Nathaniel B. Chase was born at Liberty Corners, 

 town of Cohocton, this county, Dec. 13, 1814. His father, 

 Thomas C. Chase, was a native of Berkshire Co , Mass., 

 and while a young man settled in Pompey, Onondaga Co., 

 N. Y., where he married Malinda, daughter of Nathaniel 

 Butts, of that place. She was a native of Canterbury, 

 Conn., born in 1790, and with her parents removed first to 

 Massachusetts, and when she was sixteen years of age the 

 family settled in Pompey. 



Of this union were born in the town of Pompey, Levi 

 C. Chase, of Lima, Livingston Co., N. Y. ; Mrs. Dr. 

 Washington Day (deceased), of Arcade, Wyoming Co. 



The family removed from Pompey and settled in the town 

 of Cohocton, Steuben Co., in 1812, and purchased a farm, a 

 portion of which now forms a part of the village of Liberty, 

 and through which the Rochester branch of the Erie Rail- 

 road runs. Nearly all of this farm was cleared by Mr. 

 Chase, senior. At the time of his settlement at what is 

 now Liberty Village there was only a single log house, hence 

 the Chase family were among the pioneers of that part of the 

 county. In 1837 he sold his farm at Liberty, removed to 

 Chautauqua County, and died the same year, aged fifty-two. 

 His wife survived him thirty-six years, and died at the resi- 

 dence of her son, in Avoca, in 1873, aged eighty-four. 



Their children born in the town of Cohocton were Na- 

 thaniel B., subject of this narrative ; Aurilla (died in 

 infancy); Mrs. Franklin Day (deceased), of Bufi'alo ; 

 Dwight W., of Elcador, Iowa ; Amos W. (deceased) ; 

 Josiah (died in infancy). 



Mr. Chase received the opportunities of the common 

 school only until he was ten years of age. At the age of 

 seventeen he went as an apprentice to learn the milling 

 business; after one year he worked as journeyman for 

 several years. In 1846 he purchased the Liberty Mills, 



which he carried on for some three years, and removed to 

 Avoca, purchased a grist-mill and saw-mill, and after four 

 years engaged in business with those interests disposed of 

 them, since which time has been engaged in farming, and 

 quite largely in real-estate. For nine years, beginning 

 with 1866, he was depot agent at Avoca, which position 

 his son, Thomas C, has since occupied. 



Mr. Chase was originally a member of the Democratic 

 party, but upon the formation of the Republican party 

 became a supporter of its principles. He has never been 

 active in politics, but ever interested in questions affecting 

 local and State legislation. In 1877-78 he represented his 

 town in the Board of Supervisors, besides which he has 

 never held office, desiring rather the quiet of business to 

 political preferment. 



His life has been one of activity, and in his business 

 operations he has been generally successful. Unaided pe- 

 cuniarily when young and beginning a business career, he 

 learned by necessity those lessons of economy and prudence 

 not uncommon to our early self-reliant men, which formed 

 the basis of his business life. In 1834 he married Deborah, 

 daughter of Amos Stiles, of Livingston Co., N. Y. She was 

 born in Pompey, Onondaga Co., in 1818. Their children 

 were Thomas C, of Avoca ; Mrs. Dr. D. S. Allen, of Seneca, 

 Ontario Co. ; Ida Bell (died at the age of three years) ; 

 and an adopted daughter, Libbie Vrooman. The mother 

 died Feb. 7, 1872, having been a devoted member of the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church for the past twenty years. 



Born in the county, Mr. Chase has lived to see the forest 

 of the Cohocton Valley give way to industry of the settlers 

 and agriculturists; the rude log school-houses and churches 

 supplanted by fine architectural and costly edifices ; machinery 

 of all kinds take the place of manual labor ; and a country 

 prepared for the third and coming generations to occupy. 



