Chase Family of Fall River MA

CHASE (Fall River family). The Chase family here considered is strictly speaking a Massachusetts-Rhode Island one, springing as it does from the early Roxbury Yarmouth family, a later generation of which located in Portsmouth, R. I. In the third generation from the immigrant ancestor through Joseph Chase, who located in Swansea, Mass., and Benjamin, who settled in Portsmouth, R. I., have descended the Chases who have come from those respective localities. And both branches have shared largely in the commercial and industrial life of this section of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. From the Portsmouth branch came the late Borden Chase, who for years was a coal dealer in Fall River, and his son, the present Simeon Borden Chase, has long been one of the fore-most cotton manufacturers of that same city and as well a most active and influential citizen.

There follows in chronological order from the immigrant settler, William Chase, the genealogy and family history of the Portsmouth-Fall River family just alluded to.

William Chase, born about 1595, in England, with wife Mary and son William came to America in the ship with Governor Winthrop and his colony in 1630, settling first in Roxbury. He soon became a member of the church of which the Rev. John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians, was pastor. On Oct. 19, 1630, he applied for freemanship and was admitted a freeman May 14, 1634. In 1637, or thereabout, he became one of the company who made a new settlement at Yarmouth, of which town lie was made constable in 1639. He resided at Yarmouth the rest of his life, dying in May, 1659. His widow died the following October. Their children were:

1. William, born about 1622, in England;
2. Mary, born in May, 1637, in Roxbury; and
3. Benjamin, born in 1639, in Yarmouth.

William Chase (2), son of William and Mary, born about 1622, in England, came to America with his parents, married, and was a resident of Yarmouth. He died Feb. 27, 1685. His children were:

1. William,
2. Jacob,
3. John,
4. Elizabeth,
5. Abraham,
6. Joseph,
7. Benjamin and
8. Samuel.

Benjamin Chase, son of William (2), married Amey Borden, she born May 30, 1678, daughter of John and Mary (Earle) Borden, and died before 1716. They were residents of Portsmouth, R. I. Their children were:

1. Patience, born April 16, 1699;
2. Elizabeth, born June 16, 1701;
3. Amey, born July 21, 1702;
4. Nathan, born Jan. 13, 1704;
5. Benjamin, and Abner.

Nathan Chase, born Jan. 13, 1704, married April 29, 1731, Elizabeth Shaw, and they were residents of Portsmouth. Their children were:

1. Borden, born Feb. 28, 1731-32;
2. Holder, Aug. 24, 1733;
3. Amey, Dec. 6, 1734;
4. Clark, May 2, 1736;
5. Anna, April 12, 1738;
6. Content, July 5, 1741;
7. Benjamin, Dec. 25, 1747; and
8. Hannah, March 15, 1749-50.

Holder Chase, son of Nathan and Elizabeth (Shaw) Chase, born Aug. 24, 1733, married in Portsmouth, R. I., Feb. 21, 1760, Freeborn, born Aug. 18, 1739, in Portsmouth, R. I., daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Durfee) Dennis. They lived in Portsmouth. Mr. Chase died in February, 1820. Their children were:

1. Nathan, who died in childhood; Sarah, born in 1765, who married Benjamin Mott, of Portsmouth;
2. Nathan (2), born in 1766, who married Anne Sherman, of Portsmouth, daughter of Sampson and Ruth (Fish) Sherman; Anna, born in 1768, who married in Portsmouth John Weeden, of Jamestown, R. I.;
3. Eliza;
4. Borden, who married (first) Sept. 12, 1802, Sarah Folger and (second) Ruth Bunker, both of Nantucket, Mass.;
5. Amey, who died in childhood;
6. Abner, born in Portsmouth, who married there Oct. 5, 1803, Deborah Chase, daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Almy) Chase;
7. Clark; and
8. Freeborn, who died unmarried Nov. 23, 1819.

Clark Chase, son of Holder, married in Tiverton, R. I., Dec. 26, 1811, Anne Borden, daughter of Simeon and Amey (Briggs) Borden. Their children were:

1. Simeon B., born Oct. 5, 1812, died Nov. 8, 1832;
2. Amey A., born July 9, 1814, married Jan. 5, 1838, Humphrey Almy;
3. Borden, born April 5, 1816, is mentioned below;
4. Philip Briggs, born Feb. 3, 1818, married Sarah, daughter of William Earle and Eunice (Sherman) Cook;
5. Sarah Freeborn, born Feb. 17, 1820, married Stephen Davol, of Fall River;
6. Eliza, born May 3, 1822, married Charles Fowler, of Brooklyn, N. Y.;
7. Charles, born Feb. 2, 1824, married Frances C. Pearce, of Bristol, R. I., and had children, Charles and George;
8. Nathaniel B., born Nov. 1, 1825, married Louise M. Pierson, and had children, Howard and Ethel;
9. Alfred Clark, born March 21, 1833, married (first) Mrs. Clapp and (second) Ruth Anthony, and had children, Ruth (Mrs. Hedley) and Edmund.

Borden Chase, son of Clark and Anne (Borden) Chase, born April 5, 1816, married in Portsmouth, R. I., Dec. 24, 1838, Elizabeth Anthony Thomas, of Portsmouth, daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Anthony) Thomas. Mr. Chase lived in Portsmouth, R. I., where he was successfully engaged in farming, his home being noted for its bountiful hospitality. He resided there until 1875, when he removed to Fall River. He had engaged in the coal business there in 1871, establishing the Fall River Coal Company, and was later for a period interested in the Globe Coal Company of that city. He was for many years a warden in the Church of the Ascension at Fall River. He died Feb. 20, 1897. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Chase:

1. Annie Borden, born Jan. 10, 1840, married William H. Jennings, of Fall River;
2. Frederick, born Sept. 13, 1842, married (first) Louise Tallman, of Portsmouth, and (second) Edith Snell;
3. Clark, born Jan. 10, 1846, married Emma F. Boyd, and had children, Elizabeth C. Clark, Jr., and Charles;
4. Simeon Borden was born Jan. 10, 1849.

Simeon Borden Chase, son of Borden and Elizabeth A. (Thomas) Chase, was born Jan. 10, 1849, in Portsmouth, R. I., where he passed his early years, attending school there until about eighteen years of age. He then took a business course of study in Scholfield’s Commercial College, at Providence, and after his graduation from that institution became a clerk in the office of the Merchants’ Manufacturing Company in Fall River, Mass. In the spring of 1870 he went to the West, and spent about a year and a half in the State of Nebraska. Returning to Fall River, he resumed his place with the Merchants’ Manufacturing Company, in whose office he had become bookkeeper before he went West. In the year 1875 Mr. Chase left the employ of the Merchants’ Manufacturing Company to accept a more responsible position at the Tecumseh Mills, of which he became treasurer at that time, continuing in that connection until about the year 1882, when he resigned and returned to the Merchants’ Manufacturing Company, as treasurer. In February, 1885, he again became treasurer of the King Philip Mills, which office he has since held, and the concern, which is one of the largest in Fall River and a very old one, has been one of the most prosperous.

The interests of Mr. Chase have been by no means confined to the King Philip Mills. He has been president of the Barnaby Manufacturing Company, the Crystal Spring Bleaching and Dyeing Company, the Wampanoag Mills and the Globe Yarn Mills. Since the death of Mr. Frank S. Stevens, in 1898, he has been president of the Stevens Manufacturing Company. His other business connections at the present time are: Treasurer and director of the Tecumseh Mills; president and director of the Metacomet National Bank; director of the Osborn Mills, the Davol Mills, the Merchants’ Manufacturing Company, Stevens Manufacturing Company, the Boston Manufacturers’ Mutual Insurance Company, the Fall River Manufacturers Mutual Insurance Company, the North American Hat Company, and the Samoset Company of Valley Falls, Rhode Island.

Mr. Chase aside from business has held no office, no official position, except that he was at one time a member of the common council, and is at present a member of the Massachusetts State Board of Education, appointed by Governor Draper. He has for many years been an earnest student of economic questions, especially of the tariff, and the result of his study and investigation has led him to a belief in the protective policy. He is a Republican and in years past made many clear, direct and effective speeches in behalf of the principle of protection as it is advocated by the Republican party. His ability as a public speaker has thus been recognized, and he has delivered many lectures and read many essays before various literary societies of Fall River. His writings are notable for practical insight and original presentation of his views. Especially by his articles and speeches on the tariff question Mr. Chase has established an enviable reputation and become widely known as a vigorous thinker. The many responsible positions which he holds in the manufacturing world and his extended experience render him one of the highest authorities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on questions relating to his special interests. In the business as well as the social life of Fall River he is highly esteemed and very popular for his personal qualities.

In 1874 Mr. Chase married Louise Whitman Hills, daughter of John E. and Mary (Whitman) Hills, and they have had the following children:

1. Mary Whitman, Mrs. William Wilson Heaton, residing at Greenwich, Conn., who has three children, Mary, Chase and Sarah;
2. Annie Borden, wife of Philip E. Tripp, of Fall River (who has a sketch elsewhere in this work);
3. Louise W., Mrs. George Hewitt Myers, of Washington, D. C, who has one child, Persis Chase;
4. Genevieve; and
5. Florence.