Aquila & Thomas Chase

The CHASE Family lines that are recorded in this genealogy descend from Aquila Chase (b. abt. 1618) of Newbury (now Newburyport, MA) in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and to a limited degree, his brother, Thomas. Aquila and Thomas, emigrated from England (it is assumed, since no records have been found) about 1638 or 39 and settled in the town of Hampton, Massachusetts Bay Colony, on what is now the New Hampshire coast. They received various allotments of land during the next few years, and it is recorded that Aquila subsequently sold certain lands to his "brother Thomas", which is how that relationship was able to be established. In 1646, Aquila was induced to move to the town of Newbury on the Merrimac River, in what is now Massachusetts, by an offer of a grant of land totaling some 16 acres on the condition that he "do^e go^e to sea and do service to the town^e with a boat^e for four years". We may assume from this that he was an accomplished mariner. Aquila lived out his life in Newbury, dying there in 1670. From the contents of his will, it appears that he probably spent at least his later years farming.

Unfortunately, despite an exhaustive search over the years in both England and in the United States by professional genealogists, no verifiable records have yet been found that give even a hint about either from where the brothers Aquila and Thomas came, or who their parents or any other ancestors might have been. The published claims by some genealogists that assert links to England or some known ancestry are based purely on speculation, conjecture and wishful thinking, and have never been backed up and proven by any competent source documentation.

Aquila's presumed year of birth (1618) is based solely on a 1666 court deposition wherein he gives his age as "about 48 years". There is no record anywhere that indicates when Thomas was born. However, the fact that he apparently married several years earlier suggests that he may have been the older of the two. A number of genealogies and many family trees that have been published on reputable web sites and elsewhere make representations that link the brothers to specific Chases in England, usually in either Cornwall or in Chesham, Buckinghamshire. The fact that Aquila is an unusual name, plus the other similarities in the names of individuals in the Chesham Chase and the Aquila and Thomas families, makes this a very tempting link to consider. Someday it may be proven to be a valid one. However, the fact is that no documents have yet been found to support this or any of the other alleged family ties to any ancestry, anywhere. Unfortunately many "researchers" have simply copied this erroneous information, and use it as "fact" in their family trees. The notes attached to both the London and American Aquilas in this data base provide some details of the many problems with the alleged logic of these alleged linkages.

Allegations that claim William Chase, the progenitor of another Chase line in America, to be the brother of (or otherwise closely related to) Aquila and Thomas are also totally false. In fact, dna tests of descendants of the Aquila and William lines prove that even any common ancestor that might link William and the brothers Aquila and Thomas would have to be many hundreds of years in the past.

This data base does include information about some individuals in the Chesham Chase family solely for the sake of such interest that some may have in those English Chases. However, no link between that family line and the brothers Aquila and Thomas is either shown or implied.

Dick Chase, Clemmons, NC July 2005

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