The Chase Family

The first public record of the Chase family appeared in the 1820 Census of the United States in the first, second, and third districts of Somerset County, Maryland. Samuel Chase was listed among the free Blacks as the head of a household. On October 7, 1837, Samuel Chase married Rachel Wright, daughter of Stephen and Methia Dutton Wright. Samuel Chase was born circa 1795 in Somerset County, Maryland. His ancestors and relatives are unknown. His wife, Rachel, was born circa 1800 in Wetipquin.

The 1850 census is the first record listing the free persons living in the Chase household. The following individuals were living there:

  • Samuel Chase, age 55

  • Rachel Chase, age 60

  • Samuel James Chase, age 11

  • David Chase, age 5

  • Freeborn Chase, age 22

  • Eleanor Chase, age 18

  • William Chase, age 19

The records indicate that Eleanor, Freeborn, and William could have been relatives of Samuel Chase or his children by a previous marriage, as he was the head of the household in 1820 and his marriage to Rachel was not until 1837.

Samuel James Chase, son of Samuel and Rachel Chase, was born in April 1837 in Wetipquin. In 1844, Rachel Chase and her son, Samuel James Chase, inherited land and money from her father, Stephen Wright. Samuel James Chase, fondly called Uncle Sam Chase, married Louisa Moore on June 21, 1870. Louisa was the daughter of Noah Moore and Catherine Wright Moore of Wetipquin. She was the mother of four children, but only one child reached adulthood. A son, Charles Chase, age 18, and Adaline Jones, age 8, who was adopted by the Chase family, were listed in the 1880 census.

Uncle Sam was a sailor who traveled extensively during the Steamship Era. He often had young men traveling with him under his care. Two of the young men he brought to Wetipquin were James Arthur Mitchell of Washington, DC, whose descendants number over three hundred, and James Asbury Lankford, who lived with his mother, Mary Eliza Seldon Lankford (formerly of Wetipquin), in Baltimore, Maryland. The 1900 census shows that Uncle Sam Chase and his wife reared several nieces and nephews:

  • Nancy E. Chase, born December 1887

  • John R. Chase, born June 1889

  • Sarah Hilda Chase, born March 1891

  • Sandy I.D. Chase, born March 1893

In 1910, Sandy Chase was a boarder in the household of JH Dashiell and Laurel Jackson Dashiell. Uncle Sam Chase owned large parcels of land that he had inherited from his grandfather Stephen Wright. A story was told that Cal Mitchell, a white man, stole a portion of Uncle Sam's property by getting him to sign a promissory note that was actually a deed, resulting in Uncle Sam losing the land to Cal Mitchell for $15.00. The house where Uncle Sam lived was known as the Bradbury House, located on the Nanticoke River.

Sarah Hilda Chase moved to Schenectady, New York, where she lived for a brief time. Her husband was William C. Gipson. She had one son by a previous marriage, Joseph V. Cummings, who passed away in 1966. Sarah Hilda Chase Gipson later made her home in Newtown, Maryland. She died in November 1974 in Salisbury, Maryland, and was buried in Grace United Methodist Church Cemetery in Newtown, Maryland.

David Chase, the second son of Samuel and Rachel Wright Chase, was born circa 1846 in Wetipquin. David married Mary Moore on September 8, 1868, in Wetipquin. She was born circa 1848 in Wetipquin. Their adopted daughter was Mary E. Chase, born circa 1871, whom they called Polly. Mary Moore Chase's parents were Noah and Catherine Wright Moore. Rachel and Catherine were sisters, making Mary and Louisa sisters as well, though they married two brothers. David Chase served in the Ninth Regiment Infantry of the United States Colored Troops, Maryland Voluntary Company H, as a Corporal. He enlisted on November 25, 1866, and was discharged on November 26, 1866. David inherited property from his mother upon her death. David Chase died before the 1890 census was taken of USC Troops. The property was later owned by Thomas, Joseph, and Lucy Wright Joseph.