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Note from the Chase Chronicles - Jan. 1915
A CHASE FOUNDED TOPEKA, KANSAS
"It occurred to me that the part my own paternal grandfather played in the
early days in Kansas, might be of some slight interest to the family of
Chase at large.
Necessarily I must give but a brief sketch of the substantial parts thereof.
Enoch Chase (my grandfather) was born in Newburyport, Mass., August 29,
1824. In the fall of 1854 he emigrated to Kansas, under the auspices of the
New England Emigrant Aid Society, and, with Jacob Chase and several other
men, they built the first log house where now stands the city of Topeka, the
Capitol of Kansas. They were therefore, the founders of Topeka. I am told by
my father, that there were then no railroads west of Kansas City, Missouri,
some fifty miles away, and that grandfather and his party went overland in
covered wagons. Shortly thereafter this first party was joined by another,
and they spent the winter in their log cabins. The next spring they were
joined by their families and began that development of Kansas that later led
to the warfare to make Kansas a free, rather than a slave state, which
finally culminated in the war of the rebellion.
Coming from the state of Massachusetts, it is perhaps needless for me to say
that Enoch Chase was a free state advocate in no uncertain way, and entered
vigorously into the fight that gave his new home the name of "Bleeding
Kansas." He was in the battle of the Blue, where the Kansas pioneers
defended their new homes from the Confederate General Price, and they never
wavered in the struggle for freedom, until that great issue was finally
decided on the right side.
Before his death, at Topeka, April 24, 1888, Enoch Chase became the owner of
valuable properties in eastern Kansas. His wife was Mary Jane Dunlap, of
Brunswick, Maine, and they had two children, Isabel Chase, who married in
1866, the soldier war governor of Kansas, Samuel J. Crawford, who died in
1913, the last surviving war governor, and George Sidney Chase, my father,
who was identified with the Kansas Bar for many years, and later a member of
the Bar of the District of Columbia, and the Supreme Court of the United
States.
Isabel Chase Crawford, the widow of Samuel J. Crawford, still lives in
Topeka, and her daughter, Florence Crawford Capper, the granddaughter of
Enoch Chase, is the wife of the new Governor-elect of Kansas, Mr. Athur
Capper, publisher and owner of the largest state paper, The Topeka Daily
Capital.
The foregoing is not at all intended as a biography of the life of Enoch
Chase, but merely as a short general sketch, that may be of possible
interest to the readers of the Chase/Chace Family Journal.
Enoch Chase was a son of Nathanael Chase, who was born at Newburyport,
Mass., (I think) October 11, 1800. His mother, the wife of Nathanael, was
Maria Dole, who married Nathanael Chase, April 18, 1822."
Very Truly Yours
Enoch Aquila Chase
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Chase Chronicles - July 1927
OLD HOME PASSES
Chase house center of many early Topeka functions. It stood nearly seventy
years at Fifth and Van Buren. Was built of native stone. Enoch Chase one of
six founders of capital city. He and his wife were widely known for
hospitality.
By Josephine Whipple
"It was an old house, durable of materials and more durable of construction.
Built by Enoch Chase in 1858, it stood a month ago, as a chronicle, to those
who knew it of early Kansas -- its struggles, its wars and finally of its
admission; of Topeka, its struggles, its controversies, and finally its
gaining of the title of "state capital."
Located on the southwest corner of Fifth and Van Buren streets, it came to
be the social center of Topeka and, indeed, for this section of Kansas. It
was large and spacious for that time. It was a two story house, an unusual
thing for the homes of the fifties. Many of the details in the construction
were extraordinary in that in those days the simpler the construction, the
more practical was the edifice. The entire house was built with double
flooring and an added feature was the double door ways in the downstairs.
The house was built of native stone, stone which was quarried from the
Topeka rock quarry, one of the first industries established in the city. The
large, irregular stones were durably put together with the mortar made of
horse hair and lime.
Mr. and Mrs. Chase came to Kansas as a bride and bridegroom from
Massachusetts. They located near the present site of Topeka and Mr. Chase
joined the six men who actually founded the town. Accordingly he became a
member of the first town company and later established the first bank in
Topeka.
The Chases were typical old settlers with the eastern characteristics.
Mr.Chase, exceedingly kind and likable, and Mrs. Chase, a splendid cook,
were known for miles around for their hospitality -- hospitality that
exemplified itself in the little things as well as the big, in private and
public dealings. The family consisted of a son and a daughter who were
Chases in every sense of the name.
So, situated in the heart of what came to be the capital of one of the most
interesting states of the Union that old home has witnessed the making of
history for these seventy years. A landmark of the city, necessarily giving
way to the rush of progress, the old stone house will stand out in the
memory of the old settlers to whom it became so familiar."
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