Chase Family Tree

In this post, I'm going to focus on Jeremiah Thomas McGlew's wife, Martha Luella (Chase) McGlew, and the Chase family tree.   

Click HERE for a larger image of this chart.

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Martha Luella Chase was born in Groveland MA, on July 26, 1874.  Her parents were Charles Chase and Mary (or Abby) Ricker Chase.  She seems to have gone by her middle name, Luella, throughout her life, often being named in various public records as "M. Luella Chase."  

Luella married Jeremiah McGlew in December of 1889.   Their marriage record states her age as 18, but according to her birth certificate, she would have actually been 15 when she wed (and Jeremiah would have been thirty).  They went on to have nine children together, including Winfred McGlew, our direct ancestor.  

While searching for information on Luella, I stumbled across a community cookbook called The Rowley Cook Book: True and Tried Recipes, which was published in 1922 and consisted of recipes contributed by women of Rowley, MA and "Arranged by the Historical Society for the benefit of restoring the Platts-Bradstreet House."  Luella's contributions to this cookbook were: 

PLAIN MOLASSES COOKIES — 1-2 cup sugar , 1-2 cup shortening, 1 cup molasses , 1 teaspoon salt, 2-3 cup cold water, 2 rounding teaspoons soda, 1 teaspoon ginger.  Mix sugar, molasses and shortening, add water, then 2 cups of flour sifted with soda, salt and ginger. Add enough more flour to roll. — Mrs Luella McGlew 

APPLE CUSTARD — Peel and core as many apples as will set in a dish you are going to use.  Fill the holes where the cores were with sugar and pour over them a custard made a bit sweeter than usual and bake. — Mrs Luella McGlew

BEEF WITH TOMATO — Select 2 1-2 lbs of beef solid meat ,wash well and place in baking dish. Sprinkle Well with salt and pepper, also a dash of cayenne. Cut up 2 medium sized onions, add to meat, and lastly add 1 large can of tomatoes. Cover dish and bake in moderate oven for 3 hours. Take from oven, place meat on large platter and add to it tomato gravy, also 1 package of elbow macaroni which has been boiled tender and pour over meat. — Mrs Luella McGlew

On the 1930 census, Luella's occupation was listed as "laundress."  She passed away on October 3, 1937, in Rowley MA.

Martha Luella (Chase) McGlew
photo shared by Ruth McGlew

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Luella's mother, Mary A. Ricker (it appears that the A stands for Abby), was born in either 1850 or 1851 in Groveland, MA to William and Eliza Ricker.  She passed away on Feb. 3, 1904 from "general debility" in Ipswich, MA.  In following her maternal line back, I was able to reach the late 1600s and discovered that our family has ties to the Salem Witch Trials, as both the accused and as the accusers (I'll delve more into that lineage in a later post).

Luella's father, Charles Frederick Chase, was born in Haverhill MA on January 2, 1853, to John and Martha Thayer (Fowler) Chase.  John was a shoemaker by trade (on the 1880 United States Federal Census his occupations listed as "works in shoe fact.), and married Mary on Dec. 3, 1873.   He died in Rowley, MA from "pulmonary tuberculosis."

I was also able to follow Martha's family back on her paternal side to when her ancestors immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  The Fowlers, Herricks, and Kimballs were founding families in the North Shore area of Massachusetts, and have ties to the Salem Witch Trials as well as the King Philip's War.  I'll follow up on those lines back in later posts.  

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Charles' father, John Chase, was also listed as a shoemaker.  Her was born aprox. 1826 to Frederick and Mary (Stinson) Chase.  John married Martha Fowler (b. April 7, 1829 to John Fowler and Lydia Brown) in Haverhill, MA, on June 7, 1849.  He passed away only four years later, on August 12, 1853, leaving her a widow with two young children at the age of 24.  Martha remarried on Dec. 27, 1857, to widower John Bradley.  Tragically, she died from consumption only two years later, at the age of 30.  I have located a Charles F. Chase, age 12, living with a Putnam family in Danvers MA on the Massachusetts 1865 State Census. Andrew Merriam Putnam's wife, Sarah (Fowler) Putnam, was Martha's sister.  My assumption is that he, and possibly his older brother Henry, went to live with his aunt and uncle after his mother's death.

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Frederick Chase (John's father) was born on Dec. 10, 1800 in Haverhill, MA, to John and Betsey (Kelley) Chase.  He married Mary Stinson (born on April 13, 1804, in Goffstown, NH, to Samuel Stinson and Abigail Potter) on December 13, 1823.  Frederick is listed on the census as being a farmer.  Frederick and Mary had six children together.  He passed away in Haverhill on Jan 10, 1867, and Mary lived until June 8, 1874.

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I have been unable to trace back the Chase family line any further - there are at least two different John Chases living in Massachusetts during the correct time period, and I have not yet been able to pinpoint which is "our" John Chase.  If I have a breakthrough at any point I'll be sure to update this post.