Browse Archive - 700 results

Anthony Chase (1791-1879), son of Israel Chase (1760-1797) and Matilda Butterworth Chase (1765-1843), was a man of varied interests—a Worcester merchant, part-owner of the Massachusetts Spy, official in a Worcester insurance company and in various banks, and an active member of the Quaker church. He married, on 2 June 1819, Lydia Earle (1798-1852), the daughter of Pliny Earle (1762-1832), who developed the manufacture of machine-card cloth in the United States, and of Patience Buffum Earle (1770-1849), sister of Arnold Buffum (1782-1859), the anti-slavery lecturer. Anthony and Lydia had six children: Pliny Earle Chase (1820-1886), scientist and professor at Haverford College; Lucy Chase (1822-1909); Thomas Chase (1827-1892); Eliza Earle Chase (1829-1896); Charles Augustus Chase (1833-1911); and Sarah Earle Chase (1836-1915), teacher with her sister Lucy. All three sons graduated from Harvard College.

Anthony married second, on 19 April 1854, Hannah Greene (1824-1918), daughter of Daniel Greene ( - ) and Phebe Greene ( - ), of East Greenwich, Rhode Island. They had two children: Emily Greene Chase (1855-1930), who married Joseph Russel Marble (1852-1920); and Frederick Anthony Chase (1858-1862).

Lucy Chase, second child and oldest daughter of Anthony and Lydia, was an intelligent and well-educated woman, as well as an accomplished artist and sculptor. She attended the Friends' Boarding School in Providence, Rhode Island, from 1837 to 1841. For the period from 1863 to 1869, Lucy taught in contraband camps and freedmen schools in the South. She and her sister, Sarah, traveled in Europe during the years 1870 to 1875. They returned to Worcester and Lucy remained there until her death in 1909.

Thomas Chase, third child and second son of Anthony and Lydia, was a classical scholar and college president. After graduating Harvard with high honors in 1848, Thomas became master of the Cambridge High School. He held the position until 1850 when he returned to Harvard, as interim professor of Latin for one year. He remained at Harvard, until 1853, as an instructor in history and chemistry, then as a tutor in Latin. During the years 1853 to 1855, he traveled and studied throughout Europe. Upon his return to the United States he accepted the chair of philology and classic literature at Haverford College. He was elected president of the College in 1875, resigning in 1886. Thomas eventually settled in Providence, Rhode Island, where he died of Bright's disease in 1892.

Thomas married, on 8 February 1860, Alice Underhill Cromwell (1836-1882), of New York. They had five children: Caroline Chase (1861- ), William Cromwell Chase (1862- ), Thomas Herbert Chase (1864- ), Alfred Chase (1868- ) and Ralph Stanley Chase (1879- ).

Charles Augustus Chase, fifth child and youngest son of Anthony and Lydia, was a banker, scholar, historian, antiquarian, and office holder. After graduating Harvard in 1855, Charles was a reporter, then office editor, for the Boston Daily Advertiser until 1862. Charles returned to Worcester where he was elected treasurer of Worcester County, serving from 1864 to 1875. He served as Register of Deeds for the year 1876, and served as secretary of the Worcester Board of Trade. In 1879, he was elected treasurer of the Worcester County Institution for Savings, serving in that position until 1904, when he was elected its president. He resigned that office in 1908, due to bad health, and died in Worcester in 1911.

Charles married, on 29 April 1863, Mary Teresa Clark ( -1884), of Boston, Massachusetts. They had two children: Mary Alice Chase (1865-1940), who married Thomas Hovey Gage (1865-1938); and Maud Eliza Chase (1867-1950 Show more Show less