Roscoe G. Chase was born on November 3, 1838, in Buckfield, Maine, to Thomas and Esther Chase. His father was a farmer who owned $2,000 of real estate by 1850. He grew up and attended school in Buckfield, and by 1860, he was working as a farm laborer.
He enlisted in the Union army on December 13, 1861, and he mustered in as a corporal in Company K of the 13th Maine Infantry. He was discharged for disability on June 14, 1862.
After leaving the army, Chase moved to California, where he taught school for several years. He returned to Maine around 1864 and settled in Auburn. He joined his father and brothers in the fruit tree business, and by 1870, he owned $5,000 of real estate and $1,200 of personal property. He married Eliza Gerrish around 1866, and they had at least two children: Lila, born on April 3, 1867; and Orville, born on May 26, 1873. His daughter died on May 2, 1871.
They moved to Geneva, New York, around 1872. As an early biographer noted, the “result was the establishment of an extensive nursery business.” He served as president of the New York State Association of Nursery Canvassing Employers. He supported the Republican Party, and he was elected to the town’s Board of Trustee in 1884. He also served on the Geneva Board of Education from 1899 until 1910, and he served as a trustee of the Geneva City Hospital. He died in Geneva on January 15, 1920.