CHASE, Alvin Wood
Research by Margaret A. Leary. Last updated April 8, 2012.; May 17, 2012; April 15,
2013
1817 born in New York (Census) in Cayuga County NY to Benjamin Chase (17871847) and Abigail Mason (1793-1853). Further biographical information in
Chapman, below.
1828: Family moves to Buffalo (source?)
1830 (CHECK CENSUS—STILL WORKING ON IT—ONLY GIVES HEAD OF
HOUSEHOLD.
1834: “On Maumee River” This river runs from IN but probably he was in OH see
1840 census below.
1840 Federal Census:
Alvin W. Chase; Summerfield township; Raisinville; Monroe County, MI
This census does not list people by name, but by sex and age range.
MALES: 1 under 5; 1 between 30-40; 1 50-60.
FEMALES: 2 betw. 5-10; 1 betw. 10-15; 1 betw. 15-20; 1 betw. 30-40.
1841: April 22, marries Martha Shutts
1842 Celestie born; dies in 1904 (Callison family tree)
1844: Winfield died (gravestone)
1845 Oliver B. Chase born; dies 1846 (Callison family tree; gravestone)
Chase Timeline and bio April 8, 2012 rev. May 17, 2012
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1848: Ella Chase born; died 1879 per Callison family tree. Is this the Ella Marshall
gravestone? (But then who is Celia, also born 1848 per Callison? Twins?)
Oct. 22, 1849: Celia died (gravestone) (born 1848 per Callison family tree)
1850 Federal census:
Abram W. chase b. 1817 N.Y. [Could be Alvan]. Carpenter
Home in 1850: Jefferson Township, Muskingum County, OH (near Zanesville)
Abram, 33; Martha b. N.Y. 28; Cliste 8 attending school; Eveline 1.
[What happened to the boy under 5 in 1840?]
1854: Winifred B. Chase born; dies 1855 (Callison family tree)
1855: Charles A. Chase born; dies Jan 7, 1860 (birth date from Callison family tree;
death from gravestone.
1856 [AMABAB] AWC in Ann Arbor at age 39.
1858 [AMABAB] AWC earns MD in Cincinnati; publishes Guide to Wealth
1859: Ernest [Earnest] L. Chase born; died in 1931 (Ohio death records)
1860 [Federal Census]:
AWC, Martha and 4 kids (Celestia, 18; Eve A., 10; Ella, 8; Ernest [sic] 1; Anna
Schultz, 19. and helper in Ann Arbor; Census says living in Ann Arbor Ward 1
but not in AA City Directory for 1860. NOTE CHARLES died Jan. 7 1860
(grave monument in Forest Hills) so would not have been noted on census.
1861: Daughter Celestie Chase marries N. Steele of Ypsilanti in Ann Arbor (Michigan
Argus Jan. 11, 1861 per Lampert index)
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Chase Timeline and bio April 8, 2012 rev. May 17, 2012
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1863 [AMABAB] Cr. Chase’s Recipe Book published, 384 pages
1865 [AMABAB] AWC buys Peninsular Courier; in 3 years triples size of printing
plant.
1865: U.S. IRS tax list:
Alvin W. Chase. Bank or Book? Valuation $2833; tax rate 5%; tax amount
131.65.
Alvin W. Chase, Bill Hisses [??]; Valuation $115; tax rate 6%; tax 6.90.
Total: $138.55
1866: Lorena Chase born (Callison family tree)
1868 [AMABAB] Big December party at printing plant
1868 AA City Directory shows AWC and Plant, res at 4 West Catherine & Main
1869 [AMABAB] Aug. 30 Beal and Chase agree to sale; information is in 9-3-1869
paper.
1870 FEDERAL CENSUS: AWC in Sauk Rapids MN with wife Martha and one
infant with another name.
A. W. Chase, 53, hotel keeper.
Martha, 48, keeping house.
Fred Boulter, age 1, born MN
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Chase Timeline and bio April 8, 2012 rev. May 17, 2012
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Earnest, 11, attending school
John Syms, 23, born N.Y.. [can’t read profession]
Domestic servants: George Scott, Margaret Cavanaugh, Kate Cary, Lena Jasper,
Belle Powell, Jane H. Fanny.
James H. Foral, 20, teamster
Jim Young, 31, granite cutter.
ALSO LIVING IN SAUK RAPIDS, family 65 (Chase’s are family 72)
Park S. Beal, b. Mich 1843, age 27
Eugene E. Beal, age 24, b. Michigan
1872 [AMABAB] Sept. AWC forms Ann Arbor Printing and Publishing, prints in Ann
Arbor
1872 AA City Directory shows Chase Book Publisher, 25 South Division
1873: Anna Belle Chase, who died in1954 (Callison family tree)
1875 (AMABAB?) says MI Sup Ct finds for Beal
1878 (AMABAB) AWC “hawking from Ann Arbor”
1880 Federal Census:
AWC, 63, in 3d ward Ann Arbor (June 7, 1880). A Widower; wife Martha died
of consumption.
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Chase Timeline and bio April 8, 2012 rev. May 17, 2012
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Living with Celestie, 38, a seamstress and divorced
Ernst, 21, grocery clerk,
Lorene E 14 in school. NB: Her parents are shown as Father b. MI, Mother b.
OH. IS THIS A DIFFERENT MOTHER, or a mistake? (Martha was born NY?)
Mary McNally, 20
Martha is listed, then crossed out and marked “dead.”
1883-1884 (Toledo City directory): AWC in Toledo at 147 Superior
5-25-1885 (AMABAB) AWC dies in Ohio
1900 FEDERAL CENSUS
Ernest L. Chase, 41, b. Jan. 1859 in MI.
Residence: Jackson MI; Occupation Prisoner; married 1880, been married 20
years. Father b. NY, Mother b. OH. All other residents are men.
Per records in Archives of Michigan, he pled guilty of assault with intent to
kill and murder in Detroit in 1896 and was sentenced to hard labor for life; went to
Jackson in 1897; was out on parole in 1903, and completely released in 1907. [Need
to find out more about this assault; have not checked Detroit papers. Court records
have no details at all; people tell me no hope of finding police records]
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Chase Timeline and bio April 8, 2012 rev. May 17, 2012
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1910 Federal Census
E. L. Chase, no age, Troy Ward 1, Concord Township, Miami OH, 201 Main St.
[Miami is in 7th county south of OH-MI line, 2d county east of OH-IN line.]
White, male, lodger, single, no age given. Parent both born “USA”
Bookkeeper at wagon works; not out of work on 4-15-1910.
Other lodgers mix of men and women age 19-71.
[NOT AT ALL SURE THIS IS ERNEST L. CHASE]
1930 Federal Census
Earnest L. Chase, age 71 b. about 1859. INMATE, Staunton, Miami OH. Father
b. NY, Mother born Penn. He is divorced. Other prisoners men and women.
1931 Ernest L. Chase dies (Printed record at Bentley must have left in purple folder)
in Ohio, same place he was an inmate in 1930. [Want to know more about this
institution, why he was there, was it prison or poor house or what?]
CHAPMAN: History of Washtenaw County, 1881
Entry for AWC p. 972-973
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Chase Timeline and bio April 8, 2012 rev. May 17, 2012
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Alvin Wood Chase, physician and author of the celebrated Dr. Chase’s Receipt Book,
was born in Cayuga County, N.Y. in 1817, the son of Benjamin Chase of
Massachusetts. When Alvin was 11 years old his parents located near Buffalo, N.Y.
where he grew to manhood, receiving a very limited education in a log schoolhouse.
His desire for knowledge was so great, coupled with an ambition peculiar to his
naturally energetic disposition, that he far outstripped his more dilatory
companions of that humble institute of learning. When 17 years old he left N.Y. and
found employment on the Maumee River, in the meantime devoting his spare
moments to study. In 1840 he located in Dresden Ohio where, during the spring of
1841 he married Martha Shutts, daughter of Henry and Martha Shutts, natives of
New York. To this noble and high-minded wife and mother may be attributed much
of the success that followed Dr. Chase during his long and successful career. From
the days of his boyhood the Doctor always evinced a desire to study medicine, and
accordingly awaited with impatience the time when he might become a member of
the medical fraternity. After many wanderings he settled in Ann Arbor in 1856
where he was able to prosecute his studies. He attended lectures and studied
laboriously in 1857 and 1858 in the meantime graduating from the Eclectic Institute
of Cincinnati. Prior to 1869 he traveled over a large portion of the Union, practicing
his profession and acquiring valuable knowledge by practical experience, a good
foundation for the wonderful book which afterward gained such great celebrity. His
1st edition proved a great success and placed him on the high road to fortune.
In 1864 he built the first part of that magnificent structure that still bears his
name, at the corner of Maine [sic] and Miller Avenue competed in 1868. At this latter
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Chase Timeline and bio April 8, 2012 rev. May 17, 2012
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date some 50 hands found constant and remunerative employment, and the
hospitality and liberality of the Doctor to his employees and the citizens of Ann
Arbor were always the subject of admiring comment. In 1873 he published his
second edition which sold 60,000 copies. A few years ago Dr. Chase was considered
one of the wealthiest citizens of Ann Arbor; losses by thousands and tens of
thousands have reduced his finances, but in heart, action, and manliness of purpose
he is an example of what perseverance and indomitable will may accomplish. Long
identified with the Methodist Church; once nominated for Mayor of Ann Arbor, but
his business compelled him to decline the honor. The storms of life have swept with
almost resistless fury around the now aged physician and a few of the prejudices
that characterize the human family have perhaps found a resting place within the
heart of this philanthropist, and yet when the last chapter shall have been entered in
the ledger of life, the account will probably have been equally balanced….they may
say “he lived with malice toward none and charity to all.”
CHAPMAN History of Washtenaw County, 1881 entry for
Eugene R. Beal (p. 963) Born in Livingston County MI, the son of Emory and Sophia
Rice Beal, in 1846. He worked in Beal and Field Dry Goods in Dexter and lived in Ann
Arbor, then went with his 2 brothers to Sauk Rapids MN and established the Beal
Brothers business. He stayed 7 years, was sheriff and on the County Board of
Commissioners. Then he returned to Ann Arbor and entered the publishing house of
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Chase Timeline and bio April 8, 2012 rev. May 17, 2012
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Dr. Chase’s Receipt Book and Ann Arbor COURIER, as cashier and bookkeeper. In
1870 he married Lutilla Keith of Dexter and they have two children, Elmer and Rice.
TOLEDO CITY DIRECTORY 1883-1884 p. 731
PHYSICIANS includes Chase, A W 147 Superior
Also includes Chase Publishing Company, Fort Industry Block, capital $100,000.
Incorporated May 23, 1873. President Charles A. Green, V.P. A. W. Hamilton,
resident of Ann Arbor, Secretary and Treasurer B. F. Jervis, auditor, Ann Arbor
Toledo and GT Ry, res. 212 10th.
p. 198; Chase Alvan [sic] W, Physician and Author of Dr. Chase’s recipes or
Information for Everybody, also Dr. Chase’s Family Physician, Farrier, Beekeeper
and 2nd Receipt Book, office and res 147 Superior
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