Holding in high estimate the duties and responsibilities which his position involved, and more than ordinarily successful as a medical practitioner surgeon, Dr. Henry H. Chase is well remembered in Rock Island, the city in which he spent the later years of his life. He was an American of the highest type, and of purest blood, as well. His lineage on both sides is traceable for many generations back on American soil. His mother is a direct descendant of John Howland of Mayflower fame. His father was a relative of the late Chief Justice Chase of the United States Supreme Court.
Henry Howland Chase was born October 7, 1858, in Amboy, Lee County, Illinois, and died May 22, 1906, at Rock Island. His father was Albion Pierce Chase, himself a physician, and his mother, Deborah Cushing (Howland) Chase. The father was a native of Maine and the mother of Massachusetts. The couple came west and located at Amboy, Illinois, in 1856, living there till the husband’s death May 27, 1879. The father graduated in the School of Alapaphon, and after coming west took up the practice of Homeopathy, and has practiced in both schools after that.
Our subject received his general education in the public schools of Amboy, at a school for boys at Waltham, Massachusetts, and the State Normal at Bloomington, Illinois. His professional training was received at the Chicago Homeopathic College, from which he graduated in 1881.
Dr. Chase first began practicing at Geneseo, Illinois, where he was located eight years. Then he removed to Duluth, Minnesota, and remained seven years, becoming a member of the state medical examining board of Minnesota. In 1897 he purchased the practice of Dr. C. B. Kinyon, who left Rock Island to accept a chair in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor at Rock Island and took up his residence in that city, where he remained till his death. A few months before his demise he formed a partnership with Dr. E. Bradford.
Dr. Chase was an attendant of the Episcopal Church. In politics he was a Republican. He was active in fraternal work, being a member of the Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen, National Union, Modern Brotherhood of America, Woodmen of the World and Independent Order of Foresters. His surviving family consists of his wife and two children, the latter being John Albion, born August 30, 1888, and Katherine Trusdell, born May 22, 1892. The wife’s maiden name was Adelaide Eugenia Trusdell, and she was married to the doctor December 5, 1882, at Dixon, Illinois. Her home prior to the marriage was at Newark, New Jersey, she being the daughter of John Givean and Catherine (Decker) Trusdell. The father was a leading Democrat and served as judge and state senator. He died July 14, 1903, his wife having passed away in March, 1858.
His father was chief surgeon of the Northern division of the Illinois Central Railroad from the time of his residence in Amboy until his death.