Hezekiah Smith Chase was born around 1805 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, to Amos and Judith Chase. He married a woman named Elizabeth, and their daughter Elizabeth was born around 1853. He worked as a merchant in Boston, Massachusetts. His wife died in the 1850s, and he married Amanda Griggs on December 30, 1858. They had at least two children: Hezekiah, born around 1861; and Marion, born around 1869. By 1860, he owned $18,000 of real estate and $125,000 of personal property, and he employed at least two white domestic servants. A decade later, he owned $25,000 of real estate and $40,000 of personal property.

 

He expressed devotion to the Union during the Civil War. In November 1864, he observed that, "since the sublime and fix[ed] purpose of the people has been so clearly expressed in our late National Election, all feel--as I have always felt--that the great cause for which...thousands of the best young men in the country have shed their blood, will gloriously triumph, our country be saved, our union restored and our blessed government firmly established on the principles of eternal right justice and freedom, and our country become the asylum for the oppressed of all nations and the beacon light of liberty for the world." 

 

By 1880, he was working as a boot and shoe dealer.  He died of “general debility” in Haverhill on October 20, 1892.

SOURCES