BIO: Rev. John Mitchell CHASE, Clearfield County, PA
 
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From Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania,
and Representative Citizens, by Roland D. Swoope, Jr.,
Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1911, pages 367-368
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  REV. JOHN MITCHELL CHASE, deceased, who, for a number of years officiated 
in various parts of Clearfield county as an ordained minister of the Baptist 
faith, was long one of the best known citizens of Woodward township and 
became one of its largest land owners.  He was, however, a self-made man, and 
his accumulations were the result of industry, frugality and sound judgment, 
while his liberal disbursements came freely, inspired by a kind, charitable 
and generous nature.  He was born in Cuyahoga county, O., March 11, 1820, and 
was a son of Benjamin and Eliza (Swan) Chase.
  In early boyhood John M. Chase was left fatherless, one of a family of five 
children bereft of one parent to become burdens on the other.  The devoted 
mother had no means either to care for them.  At that time the family lived 
in Broome county, N. Y., having moved there in 1825, and the mother kept her 
little ones with her as long as possible.  The inevitable parting came, 
however, when John M. was seven years old, at which age he left home to earn 
his own living.  The mother married again but did not much improve her 
financial status.  It is recorded in the family, as showing the loving, 
generous and unselfish nature of the youth, that in all his lonely wanderings 
in search of paying employment, he never forgot to send messages to his 
mother and as soon as he had secured his first land, a little tract on Little 
Clearfield Creek, he sent for her and his step-father and gave them filial 
respect and care as long as they survived.
  In 1845 Mr. Chase was married and in 1852 moved to the northwest part of 
Woodward township and there engaged in lumbering.  That was his main business 
during his active life and he acquired extensive tracts of some of the finest 
timber land in Clearfield county.  His home continued to be in Clearfield 
county.
  On August 14, 1862, he enlisted for service in the Civil war, entering 
Company B, 149th Pa. Vol. Inf., of which he was elected lieutenant, but 
later, through the intervention of his personal friend, Governor Curtin, he 
was appointed regimental quartermaster.  Army exposure brought on a 
disability which resulted in his honorable discharge, after nineteen months 
of service.  He returned to his home and in the course of time resumed his 
former activities.  Subsequently he invested in land that was rich in coal 
deposits.  From youth Mr. Chase had been serious-minded, probably in part 
made so by the heavy responsibilities so early placed upon him, and in early 
manhood had united with the Baptist church, in which he was ordained a 
minister in 1870.  Prior to the Civil war he was an Abolitionist in his 
political creed and subsequently became a Republican, but late in life he 
associated himself with the Prohibitionists.
  On September 18, 1845, Mr. Chase was married to Miss Tabitha Williams and 
eleven children were born to them.  Of these, one son, John M. Chase, 
formerly postmaster of Clearfield but now retired, lives at No. 22 S. Fourth 
street, Clearfield.  Another son, B. F. Chase, now American consul at Leeds, 
England.  For many years he was a very prominent business man of this city.