Transcribed from "An Illustrated History of The
Big Bend Country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams and Franklin counties,
State of Washington", published by Western Historical Publishing
Co., 1904.
EDWARD S. CHASE. Among the wealthy citizens of Douglas county, there stands today none more popular and secure in the esteem of the people, than the well-to-do gentleman, whose name initiates this paragraph. He and his estimable wife have traveled the pilgrim way in this county for a good many years and have won hosts of friends in every walk of life, having demonstrated themselves to be upright, wise and faithful.
Edward S. Chase was born in Salt Lake, Utah, on February 18, 1849, his parents, Charles A. and Susan (Stearns) Chase, being natives of Maine and Vermont, respectively. In 1848, the father crossed the dreary plains but on account of ill health, stopped for two years in Salt Lake, where our subject first saw light. In 1851, they continued their journey on toward the mecca of the day, Oregon, and there settled. They were members of the Methodist church and good, substantial people.
Our subject grew up amid the surroundings of the wild and undeveloped west, knowing from his birth the rugged existence of the pioneer and frontiersman. He received his educational training from the early schools of the Willamette valley and did much work to develop and bring out the resources of that country where he remained until 1873. He was engaged in the sawmill business after he arrived at manhood's estate and in the year last mentioned, removed his mill to the Palouse river in Whitman county, Washington. The mill furnished the lumber for the new buildings in that then pioneer section and also provided flour for the settlers even as far north as Spokane, which was then a small trading village. Later Mr. Chase's father took charge of the operations of the mill and in 1886, our subject came to Douglas county where he settled, taking a pre-emption and timber claim which are now well improved and producing abundant crops of the cereals. He also has a large herd of fine graded cattle and a good band of horses. Mr. Chase is a descendant of the family from whence came Salmon P. Chase, one of the able members of Lincoln's cabinet. He has one brother, Marshall C., and two sisters, Mrs. Emma Linn and Mrs. S. Miranda Stoneberger.
On November 26, 1891 at the farm home, Mr. Chase married Mrs. Alice E., daughter of William and Jane J. (Kashow) Parsons, natives of Ohio and of Scotch and German extraction, respectively. Her parents crossed the plains in 1865 and were settlers in Oregon. Mrs. Chase was born in Indiana on September 26, 1854, and has the following brothers and sisters, Thomas J., Lewis H., George W., Charles D., and Mrs. Sarah E. Day. She was reared in the Baptist faith. Mr. and Mrs. Chase have no children of their own and are giving their care and attention to the rearing of two orphans.
It is also to be recorded that Mrs. Chase came to Douglas county in 1888, accompanied by her brother. She took government claims, pre-emption, homestead, and timber culture, and the family is now residing on her homestead. The labors of herself and her husband are richly deserving of the recompense of a good estate of eight hundred acres which they now own. In the hardships of the pioneer life, they have both shown fortitude and pluck. Many times in the winter, the hard trips to Coulee City and Waterville, were attended with great suffering and trial owing to the deep snow and cold.
