their marriages or deaths, in some cases both, are recorded. This shows that the three younger sons left Chesham, and lived and died elsewhere.

Aquila³ Chase married,—— ^[1] and had

Thomas.⁴

Aquila,⁴ b. 1618.

It is probable that Thomas⁴ and Aquila⁴ acquired a knowledge of navigation in the employ of Thomas Chase. who in 1626 was part owner of the "John & Francis," and is named in a warrant of letter of marque issued in that year for that vessel, according to the Records of the State Paper Office.

We now come to New England, and give herewith the

AMERICAN GENEALOGY.

Thomas⁴ Chase, one of the original settlers of Hampton, was in New England as early as 1636. In 1639. he was, together with his brother Aquila,⁴ afterwards of Newbury, one of the original settlers of Hampton, where he died in 1653. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Philbrick. His children were

—I. Thomas,⁵ born 1643. In 1670 he had a grant of land of 100 acres in Hampton, and was chosen selectman in 1695. He died October 28, 1714, unmarried.

11. Joseph,⁵ born in 1645, was also of Hampton. He was taken prisoner at Dover, in the assault on Major Waldron's house, 27th of June, 1689. He married, Dec. 31, 1671, Rachel, daughter of William Partridge, of Salisbury. He died January 12, 1718.

III. Isaac⁵ born in 1647. He was sometime of Hampton, but removed to Edgartown, where he died May 9, 1727. He married Mary, daughter of Isaac Perkins, of Hampton.

IV. James,⁵ born in 1649. He married September 2, 1675, Elizabeth Greene.

V. Abraham,⁵ born August 6, 1652. He "was slaine in y^e warres" In 1676, and his estate was divided among his brothers.

Aquila⁴ Chase, of Newbury, was one of the first settlers or grantees of Hampton, 1639 or 40. He married Anne, daughter of John Wheeler. About the year 1646 he removed to Newbury, and received several grants of land there. He made frequent voyages from Newbury as master. He made his will on the 19th of September, 1670, and died on the 27th of December following. His children were

I. Sarah.⁵
II. Anne,⁵ b. July 6, 1647.
III. Priscilla,⁵ b. March 14, 1649.
IV. Mary,⁵ b. February 3, 1651.
V. Aquila,⁵ b. September 6, 1652.
VI. Thomas,⁵ b. July 25, 1654.
VII. John,⁵ b. November 2, 1655.
VIII. Elizabeth,⁵ b. September 13, 1657.
IX. Euth,⁵ b. March 18, 1660.
X. Daniel,⁵ b. December 9, 1661.
XI. Moses,⁵ b, December 24, 1663.

Of these children we propose to notice Aquila,⁵ Thomas⁵ and Moses,⁵ and some of their descendants.

Aquila⁵ Chase, of Newbury, a Sergeant in the Essex Regiment, was born September 26, 1652, and died July 29, 1720. He married Esther, daughter of John Bond of Newbury. His children were

Esther,⁶ b. January 15, 1674.
Joseph,⁶ b. March 25, 1677.
Priscilla,⁶ b. October 15. 1681.
Jemima.⁶
Rebecca.⁶

Anne.⁶
Hannah.⁶
Abigail.⁶
Benjamin.⁶

Joseph⁶ Chase, of Newbury, was born March 25, 1677. About the year 1726, he sold his extensive estates in Newbury, and removed to Littleton, Mass. He is usually styled Planter. He married November 8, 1699, Abigail Thurston. His children were

Nathan,⁷ b. August 2, 1701.,
George,⁷ b. February 17, 1703.
Stephen,⁷ b. October 26, 1705.
Anne,⁷ b. February 11, 1707.
Abigail,⁷ b. March 27, 1709.
Hannah,⁷ b. February 25, 1711.
Rebecca,⁷ b. November 16, 1714.
Benjamin,⁷ b. June 21, 1717.
Joseph,⁷ b. December 8, 1719.

His son, the Reverend Stephen Chase, was graduated at Harvard College in 1728, and was ordained at Lynn, now Lynnfield, November 24, 1731. He was resettled over the Parish at Newcastle, December 6, 1750, where he died January, 1778. He was distinguished for great scholastic attainments, and enjoyed the repute of a profound theologian. He married in 1732, Jane, daughter of Colonel Joshua Wingate, of Hampton, who, as Captain Wingate, commanded a company at the siege of Louisburg, and died at Hampton in 1769, having filled many offices of trust in the County and Province. The children of Reverend Stephen Chase were

I. Abraham,⁸ b. March 25, 1734, d. same day.

 
II. Stephen,⁸ b. Feb. 22, 1735; d. Dec. 1, 1739.
III. Joshua,⁸ b. March, 1738.
IV. Jane,⁸ b. January 7, 1740.
V. Stephen⁸ b. June 22, 1742.
VI. Mary,⁸ b. October 19, 1744.
VII. John Wingate,⁸ b. August 14, 1749.

Stephen⁸ Chase, Merchant, of Portsmouth, was graduated at Harvard College in 1764. In 1778 he removed from Newcastle to Portsmouth, where he died in 1805. He was a gentleman of much literary culture, and was one of the founders of the Portsmouth Athenæum, for which he drew up the Constitution and By-Laws. He married Mary, daughter of Joseph Frost, Esquire, of Newcastle, and grand-daughter of the Honorable John Frost, who was born at Kittery, March 1, 1683, and who in early life, as an officer in the Royal Navy, commanded a British ship of war, and was of the Governor's Council in 1727. He married Mary, daughter of "William, and sister of the first Sir William Pepperrell, Baronet. The mother of Mary (Frost) Chase was Margaret, daughter of Samuel Colton of Springfield.

The children of Stephen⁸ Chase, of Portsmouth, were

I. Joseph,⁹ b. April 22, 1772, m. Margaret Chesley, of Durham.
II. William,⁹ b. Feb. 10, 1774, a merchant of Portsmouth m. Sarah Blunt, of Portsmouth; died, s. p., Aug. 30, 1834.
III. Mary,⁹ b. Nov. 15, 1776, m. Edmund Toppan, Esq., of Portsmouth.
IV. Harriet,⁹ b. Aug. 14, 1778, m. Oliver Crosby, Esq., of Dover, N. H.

V. Sarah,⁹ b. Oct. 23, 1780, m. J. H. Woodman, Esq., of Rochester, N. H.
VI. Theodore,⁹ b. March 16, 1786, was fitted for Harvard College at Exeter Academy, under Dr. Abbott, from 1796 to 1800, but did not enter as candidate, as the condition of his father's health necessitated his return to Portsmouth. He became a large ship-owner, and in 1831 removed to Boston, where he died March 13, 1859. He married April 26, 1831, Clarissa Andrews, daughter of Tyler Bigelow, Esq., of Watertown. Their children were

I. Theodore,¹⁰ born February 4, 1832, a graduate of Harvard College in 1853; married, November 17, 1868, Alice Bowdoin, daughter of James Bowdoin Bradlee, Esq., of Boston.
II. George¹⁰ Bigelow, born October 1, 1835.
III. Charles¹⁰ Henry, b. March 5, 1841, d. February 27, 1849.

George¹⁰ Bigelow Chase, of Boston, a graduate of Harvard College in 1856, married January 10, 1860, Anne, daughter of Rawlins and Gertrude (Livingston) Lowndes, of South Carolina. Their children are

I. Stephen,¹¹ born January 30, 1863.
II. Gertrude¹² Lowndes, born October 23, 1868.

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Thomas⁵ Chase, of Newbury, married Rebecca, daughter of Thomas Follansby, and had Thomas⁶ Chase, of Newbury, born September 15, 1680, who married Sarah ———. Their children were Thomas,⁷ Abel,⁷ Jonathan,⁷ Roger,⁷ Sarah,⁷ Ezekiel,⁷ Josiah,⁷ Abigail,⁷ Martha.⁷ His son Josiah⁷ Chase was born November 30, 1713, graduated at Harvard College in 1738, and ordained as the first minister over Spruce Creek Parish, Kittery, September 19, 1750. He m. 5 April, 1743, Sarah Tufts and had four children. He was drowned 17 Dec, 1778, by falling into Spruce Creek. See Reg., X., 45.

To return to the youngest child of Aquila⁴ Chase and Anne Wheeler,—Moses⁵ Chase, of Newbury, an Ensign in the Essex Regiment, married Anne, daughter of Thomas Follansby. His children were

⁠Moses⁶ and Daniel,⁶ twins, born Sept. 20, 1685.
⁠Moses,⁶ b. with Daniel, b. Sept. 20, 1685, d. young.
⁠Daniel,⁶ b. with Moses, " " " "
⁠Moses,⁶ b. January 20, 1688.
⁠Samuel,⁶ b. May 13, 1690.
⁠Elizabeth,⁶ b. September 25, 1693.
⁠Stephen,⁶ b. August 29, 1696.
⁠Hannah,⁶ b. September 13, 1699.
⁠Joseph,⁶ b. September 9, 1703.
⁠Benoni,⁶ b. April 5, 1708.

Daniel⁶ Chase removed to Littleton, once a part of Groton, in 1725, together with his family. Soon after he again removed to Sutton, where he died April, 1768. He married January 6, 1706, Sarah March, and had

⁠Samuel,⁷ b. September 28, 1707.
⁠Daniel,⁷ b. September 18, 1709.
⁠Anne,⁷ Joshua,⁷ Judith,⁷ Nehemiah,⁷
⁠Sarah,⁷ Caleb,⁷ Moody,⁷ Moses.⁷

Samuel⁷ Chase married Mary Dudley, and removed with his family to Cornish, N. H., on the Connecticut River, of which place he was one of the founders. He died August 12, 1800. His children were

Samuel,⁸ Jonathan,⁸ Dudley,⁸ b. 1730, March ,⁸ Sarah,⁸ Elizabeth,⁸ Solomon,⁸ Anne,⁸ and Mary.⁸

Dudley⁸ Chase married August 23, 1753, Alice Corbet, of Mendon, and died April 13, 1814. He was the father of a distinguished family of sons :—

1. Salmon⁹ Chase, born July 14, 1701, at Sutton, an eminent lawyer of Portland.
2. Ithamar,⁹ b. 1763, at Sutton.
3. Banich,⁹ b. March 27, 1764, at Cornish.
4. Heber,⁹ b. September 2, 1770.
5. Dudley,⁹ b. December 30, 1771.
6. Philander,⁹ b. December 14, 1775.

The Hon. Ithamar⁹ Chase, a distinguished citizen of Vermont, married Janet Ralston, of Keene, and among others had Alexander¹⁰ Ealston, b. December 22, 1794, and Salmon¹⁰ Portland, b. at Cornish, January 13,1808.

The Hon. Dudley⁹ Chase, a graduate with honors of Dartmouth College, 1791, was for many years a leader of the Vermont Bar. He was a Senator of the United States, from 1813 to 1817, and Chief Justice of Vermont from 1817 to 1821.

The Rev. Philander⁹ Chase, one of the most remarkable men of his time, and whose Reminiscences and Autobiography constitutes one of the most interesting and valuable books illustrative of the early history of the West, was graduated at Dartmouth College, 1796. He was ordained a Deacon of the Episcopal Church in 1798, and after some years' service as a Missionary Preacher, became Rector of Christ's Church, Poughkeepsie, which office he resigned to become Rector of Christ's Church, New Orleans, In 1805. He became Bishop of Ohio in 1818, which office he resigned in 1831. He was the founder and first President of Kenyon College. In 1885 he was chosen Bishop of Illinois, and continued his active exertions in behalf of the Protestant Episcopal Church, founding Jubilee College in 1838, till his death in 1852.

The Hon. Salmon Portland Chase, now Chief Justice of the United States, was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1826, with high honors. He was a Senator of the United States, from 1849 to 1855; Governor of Ohio, from 1855 to 1859; again a United States Senator in 1861; Secretary of the Treasury, from 1861 to 1864; and was appointed Chief Justice of the United States in 1865. He married, 1st, Catherine Jane Garniss, March 4, 1834; 2d, Eliza Ann Smith, September 26, 1839; 3d, Sarah Bella Dunlop Ludlow, November 6, 1846, and has several children, one of whom is the wife of the Hon. William Sprague, United States Senator from Rhode Island.

The name in this country has, from the earliest times, been usually spelled Chase—sometimes Chace. In the English records it is found variously spelled Chase—Chaace—Chaase. But in the early records, previous to the first half of the sixteenth century, it is always spelled Chase, as at the present day. The printed books of Arms and Crests, as is usually the case with such works, are all wrong in their description of the Chase arms, which correctly read thus; Gules, 4 crosses patonce Argent, on a canton Azure, a lion passant Or. Burke gives Chase vel Chansey; he should have given Chasey—the name of a modern family, who have assumed the arms of Chase. He is wrong again in his description of the arms of the Chesham family, inasmuch as he calls the crosses flory, whereas they should be patonce. It is not improbable that the different variety of arms are in fact the same, as the persons who copied shields of arms from monument were often not careful to read correctly. Fairbairn, in his book on Crests, a later work, gives the arms as in Burke, and the Crest as in Berry's Hertfordshire Genealogies, where the engraving represents crosses patonce, while the author describes them as crosses flory, but Edmonson, in his work on Heraldry gives the arms and crest of Chase, no place named, as follows:

Arms, Gules, 4 crosses pat. Argent 2 and 2, on a canton Azure a lion passant Or. Crest, a lion rampant, Or, holding between his feet a cross patonce—Gules. In this case the arms are precisely those of Chase, of Chesham, the only difference being in the color of the cross in the crest.

In a visit to Chesham, in 1864, the writer learned with much pleasure that it was the intention of Mr. William Lowndes,^[2] the present Lord of the Manor, and a gentleman of much antiquarian feeling, to repair and refit for the use of his tenants in that neighborhood, a small chapel,—large enough perhaps, to give sittings for thirty people,—which stands in the rear of the old house of Hundrich, and is the only building left upon the estate as it existed when in possession of the Chase family, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Soon after they disappeared from the Parish, their estate passed into the hands of the Lord of the Manor of Chesham, whose estates adjoined, and by whose family it has since been leased as a farm,—the little chapel having for some years past served as a brewhouse.

The notes and investigations, a portion of which have afforded us the materials and pedigrees for this paper, developed the fact that the families of Chase are as small, indeed the name is as rarely found—at the present day in the Mother Country—as it is numerous and wide spread throughout the United States.

1. Tradition has handed down the name of Sarah —— as the wife of Aquila Chase of Chesham, and it here conforms to the rule of baptism, curiously general, if not in the great majority of cases absolute, which prevailed among the early colonists, of naming the first-born son after the paternal grandfather, the first-born daughter after the paternal grandmother, the second son after the mother's father, and so on.
2. This gentleman is a descendant of William Lowndes, a Secretary of the Treasury under Queen Anne, and author of the funding system—familiarly known as "Ways and Means" Lowndes in English history—and himself a descendant of the ancient family of Lowndes of Leigh Hall, a branch of which settled in South Carolina, in the early part of the last century, and from whom all of the name in this country trace their descent.