Person:Aquilla Chase (1)

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.^[8]

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 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)
   1:364.

   "AQUILA, Hampton 1640, a mariner from Cornwall, Eng. m. Ann, d. of John Wheeler, had Sarah, and rem. a. 1646, to Newbury, here had Ann, b. 6 July 1647; Priscilla, 14 Mar. 1649; Mary, 3 Feb. 1651; Aquila, 26 Sept. 1652; Thomas, 25 July 1654; John, 2 Nov. 1655; Elizabeth 13 Sept. 1657; Ruth, 18 Mar. 1660; Daniel, 9 Dec. 1661; and Moses, 24 Dec. 1663; and d. 29 Aug. 1670, aged 52. His wid. m. 14 June 1672, Daniel Mussiloway, and d. 21 Apr. 1687; Sarah m. 15 May 1666, Charles Annis; Ann m. 27 Apr. 1671, Thomas Barber; Priscilla m. 10 Feb. 1671, Abel Merrill; Mary m. 9 Mar. 1670, John Stevens; Elizabeth m. 27 June 1678, at Andover, Zechariah Ayers; and Ruth d. unm. at 17 yrs."

2.   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 1:69).

   Aquila Chase, m. Anne Wheeler, daughter of John Wheeler of Hampton, removed, in, 1646 to Newbury, where he d. Aug 29, 1670. Aged 52.

3. ↑ 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).

   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 Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Newbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. (Salem, Mass.: The Essex Institute, 1911)
   II:560.

   CHASE, Aqulla, (died) Dec. 27, 1670.

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 Aquila Chase, in Noyes, Sybil; Charles Thornton Libby; and Walter Goodwin Davis. Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire. (Portland, Maine: Southworth Press, 1928-1939)
   138.

   CHASE, AQUILA, ± 48 in 1666, mariner, altho forgotten by Edw. Colcord presum. came to Hampton with his br. Thomas 'the first summer.' He soon m. Anne Wheeler and in 1646 rem. with her fam. to Newbury, settling at Newburyport. He coasted bet. Newburyport and Boston. Will 10, d. 27, Dec. 1670. His wid. m. 14 June 1672 Daniel Silloway and d. 21 Apr. 1687. For grch. who came back to N. H., see Chase Gen. Ch: Sarah, m. Charles Annis(1). Anne, b. 6 July 1647, mar. 27 Apr. 1671 Thomas Barber of Newbury. Priscilla, b. 14 Mar. 1648-9, m. 10 Feb. 1670-1 Abel Merrill. Mary, b. 3 Feb. 1650-1, m. 9 Mar. 1669-70 John Stevens. Aquila, b. 26 Sep. 1652, had the homestead; d. 29 July 1720. 9 ch. Thomas, b. 25 July 1654, carpenter, m. 22 Nov. 1677 Rebecca Follansbee(1); 2d 2 Aug. 1714 wid. Eliz. (Woodhead?) Moores. Will 3 Aug.--25 Feb. 1732-3. 10+1 ch. John, b. 2 Nov. 1655, cooper, d. in West Newbury 26 Feb. 1739-40. 2+9 ch. Elizabeth, b. 13 Sep. 1657, mar. Zachariah Ayer(9). Ruth, b. 18 Mar. 1659-60, d. 30 May 1676. Daniel, b. 15 Nov. 1661, wheelwright, d. 8 Feb. 1707; m. 25 Aug. 1683, Martha Kimball, who m. 2d (int. 9 May 1713) Josiah Heath. 10 ch. Moses, Ensign, b. 24 Dec. 1663, weaver, m. 10 Nov. 1684 Anne Follansbee(1), d. in West Newbury 6 Sep. 1743. 9 ch.

7. ↑ Chase, John Carroll, and George Walter Chamberlain. Seven Generations of the Descendants of Aquila and Thomas Chase. (Haverhill, Mass.: Record Publishing Company, 1928)
   31.

   The place of his burial in unknown but it was probably in the grave yard at Oldtown as the yard at Sawyer's hill was not in use until some thirty years later.

8. ↑ Chase, John Carroll, and George Walter Chamberlain. Seven Generations of the Descendants of Aquila and Thomas Chase. (Haverhill, Mass.: Record Publishing Company, 1928)
   9.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2} Mills, Frank Moody. Something about the Mills family and its collateral branches: with autobiographical reminiscences. (Sioux Falls, South Dakota: [s.n.], 1911)
   Page 199., 1911.

   "...Aquilla, was born in 1618, who was one of the original settlers of Hampton, N. H., in 1639 and Newberg in 1646, died in 1670."

10. ↑ 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.

    ii. Aquila Chase , bp. Woolverstone 7 Jan. 1619/20