Clay County, West Virginia    Biography of James S. CHASE

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Submitted by Valerie Crook, <vfcrook@earthlink.net>, April 1999
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 642-643

JAMES S. CHASE takes just satisfaction in being able
to further a work that is of enduring value to the com-
munity in which he resides, and he is giving a most effective
administration as the incumbent of the office of county road
engineer of Clay County, with headquarters at Clay, the
county seat.

Mr. Chase was born in Jackson County, West Virginia,
May 24, 1873, and is a son of Henry F. and Nancy M.
(Windon) Chase. As a youth Henry F. Chase learned the
miller's trade, to which he was giving his attention at the
time when the Civil war began. His loyalty to the cause
of the Confederacy was shown by his enlistment in the
Twenty-second Virginia Infantry, with which he took part
in many engagements and made a record as a gallant young
soldier. After the war he continued his active association
with milling enterprise for many years, and he and his wife
were residents of Jackson County, this state, at the time of
their deaths, she having been a member of the Presbyterian
Church and his political allegiance having been given to
the democratic party. Of their four children three are
living at the time of this writing: John J. is engaged in the
real-estate business at Pleasants, this state; James S., of
this sketch, is the next younger; and Linnie E. is the wife
of Frank Roush, of Ripley, Jackson County.

The public schools of Jackson County afforded James S.
Chase his early education, and later he took a corre-
spondence course in civil engineering. Under the direction
of his father he learned the trade of millwright, and he fol-
lowed the same for a time, his independent career having
been initiated when he was seventeen years of age. He gave
effective service as county road engineer in Jackson County,
and this experience fortified him greatly when he assumed a
similar office in Clay County, where he is doing a most ex-
cellent work in connection with the improvement of the
roads of the county. In politics he is independent, and he
supports men and measures meeting the approval of his
judgment. He is a past master of Ripley Lodge No. 16,
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Ripley, Jackson
County, and is affiliated also with Pleasants Chapter,
Royal Arch Mason, at Pleasants, Pleasants County. His
wife is an active member of the Baptist Church.

Mr. Chase married Miss Myrtle A. Childs, who was born
and reared in Jackson County, and they have five children:
Marine M. (wife of E. Muller), Bertha E., Henry O., Helen
and James J.