Person:Thomas Chase (2)

Aquila and Thomas Chase and the Chesham Chases

"The name Chase is very uncommon in England although the family in America, particularly the progeny of Aquila Chase, has multiplied prodigiously. When, therefore, it was discovered that in the parish of Chesham, co. Buckingham, there was a family of Chase that used the baptismal name Aquila, it seemed certain that the emigrant Aquila Chase was a member thereof. Extensive research, however, has failed to place him and his brother Thomas. One Aquila Chase, baptised in Chesham in 1580, became a merchant tailor in London and had a son Aquila, baptized in 1626 in the church of St. Nicholas Cole Abbey, but he was also buried there in 1659/60. The Chase family of Chesham stems from Thomas Chase, ±1520-1586, and the first recorded Aquila Chase was his grandson. Possibly Thomas Chase had brothers in another still unidentified parish from one of whom the American emigrants descended, but this is purely conjecture. The lesson to be learned is that identification based even on uncommon names may be false. The above account of Aquila Chase and his family is taken from the Descendants of Aquila and Thomas Chase, by John Carroll Chase and George Walter Chamberlain, 1928, a splendid piece of genealogical work.^[5]

Extensive research shows that … Aquila Chase went from Chesham to London, there married, was the father of six children, was a merchant tailor, lived in Knight Rider's street, attended the two Established Churches in that street and, with his wife and five of his children, was buried there. The parish registers fail to show that he had a son Thomas but they do show that he had a son Aquila who was baptised in the parish of St. Nicholas, Cole Abbey. The parish register further shows that Aquila Chase, the tailor, and Aquila his son, there baptized there, were also buried there. As there was only one Chase family living in Knight Rider's street, 1606 to 1660, we feel justified in assuming that Aquila and Thomas Chase, the Hampton brothers, could not be the sons of Aquila Chase of Chesham, England. They may be descended from the Chesham family but our researches fail to show such a connection. The use of the comparatively infrequent name of Aquila in both Chesham and New England is, however, very suggestive of a connection between the two families.^[6]

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Thomas Chase, in Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
   1:365.

   THOMAS, Hampton, perhaps elder br. of the first Aquila, m. Elizabeth d. of Thomas Philbrick, had Thomas, b. 1643; Joseph, 1615; Isaac, 1647; James, 1649; and Abraham, 1651; and d. 1652. His wid. m. 26 Oct. 1654, John Garland, and, next, 19 Feb. 1674, Henry Roby, and d. 11 Feb. 1677. Thomas, the eldest s. d. unm. 23 Oct. 1714; and Abraham was k. in Philip's war, 1676, unm.

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Coffin, Joshua, "Genealogies. The Chase Family" v. 1 [1847] : 68-70, in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society)
   (at 1:68).

   Thomas(1) (Chase) married (at Hampton) Elizabeth Philbrick, daughter of Thomas Philbrick. He d. in 1652, leaving five children, all sons.

3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Coffin, Joshua, "Genealogies. The Chase Family" v. 1 [1847] : 68-70, in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society)
   Place: Hampton, New Hampshire; Year: 1639; Page Number: 61.

   Among the early settlers of New England, were three persons by the name of Chase; namely, William, Thomas, and Aquila. The first settled in Yarmouth, and there died, in 1659, leaving two sons, Benjamin and William. The last two were certainly brothers, as appears from a deed given in 1667 by Aquila to "the sons of his brother Thomas". The name is found in various places in English history, from the time of William the Conqueror to the present time. Thus, we find in 1326 a family of that name in Suffolk; a Thomas Chase, who was barbarously murdered in 1506; a Sir Robert Chase, Knight, in the West of England, 1628; a Sir John Chase in Exeter, prior to 1637; a John Chase, Esq., Apothecary to Queen Anne, 1690, &c. … Thomas and Aquila Chase were among the first settlers of Hampton, N. H. in 1639.

4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 6 Thomas Chase, in Noyes, Sybil; Charles Thornton Libby; and Walter Goodwin Davis. Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire. (Portland, Maine: Southworth Press, 1928-1939).

   Thomas Chase, seaman, came to Hampton in 1639. Thomas and Aquila had grants there 30 June 1640. Thomas also bot of Thomas Jones and of Thomas Sleeper, and was allowed two rights in the commons. Thomas and Aquila sued Lt. Howard in 1648. … Adm. 5 Oct. 1652 to wid. Elizabeth (Philbrick). … In 1653 she sued Wm. Furber, and in 1654 Christo. Palmer, and 26 Oct. 1654 m. John Garland. Surv. ch. 5 sons: Thomas, d.s.p. 23 Oct. 1714, ae. 72 (grst. in Seabrook). For a vivid character sketch of this Quaker preacher, see Thomas Story's Journal, p. 319. Selectm. 1695. … Inter. will 26 Apr. 1712. Joseph, b. ab. 1647. James. Isaac, b. 1 Apr. 1650. Abraham, b. 6 Aug. 1652, Quaker, d.s.p., killed in Philip's War on the Marlboro front. Adm. Apr. 1676 to Tho.

5. ↑ ^5.0 5.1 Chase, in Davis, Walter Goodwin, Compiler, and Introduction by Gary Boyd Roberts. Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis (1885-1966): A Reprinting, in Alphabetical Order by Surname, of the Sixteen Multi-Ancestor Compendia (plus Thomas Haley of Winter Harbor and His Descendants). (Baltimore, Maryland, United States: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1996)
   I:257.
6. ↑ ^6.0 6.1 Thomas Chase, in Chase, John Carroll, and George Walter Chamberlain. Seven Generations of the Descendants of Aquila and Thomas Chase. (Haverhill, Mass.: Record Publishing Company, 1928)
   p 9, 475-478.

   Administration on the estate of Thomas Chase of Hampton was granted to his widow Elizabeth Chase, 5 Oct 1652. The inventory was taken by Robert Page, Abraham Perkins, and William Fifield, 2 June 1653. Totaling £111 18s 10d. The Court ordered, 4 Oct 1653, that the five children of Thomas Chase of Hampton shall have out of their father's estate these amounts: Thomas Chase, the oldest, £16, and Joseph Chase, James Chase, Isaac Chase, and Abraham Chase, £8 each, when they are twenty-one years of age.

7. ↑ Ashley, Chase W. New Research on the Origin and Parentage of Aquila and Thomas Chase. (New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Winter 2021: NEHGR)
   175:41.

   i. THOMAS CHASE, b. say 1617, probably somewhere in Suffolk;