March, 1842. 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



40 



necessarily destructive of the subjects to which 

 they are applied. We cannot take the separate 

 elements Irom the analyses of a plant, a manure, 

 or a soil, and put them togetlier again like the 

 pieces ofa dissected map. We can easily infer 

 from a thousand facts, which chemistry has al- 

 ready disclosed, how iiiucli depends upon the 

 form of combination of the most simple elements; 

 and when we consider of what an almost infinite 

 number of permutations and combinations a few 

 simple substances admit, we perceive difficulties 

 in the nature of the case which must certainly 

 very much qualify our confidence of success. 

 They sliouldat least check all haste in our con- 

 clusions, and disarm all severity of judgment in 

 respect to the conclusions of others, how much 

 soever these may difler from our own. Truth 

 should be our great and only object. Philoso- 

 phy stimulates to the |)ursuit of it as the most 

 precious of all gems. Nothing shoidd abate our 

 zeal ; nothing should discourage our efforts in 

 the search. Fifty years ago chemistry was 

 hardly known as a science. Now, what tri- 

 imiphs has it accomplished, and what a world of 

 wonders has it opened to our view ! In its appli- 

 cation to agricultme it presents itself as the nat- 

 ural solvent of its now difficult mysteries. Its 

 whole tendency and aim, in this matter, unlike 

 many other of its applications, are to confer un- 

 mixed good upon mankind It discloses to our 

 adoration more and more of those mighty ope- 

 rations ofa beneficent Providence, by which, in 

 an unbroken circle of dt- |)endence and subservi- 

 ency, the most offensive substances are con- 

 verted into all that is nutritive, delicious, and 

 beautiful. It shows us how, by the exact and 

 wonderful combination ofa thousand subtile in- 

 fluences in the earth, the air, the rain, the light, 

 the dew, daily and hoin-ly the table of the Divine 

 bounty is spread forall that live; and not one of 

 his great family is, by the master of the feast, ever 

 sent empty away. 



Remiuisceuces of Bishop Chase. 



The venerable Liisliop Chase, who lias been a 

 pioneer in the cause of Episcopacy, first as a 

 missionary in western New York, when that 

 State was comparatively a wilderness — after- 

 wa;ds in Louisiana soon after the [lurchase of 

 that country from France — still later in Ohio, 

 where by his perseverance he bas founded a col- 

 lege with ample funds solicited by him hi per.son 

 in Europe and elsewhere — and last of all in the 

 wilds of Illinois, where he has pitched in a "log 

 cabin with a clay chimney" under the quaint 

 cognomen of the " Robin's Nest" — is the young- 

 est child of one of the most remarkable (amilies 

 ever produced in the Granite State. In the chil- 

 dren of one mother there probably never has 

 been so many distinguished for talents and en- 

 terprise as the fourteen Chases, who were the 

 sons and daughters of Dudley Chase, that old 

 first settler of the town of Cornish. 



Bishop Chase, in a periodical pamphlet which 

 he is issuing frotn the press at Peorin, Illinois, 

 gives an account and history of his own fiiinily 

 and name, and some of the remarkable events 

 and vicissitudes in his own personal history. 

 The family name of Chase in some parts of the 

 country is almost as numerous as that of Smith : 

 it is probable the most of this name may be trac- 

 ed bacu to the man born in England two hun- 

 dred and twenty-two years ago. The Bishop 

 bas done well to preserve in print what tradition 

 has brought down as the history of their great 

 progenitor. It seems his first pitch was within 

 the limits of New Ham|)shire, at Hampton ; and 

 he was induced to change his position and be- 

 come the first regular commander of a ship that 

 ever sailed from the mouth of Merrimack river 

 by some pecuniary rewards. The incidents con- 

 nected with the first Chase after his arrival in 

 this country will be interesting to all those who 

 trace with .a curious eye the rise and progress of 

 the more mniierous family iiames which have 

 descended from the pilgrims' 



But not the least interesting piut of the Bish- 

 op's reminiscences is that which relates to his 

 own father and mother and his numerous broth- 

 ers and sisters, with the first settlement of one 

 of those beautiful towns on Connecticut river, in 

 which have been born and bred men nud women 

 who have done honor to the age in which they 

 lived, and whose homes and firesides remain as 

 the abodes of the greatest amount nf human 



intelligence. The fourteen children of Dudley 

 Chase, vviio first pitched down, away from all 

 travelled roads and almost beymid the call of 

 neighbors in "a forest of the largest and tallest 

 trees," deserve a more extended noticu than we 

 can here give them: we have personally known 

 several of the males and some of the females in 

 the line of this family ; and this acquaintance has 

 been among those events which convince us that 

 not only superior physical powers hut greatly in- 

 creased powers of intellect often descend through 

 several generations of the same family. 



We copy the first chapter of the Reminiscences 

 of Bishop Chase, believing that all our readers 

 will be interested in the events and scenes which 

 it describes. — Ed. F. M. Visitor. 



CHAPTER I. 



Aquila Chase, according to a tradition among 

 his descendants, was a native of Cornwall, in 

 England, and was born in 1618. It is certain 

 from the records of the town of Newbury, at the 

 mouth of Merrimack river, that he was the first 

 captain who in a regular vessel ever sailed into 

 that port. By reason of his nautical skill and 

 enterprising character, he received an invitation 

 fro;n the inhabitants of that infant settlement to 

 bring his family from Hampton, not far off. where 

 they had lived a few years on coming to America, 

 and make his home among them ; and to ensure 

 his compliance, the '■^sekdmen," who acted as 

 (what is called in other places than New Eng- 

 land) a loion council, tendered him the donation 

 of several lots of land and some other immuni- 

 ties. He complied with their wishes and became 

 an inhabitant of that then promising maritime 

 village. 



It appears from the records which the writer 

 caused to be examined in Newburyport in 1826, 

 that Capt. Aquila Chase had several children 

 and an affectionate wife, who made liome to him 

 more than onlinarily agreeable. Connected 

 with these fiicts and circumstances there are re- 

 corded on the town books many events, which, 

 being i>ut together, fully justify in its main fea- 

 tures the truth of the following singular story of 

 this venerable ancestor of most of the New Eng- 

 land Chases. 



It appears that the captain and his indnstrious 

 family had improved the lots, which had been 

 presented to him by the "selectmen," into a 

 pretty garden ; and while the enterprising and 

 hardy parent was at sea, buffeting the waves and 

 enduring the hardships of a voyage across the 

 Atlantic, the wife and children felt that they 

 could do no less than try to tnake him comforta- 

 ble on his return and during his stay (short enough 

 always) on shore. 



It happened on a year of peculiar vernal for- 

 wardness in gardening, after the captain had 

 been absent a great part of the winter, and had 

 del.iyed his return beyond the expected time, 

 that this most affectionate family mutually con- 

 ferred together on the great question how they 

 could most acceptably, by their skill in garden- 

 ing, welcome his return whom of all earthly 

 beings they loved most. The boys proposed to 

 force forward the potatoes ; the girls thought 

 that the sweet flowers of May would please him 

 best ; but the mother observed that she knew of 

 something which would gratify him more than 

 all. " Green peas are your "father's favorite," 

 said she ; "and it is my wish that we try to force 

 them forward to the utmost of our power." 



There was somelhing more than th;it which 

 met the eye in this expression. Mrs. Chase had 

 often heard her husband complain of the danger 

 to bodily health, in long voyages at sea, from the 

 want of vegetable diet ; for acids at that era 

 were not known as means to obviate this evil. 

 She therefore could not but mingle with the mo- 

 tives which prompted her to treat her husband 

 with kindness, in presenting him with the first 

 fruits of her ganlen on his arrival, something be- 

 side the mere pleasure of seeing him regale his 

 ajipetite, and tliat was a settled conviction that 

 the same would be for his health. " He must 

 have been a long time at sea," said she to her 

 children, when cultivating the favorite bed of 

 peas; "and who knows but this precaution may 

 not prevent some deadly disease ?" 



Never were children more mindful of a pa- 

 rent's commands than were those of CajJt. Chase 

 in all things relating to the cultivation of the gar- 

 den peas meant to greet him on his expected ar- 

 rival. The dark green vines of this delicious 



vegetable grew apace ; the flowers put forth, and 

 the pods formed and swelled ; and, just as they 

 were ready to pluck, a vessel was seen crowding 

 all her sails to get into port. 



It was Sunday morning. The news came that 

 she had passed the bar; then that Capt. Chase 

 himself had been descritd as if giving cheerful 

 orders to his men ; — again it was reported that 

 lie had arrived and laid his ship Hong side of JVeic- 

 buru 014 tvharf. 



This indeed was a reality, and the grateful 

 father was soon on shore, "snrronuded by his 

 sons— full of talk, of questions, and of glee. "But 

 it is the Sabbath," said the youngest boy ; " we 

 must not talk loud ; the deacon will hear us if 

 wp. do." "Suppose he do, my child," said the 

 father, tenderly embracing him; "God hears us 

 too, and knows our hearts and thoughts, and how 

 thankful we all are for being perniitted, after so 

 ong a voyage, to meet in peace and health." 



As they were walking to their home another 

 of his sons said, " Dear father, it will give mother 

 a great deal of pleasure to see you." " I hope 

 so, my son." " But she will be additionally hap- 

 py when she sees you eat lier green peas." " What 

 green peas ?" said the captain. " Some that we 

 have all been raising, at mother's particular re- 

 quest, to regale you on your arrival. No one 

 else in Newbury has any half so forward. Yes. 

 they are ready, mother said, to pick this moment; 

 and when we came away she said she wished 

 you liad come on a week day, for then you 

 should have them for dinner." "Suppose we 

 were yet to have them ?" said the father. " Did 

 not the disciples of our Lord pluck the ears of 

 corn, and rub them in their hands, and eat them 

 too, on the Sabbath day ; and may we not pick, 

 and eat the green peas without incurring the di- . 

 vine displeasure ?" 



This was reported to the ears of the mother, 

 and consent was obtained to prepare the peas. 

 -And now comes the difficulty. Some one who 

 was going home from "meeting," (for it was 

 thought sinful to say "going home from cAurcA" 

 in those days) saw the captain's family in the 

 garden on the Sabbath day, and that they were 

 gathering peas ! The next day he was cited to 

 ap[>ear before the minister. The captain plead 

 his own cause — it seems one against many — and 

 cited the passage alluded to in his justification. 

 At the close he alleged that he had been long at 

 .sea, and that the peas were necessary to his bod- 

 ily health, and would be adjudged so by the phy- 

 sicians. It was unfortunate for him that he at- 

 tempted to draw a contrast between his accusers 

 and the ancient Scribes and Pharisees. This 

 shut the door of mercy on him, and they pro- 

 nounced him "guilty." They did not punish 

 him corporeally, as in those days was common, 

 with "forty stripes save one," but they laid a 

 heavy fine upon him, and compelled him to pay. 



It does not appear that Capt. Chase retained 

 any ill will towards the people of Newbury oa 

 account of this treatment: on the contrary, all 

 his descendants have had and still have a tradi- 

 tionary affection for the place and its inhabitants, 

 where their venerable ancestor was invited to re- 

 side, and where he spent so many of his happi- 

 est days. 



Moses, the youngest son of Aquila Chase, was 

 born the 24ih of December, IG63. He married 

 Ann Follansbee, November 10, 1684, and had 

 many children. His first was Daniel, born Sept. 

 20, 1685. He (Daniel) moved to Sutton, and 

 married Sarah March, .January 2, 1707. This 

 couple, also, had many children. Their first 

 born was Samuel, who married Mary Dudley ; 

 and these were the grand-parents of the writer 

 of this memoir. Their seccnd son, Dudley, was 

 the writer's father, who married Alice Corbett, 

 of Mendou, August 23, 1753. They lived in Sut- 

 ton about ten years, and then moved to New 

 Hampshire, where, having obtained the grant, 

 from Governor Bowdoin, of a township of land 

 on Connecticut river, they settled, and called it 

 Cornish, in honor of the parent country of their 

 common ancestor. 



This happened previously to any eeltlementg 

 being made to the northward of Charlestovvn, 

 then called Fort No. 4, on the fore-mentioned 

 river Connecticut, which divides Vermont from 

 New Hampshire. The writer's father, Dudley 

 Chase, the second son of Samuel Chase, vyas the 

 first, with his family, tlien consisting of his wife 

 and seven children, to take possession of the soil, 



