Origin of William Chase

Since at least 1930, when Charles Banks published his seminal work The Winthrop Fleet of 1630 on the 300th anniversary of that fateful voyage, the accepted wisdom about the origin of William Chase and his wife Mary, and son William Jr., all passengers of the fleet that landed in Massachusetts Bay Colony, has held that they were most likely from Wivenhoe, County Essex, England. There was never a doubt that they emigrated from England, and Essex was fairly certain considering the vast majority of the colonists hailed from Essex, but Wivenhoe as the town of origin was based on Charles Banks's claim of such, supported only by his own "Banks Manuscripts." However, investigation of the Banks Manuscripts revealed no proof that William was indeed from Wivenhoe, besides the fact that there were some Chase/Chaces from the village.

The Banks Manuscripts did reveal a Benjamin Chace, victualler of Wivenhoe, and his wife Hellen Harvey, and the Parish Records of St. Mary the Virgin of Wivenhoe showed they had a son named William who was born in 1597. If we accept this, and the assumed age for William Jr. of around 8 years old when the Winthrop fleet arrived at Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, then this makes father William Sr. around 25 at the time of William Jr.'s birth in around 1622. Reasonable, and so far, so good.

However, a 2010 insight into the Parish Records of St. Mary the Virgin of Wivenhoe also revealed that this William Chase was apparently still in Wivenhoe long after 1630, making it impossible for him to be the William Chase that emigrated from England to Massachusetts Bay Colony.

"R.H. Browne of Stapleford Abbotts in Essex transcribed the Wivenhoe Registers in 1890. They can be found in Essex County RO under ref D/P 277/1/18, and have been filmed by FHL ref 1565609, so are accessible to all. The transcript shows 21 Chase baptisms between 1566 (John son of John) and 1639 (James son of William and Mary). They include William son of Benjamin Chase on 20-11-1597, one of five children. There is another sequence of eight baptisms between 1624 and 1639. The first is for Benjamin son of William and Mary Chase bp 5-7-1624. The obvious but not definite conclusion is these records show three generations of the same family in Wivenhoe (Benjamin-William-Benjamin), and that William was still in Wivenhoe in 1639." (email from Laurence Chase, February 7, 2010).

Furthermore, the Wivenhoe Parish Records also contain a burial on 19 June 1647 for Mary Chase, wife of William. Additionally, a burial for William Chase is listed in the Wivenhoe Parish Records 23 November 1669. The dates add up, and combined with the baptisms of additional children after 1630 as revealed by the email from Laurence Chase above, entirely likely to be the same persons previously claimed to have been the progenitors of the Chase family in America. How Banks could have overlooked all of this is a mystery, since the records transcription was already available 40 years before his research.

With William Chase of Wivenhoe seemingly eliminated as a possible candidate, were there other Essex residents named William Chase who could align to what we know about the emigrant to America?

Looking about 25 miles further west from Wivenhoe, the Parish Records of St. Mary's of Chelmsford list a William and Marye Chase of Moulsham, a hamlet of Chelmsford, as parents of a William Chase who was baptized on 27 October 1622. The names match those of the three Chase immigrants, and while date of baptism can vary from date of birth, still typically, it was rather close. Therefore, the assumed year of birth for William Jr. also aligns with what we expect. However, just names and dates of baptism are not nearly enough to conclude that we have the right William and Mary Chase.

But there's more. Searching further, we also find William and Mary Chase of Moulsham as parents of Dorothy Chase, baptized 8 May 1625. Additionally, William's occupation is listed as "sawyer and carpenter" in the record of baptism. Less than a month later, another entry records Dorothy having died and been buried on 1 June 1625. Yet another entry in the Parish Records lists a John Chase having been buried on 6 June 1628, his parents recorded as William and Mary Chase of Moulsham, with William's occupation listed again as "carpenter."

So, what does this tell us? A William and Mary Chase lived in Moulsham in the city of Chelmsford. They had three children, William, Dorothy, and John. William was born around 1622, Dorothy around 1625, and John around 1628. Dorothy died in 1625, and John died in 1628, and both were buried in Chelmsford. Assuming there were no other children that may not have been recorded, this leaves William Sr. and Mary and William Jr. as the remaining Chase family members by 1628, just two years before our William Chase Sr., a Mary Chase and a William Chase Jr. departed for American with the Winthrop Fleet.

Having buried two little ones in quick succession in Chelmsford in 1625 and 1628 may have been impulse enough for the Chases to have decided to attempt a new life in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Furthermore, contemporary reports from the colony state that William Jr. was a "child of ill qualities & a sore affliction" for his parents, which could have been the result of being spoiled by a mother and father that were in great fear of losing their only remaining child.

Moreover, records from the American colonies help tie this together with additional evidence for believing that William Chase of Moulsham is our ancestor.

The Plymouth Colony Records (PCR) attest to the following about William Chase, the immigrant:

OCCUPATION: Housewright. (On 25 November 1639 Thomas Starr of Duxbury sold to Andrew Hellot of Plymouth a house and land in Yarmouth, and as part of the agreement stated that "The frame of the said house is to be made & set up with a chimney and to be thatched, studded and lathed (daubing excepted) by Will[ia]m Chase" [ PCR 12:50].) Cited from: Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33 .

Therefore, with the match of occupation of William Chase of Moulsham, carpenter, with the occupation of William Chase of Yarmouth, housewright, we have yet more affinity for our confidence that they are indeed the same person.

Moreover, unlike the William and Mary from Wivenhoe who are found in the burial records of the town well after 1630, there are no such records for the William and Mary from Moulsham, Chelmsford, nor for their son William Jr., which would make sense if they died in America. I do realize that the absence of a record does not prove this. And, while record keeping was not entirely trustworthy in that era, the fact that none of the three of them are found having died in Chelmsford seems a bit too ramshackle if they were actually still living in there, even for the 17th Century.

I am now quite convinced that William Chase of Moulsham is indeed one and the same as William Chase who left England in 1630 with the Winthrop Fleet, taking his wife Mary and son William Jr. with him. If all we had to conclude this were the names, relationships, and presumed date of birth for William Jr. (1622), then I would be less convinced. But, with the added facts of only one child surviving by 1630, with a sister and brother having died in 1625 and 1628 respectively, and hence William Jr. being the only one brought to America, and adding to this William Sr.'s occupation of carpenter, I challenge anyone to produce a better candidate.