Sunday, February 10, 2019

Thomas Chase 1679-1767 and Sarah Gowell




Thomas Chase was born Yarmouth, (in an area that is now Dennis) Barnstable County, Massachusetts on 20 August 1679. He was the son of John Chase (son William 2, William 1) and Elizabeth (Baker). He is my 7th great-grandfather on my grandmother Milly (Booth) Rollins’ side of the family.

Thomas married about 1703 Sarah Gowell, born circa 1692, the daughter of Richard and Hannah (Remick) Gowell of Kittery (in area of Massachusetts that became Maine). Their marriage record isn’t found but Sarah is called Sarah Chase in her father’s 1729 will and she named one of her twin sons Gowell and her eldest daughter Hannah. 

Sarah is maddeningly invisible—I have found no birth, marriage or death record for her. But we do know she had nine children recorded at Yarmouth (now Dennis):

Twins Gowell (“Guell”)  and Samuel, born 22 January 1708
Hannah, born 24 May 1712
Phebe, born 4 July 1713
Richard, born 3 March 1715
Joseph, born 17 March 1717/18
Priscilla, born 10 April 1720
Sarah, born 20 May 1722
Abner, 22 June 1729

I descend from Richard who married Thankful Berry. I wrote about this couple here.

A Thomas Chase, not positive this Thomas, received  7.5 shares in 1712 division of common lands and land at Crocket's Neck  (now Dennis Port) in a 1739 division of lands.

Thomas was a church Deacon. He died 20 November 1767 and is buried at the Ancient/Town Hall Cemetery in South Dennis. His slate stone in adorned with skull and wings and reads: Mr. Thomas Chase Died Novemr ye 20th 1767 Aged 88 years & 3 months.





Thomas Chase's stone


There is no stone nearby for Sarah. But the cemetery has hundreds of gravesites but very few surviving stones. There is a large slate stone near Thomas but the inscription is completely eroded.

I have read that Sarah died in 1726 but that's inaccurate. Her son Abner is born in 1729. The gap in years between Sarah and Abner’s births made me wonder if perhaps Abner was the son of an unknown second wife of Thomas Chase. But Sarah is named as Sarah Chase in her father’s December 1729 will, so she definitely didn’t die in 1726. 

If anyone has additional information on Thomas and Sarah, I'd very much like to hear from you. 


Sources:
"Some of the Descendants of William Chase of Roxbury and Yarmouth, Mass., contributed by John Carroll Chase, compiled for him by George Walter Chamberlain, NEHGR, January 1933

"The Yarmouth Family of Chase," Library of Cape Cod History & Genealogy, No. 59, CW Swift, publisher, Yarmouthport, MA, 1913,



3 comments:

  1. I have Thomas Chase's will that came up in
    Ancestry.com dated 1767. He mentions Sarah as his well beloved wife and leave her "the use and empowerment of all my estate... personal for her comfort and...so long as she remains my wife. She was probably alive then. so I am placing her death after 1767. The page is hard to read so maybe I'm missing something in not being able to read ALL the pages pertaining to his will while being probated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't seen Thomas' will and don't currently subscribe to Ancestry, so that you for sharing. If you would be able to email it to me, I'd love to see it. tessiecami@gmail.com.
      Thank you,
      Chris

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    2. Also, regarding Thomas' will, he lists his children and spouses as well. So she must have been living long enough for the children to be these ages and in his will.

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I'm now moderating comments on this blog. My apologies for any ensuing delays, but the large number of "spam" comments have made this necessary. ~Chris