Biography of Charles E. Chase - Henry County, Illinois CHARLES E. CHASE Charles E. Chase belongs to that class of representative American citizens who are seeking their fortunes in agricultural lines and through their well directed efforts are meeting with most gratifying success. He was born in Jacksonville, Vermont, on the 17th of January 1844, a son of Merrick and Sarah Maria (Brigham) Chase. The father, a native of Douglas, Massachusetts, was the son of Benjamin and Sarah (Sprague) Chase, who went to Vermont when he was a small child. There Benjamin Chase owned and operated a farm, at the same time following the shoemaker's business. Merrick Chase was reared upon the home farm and early in life learned the trade of clothier, in which he had to card his own wool, and he followed that occupation for some time in Jacksonville, Vermont, where he resided in a home built at the end of a mill. Later, however, he was forced by the mills to abandon that line of activity and he became the proprietor of a hotel and also served as deputy sheriff for a number of years. In the latter part of the '50s he took his family to Washington County, New York, where the home was maintained for many years, and subsequently he came to Henry County, Illinois, where his remaining days were spent. He was an old time abolitionist and later became a stalwart supporter of the Republican Party. Charles E. Chase was a youth of fourteen years when his parents removed to Washington County, New York, and his education, which had been begun in the Vermont schools, was completed in the Empire State. He continued to make his home under the parental roof until nineteen years of age, when his father gave him his time and he was engaged by the month as a farm hand until twenty-five years of age, when he came to Henry County, arriving in Orion on the 12th of March, 1869. He had an uncle, Francis Brigham, who had located in Western Township several years before. He was employed at farming the the month for about four years, and in the meantime, in 1873, his parents had come to Henry County, where the father purchased the farm upon which our subject now resides. The father continued to make his home on that farm until the time of his death, the son operating land in the capacity of renter for a number of years. On the 26th of February, 1874, Mr. Chase returned to Vermont and was there united in marriage to Miss Sophia H. Farnsworth, who was born and reared near the birthplace of our subject. She is a daughter of Luke W. and Harriett (Brigham) Farnsworth, both natives of Vermont. She had enjoyed the advantages of a good education, and for twelve years resided in Boston, teaching school for a number of years. After his marriage Mr. Chase brought his bride back to Henry County and they began their domestic life upon the farm which is now their place of residence. It consists of one hundred acres on Section 29, Western Township, for which he paid sixty dollars per acre, and he also has become the owner of forty acres located on Section 33. The place has become a very highly cultivated property, its excellent condition being due to the efforts and labor of his father, himself and also his son. They have instituted many improvements and in 1909 erected a anew barn which is large and substantial in proportions and modern in construction, while the other buildings upon the place are all good and have been built by members of the family. Mr. Chase has divided his time between his general farming and stock-raising interests, feeding and shipping stock annually. He enjoys a substantial income from the fact that both branches of his business—the raising of grain and the raising of stock—are proving most profitable. He has made a close study of agriculture, is methodical, systematic, progressive and up-to-date in his methods, so that he is numbered among the substantial and successful farmers of his section of the county. The union of Mr. And Mrs. Chase has been blessed with one child, Arthur F., who was born on the 1st of March, 1879. After completing the course of study at the Orion Public School, he attended Knox College at Galesburg, from which he was graduated with the Class of 1901. He then taught in a country school for one year and was principal of the high school at Castleton, Stark County, for two years. His identification with the educational interest was a source of benefit to the communities in which he labored, for he proved himself a most competent and able instructor, imparting clearly and readily to others the knowledge that he had acquired. On the 20th of August, 1902, he was united in marriage to Miss Etta Love, a daughter of James and Anna (Beatty) Love. Since his marriage he has made his home with his parents and has assumed the active management of the home farm. He is making a specialty of raising pure bred shorthorn Durham cattle and Poland China hogs, and in this connection is meeting with most gratifying success. He is a young man who is well known throughout the community in which he has spent his entire life, and he has gained many friends who entertain for him high regard and esteem. He is Republican in politics, with strong prohibition tendencies, being stanch in his advocacy of the cause of temperance. He is a director in the Western Township Library, located in Orion, and is interested in all matters which have for their object the material, political, intellectual and moral progress of the community. Mrs. Charles E. Chase has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church since girlhood, and the son also belongs to that organization, being superintendent of the Sunday school. Charles E. Chase, whose name initiates this review, has long been a member of the Masonic Order, having held some of the minor offices, while his wife is a member of the Ladies Aid Society. In politics he gives stalwart support to the Republican Party, but the honors of office have had no attraction for him as he prefers to devote his entire energies to the conduct of his business affairs. His has been a life of continuous activity which has been crowned with most gratifying success. Although he is now in the evening of life and has given the active management of his business affairs over to his son, he nevertheless remains an active and interested figure in the world's work, the consensus of public opinion according him a foremost place among the valued and representative citizens of Western Township. Source: History of Henry County Illinois, Volume II, Kiner, Henry, L., Chicago, The Pioneer Publishing Company, 1910 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. 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