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1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805, 1806, 1 808-
1809, 1809, 1814 (speaker), 1815 (speaker). OTHER
STATE OFFICE: Executive Council, 1816-1817,
1818-1819. LOCAL OFFICES: justice, Charles
County, commissioned 1789, 1791, and 1793; as-
sociate justice, First District, Charles County, ap-
pointed May 1792-resigned September 1792;
Maryland Senate elector, Charles County, in office
1796, 1801, 1811. MILITARY SERVICE: ensign, Sec-
ond Maryland Regiment, 1781; lieutenant, 1782;
continued service in the Maryland Battalion until
November 1783; major, by 1821. WEALTH DUR-
ING LIFETIME. PERSONAL PROPERTY: 7 slaves,
1790; 16 slaves, 1798. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN
LAND BETWEEN FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH:
received as a gift from father 558 acres in Charles
County, 1793; inheritance from father, acreage
unknown, ca. 1801; purchased and patented 706
acres in Charles County, 1807-1816. WEALTH AT
DEATH. DIED: prior to December 1821 in George-
town, D.C. PERSONAL PROPERTY: TEV,
$12,125.70 (including 56 slaves); FB, $9,436.61.
LAND: at least 1,164 acres in Charles County, plus
lots in Annapolis, and the right to four military
lots (200 acres) in Allegany County (now Garrett
County).
CHASE, JEREMIAH (?-1755). BORN: in En-
gland, of age by October 1743; younger son. IMMI-
GRATED/NATIVE arrived in 1734 with his father,
probably as a minor, from England. RESIDED: in
Charles County, by 1749. FAMILY BACKGROUND.
FATHER: Rev. Richard Chase (?-1742), of St. An-
drew's, London, England; educated at Cambridge
University; immigrated in 1734. An Anglican cler-
gyman, he was appointed chaplain to Charles Cal-
vert, 5th Lord Baltimore (1699-1751) on March
25, 1734; served as rector of St. Margaret's
Church, Westminster Parish, Anne Arundel
County from 1734 to 1734/35, of All Hallow's
Parish, Anne Arundel County from 1734/35 to
1737, of Christ Church, Calvert County from 1737
to 1742, and of Port Tobacco Parish, Charles
County from 1742 to death. On April 25, 1735
Commissary Jacob Henderson, who was charged
with superintending the conduct of the clergy,
wrote to the bishop of London that Chase was a
man of "much levity, no learning, and supposed to
be a free thinker, or deist. He gives himself great
liberties in ridiculing religion and that set of peo-
ple highly caress and admire him." Richard Chase
was the son of Samuel Chase, freeman of London,
England, and a member of the Honorable Com-
pany of Tylers and Brickmakers and the owner of
considerable property in Westminster and Maid-
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enhead, England. MOTHER: Margaret Frances,
daughter of Jeremiah Townley, of London, En-
gland, a merchant. BROTHER: Richard (?-1757), a
lawyer. FIRST COUSIN. Samuel Chase (1741-1811).
NEPHEW: Jeremiah Townly Chase (1748-1828).
MARRIED Judith (?-1790), daughter of William
Dent (1706-1757) and wife Anne Warren; grand-
daughter of Thomas Dent (1685-1725). Her broth-
ers were Warren Dent (?-1794); George, who mar-
ried first, Rose Townshend Knox (?-1794), and
second, in 1796 Elizabeth Harrison Knox. Her
sisters were Eleanor, who married John Jordan (?-
1763); Mary, who married Rev. William Dowie
(Bowie?); Ann, who married Samuel Briscoe;
Grace, who married Robert Harrison; and
Rebecca, who married William Harrison (?-1789).
Her niece was Mary Hanson Briscoe, who married
Michael Jenifer Stone (1747-1812). CHILDREN.
Died without progeny. PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCA-
TION: literate. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Protestant.
SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES: Gent., by 1749;
Esq., at death. OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: a lawyer,
admitted to the following courts: Provincial Court
in October 1743; Charles County by June 1744;
Prince George's County in March 1746; Court of
Chancery by December 1753. PUBLIC CAREER.
LEGISLATIVE SERVICE Lower House, St. Mary's
County, 1754-1755 (Laws 1, 2; died before the 3rd
session). LOCAL OFFICES: clerk and cryer, Court of
Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery, Charles
County, commissioned 1743. WEALTH DURING
LIFETIME. LAND AT FIRST ELECTION: 278 acres in
Charles County (all by purchase). WEALTH AT
DEATH. DIED: on April 2, 1755, as a result of poi-
soning at a gentleman's house while on a journey
for the Baltimore Assizes. On January 10, 1755
William Stratton, one of Chase's servants, gave his
master some boiled milk and bread that had been
mixed with poisonous herbs and powders. Chase
immediately became ill and died on April 2. Strat-
ton and two slaves were convicted of the crime
and sentenced to death. Another slave was con-
victed of conspiring to murder Chase. PERSONAL
PROPERTY: TEV, £2,897.11.3 sterling, plus
£1,489.0.6 current money and 88,660 pounds of
tobacco (including 5 slaves, 1 servant, 339 oz. 18
dwt. 12 gr. plate, and books); FB, £2,706.7.11
sterling, plus £1,373.17.2 current money and
33,989 pounds of tobacco. LAND: 278 acres in
Charles County. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: his
principal heirs were his wife Judith and his brother
Richard.
CHASE, JEREMIAH TOWNLY (TOWNLEY)
(1748-1828). BORN, on May 23, 1748, in St. Paul's
212
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