Chase
The Chase family can be traced back to the mid-18th century with the marriage of John Chase and Mary Carter in Chesham, Buckinghamshire in 1763. The couple had four boys, all born in Chesham, but by adulthood they seem to have moved to the neighbouring county of Bedfordshire where most settled in a small village called Stanbridge (between the Buckinghamshire towns of Leighton Buzzard and Dunstable) until around 1820-1840 when there was a big family upheaval down into the city, to the registration district of Islington where most Chase descendants can be found living until the late 19th century.
By the time of the late 19th century, the Chase family seemed to have dispersed all over London and southern England and further afield to Ireland, the Channel Islands, South Africa and Australia. The family that remained in London by the 20th century were concentrated in the east and south east London districts of Hackney, Finsbury, West Ham, Romford, Edmonton, Camberwell and Southwark.
Further research needs to be done on the Chase line in all directions. There are many more Chase descendants which I have not yet found as the records disappear for some families at the end of the Victorian era, probably due to migration. Tracing the Chase ancestral line back further could prove to be a difficult task as Chesham is the earliest recorded place where the Chase family were living. Chesham was a town with various types of industry and there’s a good chance that they might have been there for only a generation or two as families moved around wherever there was work for them. Today the Chase family descendants are some of the most spread out in my family tree with relatives living in Kent, East and West Sussex, Surrey, Essex, London, the West Country and many further afield in countries such as Australia and Singapore. (last updated July 2015)
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Chase family:
- Chase, Agnes
- Chase, Beatrice
- Chase, Catherine Mary
- Chase, Charles Watkins
- Chase, John
- Chase, Joseph Francis
- Chase, Margaret
- Chase, Mary
- Chase, Thomas
Related to the Chase family:
The above list, “related to the Chase family” contains those who may have married into the above family or could be descendants of the Chase family, in all but name.
Surname meaning: English: metonymic occupational name for a huntsman, or rather a nickname for an exceptionally skilled huntsman, from Middle English chase ‘hunt’ (Old French chasse, from chasser ‘to hunt’, Latin captare). Southern French: topographic name for someone who lived in or by a house, probably the occupier of the most distinguished house in the village, from a southern derivative of Latin casa ‘hut’, ‘cottage’, ‘cabin’. [Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press]
