Stephen Chase (1709 - 1790)

Born 2 Jun 1709 in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, Rhode Island

Ancestors

Husband of Esther (Buffington) Chase — married 11 Nov 1728 in Rhode Island, Rhode Island

Husband of Nancy (White) Chase — married 28 Jan 1776 in Cornwallis Township, Kings, Nova Scotia

Descendants

Died 23 Jun 1790 at age 81 in Cornwallis, Kings, Nova Scotia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Karen Neuvirth [send private message]

Biography

Stephen Chase migrated from New England to Nova Scotia.

Stephen was a Friend (Quaker)

Stephen Chase was born in Portsmouth, Newport, Rhode Island on May 2, 1709. He was the son of Joseph Chase and Sarah (Sherman Read) Chase.

Stephen married four times.

His first wife was Esther Buffington, daughter of Benjamin and Hannah Buffington of Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts; they married on September 11, 1728. Stephen and Esther were Quakers. They had eleven children, including Joseph and Jethro who were later both Cornwallis grantees alongside their father. Esther died on July 15, 1750. They had the following children:

1. Hannah Chase1729–1756
2. Sarah Chase 1731–Deceased
3. Ester Chase 1733–1807
4. Susanna Chase 1735–1765
5. Benjamin Chase 1737–1826
6. Stephen Chase 1740–1830
7. Joseph Chase 1742–1801
8. Asa Chase 1744–1812
9. Jethro Chase 1746–Deceased
10. Peace Chase 1748–1800
11. Comfort Chase 1750–1818

Stephen's second wife was Bathsheba Stafford (1710–1763), daughter of Joseph/Josiah Stafford of Newport, Rhode Island. They married on April 20, 1751.

He married his third wife Abigail (Porter) Chase, daughter of Samuel and Remember Porter - in Cornwallis on August 2, 1764. They had the following children:

1. Lois Chase 1765–1820
2. Abigail Chase 1769–1841

Stephen's fourth wife was Nancy Bushnell (1740–Deceased), daughter of William Bushnell and Elizabeth White of Halifax, married January 28, 1776. They had the following children:

1. William Chase 1777–Deceased ​​
2. Job Chase 1782–Deceased

Stephen migrated from Swansea, Massachusetts with several of his children to Cornwallis Township, Kings, Nova Scotia as part of the New England Planter migration. He and his two sons Jethro and Joseph were part of the second group of grantees, given land on December 31, 1764. Stephen appeared in the Cornwallis census in 1786

Stephen passed on June 23, 1790 in Cornwallis, Kings, Nova Scotia, Canada

The following was found in the effects of Millicent Chase, a descendant: Apparently father and sons divided forces - for in the Town Book of Liverpool, Stephen Chase has a grant of land, in the Township, but he never occupied it and his name does not appear there again. As there was a community of Quakers near there interested in whale fishing, he may have been induced by them to go there, but he did not remain and soon joined his three sons in Cornwallis, whose lands were granted to them in 1763, and in the year following Stephen Chase Sr. received his Grant. The Grant is recorded in the Crown Lands Book. Others to receive lands at the same time were Porter, Cove, Kinsman, and Blackmer. In The assessment roll for Cornwallis 1765, appears the following: Family 5: L.S. Jethro & Joseph Chase, Stephen Chase Jr, Stephen Chase. Assessors: William West, Isaac Bigelow, Handley Chipman In common with many of the early settlers - the Chase men chose the North Mountain land for their home and though there is no exact record of it found, it is a family story that the original homestead was near what is now known as Halls Harbour and that at least three generations were born there - and removed to the Valley lands between 1825 - 1830. In the Chipman Collection, Kings County records in the Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia, there is this reference in some road survey papers: "1813 folder - A road leading from a certain place called Sheffields in Cornwallis to a place called Chase's Harbour." No map in existence shows any place of that name, nor is any other reference to be found. In 1771 papers there is a mention of Chase's Grist mill - the following letter or petition in all its original spelling, mentions a mill, presumably the family property: "To the Justices of The Court of General sessions These are to Inform that Isaac Bigelow surveyor of highways for the year past hath neglected the highways so that there is no passing with horse nor team in the Road on the North side of Little Habitant River up to the mill greatly to the prejudice of the Inhabitants and a material road for all on that side of the s. river. and likewise he hath neglected one of the the biggest roads in the town namely the mill road so that it is not passable many times and at best very bad passing and in danger many times of life and many complaints have been made to him, the said surveyor, but to no purpose. when there is inhabitants that not worked on the high ways the years past. Witnesses William Canidays. Amos Sheffield. Isaac Bigelow Jr. Stephen Harrington and many more beside the now inhabiting population by which neglects the inhabitants hath suffered much as you may be informed by Peter Wickwire and several more Grand Jurors of our town, I respect and rename your friend Stephen Chase Cornwallis May ye 25 - 1767" At the time of the granting of land, everyone was given a certain proportion of meadow upland, etc. and it was to this that Stephen Chase, Born 1770, came and built, about 1830, on the present (1936) Chase homestead. But the original Stephen Chase with his sons, Stephen, Joseph and Jethro established a home here and the line of Chases in Nova Scotia, or more particularly in Cornwallis. Although we have no written evidence that Stephen Jun. returned to New England, it is a fact and the best proof to be offered is that after 1770 all mention of him is dropped. His marriage to ANN RUST in 1761 is recorded and the birth of a child noted 1762 - 1767 but nothing following this.

Sources

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 02 February 2019, 03:23), entry for Stephen Chase(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:LCJY-J8K); contributed by various users.
• "Rhode Island Marriages, 1724-1916," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F8KB-7MG : 11 February 2018), Stephen Chase and Esther Buffington, 11 Nov 1728; citing Society Of Friends,Newport,Newport,Rhode Island, reference ; FHL microfilm 22,488.
• Eaton, Arthur Wentworth Hamilton. The History of Kings County, Nova Scotia. Salem, MA: 1910.
• Wright, Esther Clark. Planters and Pioneers: Nova Scotia, 1749 to 1775. Hantsport, NS: Lancelot Press, 1976.
• http://www.nseaton.org/Eaton/getperson.php?personID=I2121&tree=nseaton
• New Englanders in Nova Scotia Page 144 (Chase paternal line back to William Chase, Sr.)
• Genealogies of Rhode Island Families, Vol. I from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register republished by the Genealogical Publishing Company 1989...Some of the Descendants of William Chase of Roxbury and Yarmouth, Mass. Contributed by John Carrol Chase of Derry, N.H. as compiled for him by George Walter Chamberlain M.S. of Malden Mass. available on Ancestry. p 146
• [1786 Cornwallis Census https://novascotia.ca/archives/census/resultsRG1v443.asp?Search=no.+38] Nova Scotia Archives RG 1 vol. 443 no. 38.

Acknowledgements

• This profile was created through the import of fitzmaster032511.ged on 27 March 2011.
• Marsha Auger, firsthand knowledge. Click the Changes tab for the details of edits by Marsha and others.