Chase, Harvey

The following data is extracted from Merrimack and Sullivan Counties, New Hampshire Biographies.

Harvey Chase, a successful farmer and lumberman of Hopkinton, was born here, on Clement's Hill, April 3, 1829, son of Enoch J. and Sarah (Holmes) Chase. Enoch Chase moved to Concord, and in 1840 settled down again in Hopkinton on the farm now owned by his son. He bought a tract of land containing six hundred acres, lying along the Contoocook River, for five thousand dollars. This place was the old Folsom farm, which was considered quite an important piece of property, the buildings of which were erected by Mr. Folsom as they now stand. The location, known as the Chase Hill, commands a fine view of the surrounding country. Included in the purchase was Pond Mill, the site of which is now occupied by another mill. The tract was heavily timbered and a valuable one. Lumbering was Enoch's main dependence, and in this he was prosperous. Here he resided for some years. He died at his daughter's place in St. Johnsbury, Vt., October 16, 1879, at the age of seventy-eight. His second wife, Nancy Johnson Chase, was the widow of another Mr. Chase before her marriage to Enoch Chase. Her death in Wilmot, at the age of seventy-seven, preceded that of Enoch.

Harvey remained with his father until about twenty-three years of age, when he left the farm and passed nine years in Concord and two years in Chichester. From Chichester he returned to the old farm. He has here carried on general farming and lumbering, making somewhat of a specialty of the latter. He has added to the place, so that it now contains about a thousand acres and lies on both sides of the Contoocook River. He has rebuilt the mill, and operates it according to demand. The timber is very valuable, and the new growth quickly becomes available on account of its rapid increase. He recently sold the stumpage on two hundred acres for sixteen thousand five hundred dollars.

He has always shown himself to be a public-spirited man, and has filled many offices of trust. In 1852-53 he was Selectman and in 1854 Councilman. In 1879 he was elected to the State legislature. He is not actively identified with church interests, but his wife is a stirring worker in the Methodist Episcopal church. He has always been a stanch Republican.

Mr. Chase was married March 16, 1852, to Martha R., daughter of Charles C. and Olive (Crockett) Bennett. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett, both natives of Freedom, N.H., were married in that town, and settled on a farm in Concord when Martha was two years old. The latter Freedom, July 9, 1834. Her mother lived with her after Martha's marriage, and died November 19, 1896, at the advanced age of eighty. Mr. and Mrs. Chase have two children, a son and a daughter. The son, Fred Harvey Chase, is with the family on the farm, and also has a steam-mill at Gilsum, near Keene. He is quite a successful business man. The daughter, Mattie Olive Chase, after graduating from the Warner High School, took a training-school course, and afterward taught for four years in the Concord schools. She was married March 17, 1897, to Joseph Newton Abbott, son of Isaac N. Abbott, of Concord. Two other children of Mr. Chase were: Mary Jane, who died aged fourteen; and Georgiana, who died when ten years old. Fred Harvey Chase, the only son, who resides with his parents, owns a steam-mill at Gilsum, near Keene. He was married March 10, 1897, to Lillian Idella Jackman, of Concord, daughter of Enoch and Mary E. (Moody) Jackman. She graduated at the Concord High School, was subsequently a student of the Concord Normal School and a teacher of the Walker School in that city. Mr. Chase, Sr., who is one of the sturdy, reliable, and hearty sort of men, has made a splendid success of his material life. He stands high in the regard of his townsmen, and well deserves the confidence and respect of all.

Source: Merrimack and Sullivan Counties, New Hampshire Biographies

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