Hudson V. Chase, the city clerk and police magistrate of Earlville,
Illinois, lives on Ottawa street, and has been a resident of this place for
fourteen years. A native of the Keystone state, he was born in Honesdale,
Pennsylvania, May 9, 1846, a son of Cyrus and Sophronia (Suydam) Chase,
natives respectively of New Hampshire and New York. Their family comprised
four sons and six daughters, of which number four are now living, namely:
Isadora, widow of Alfred W. Kellogg, of Valparaiso, Indiana; Josephine L.,
also of Valparaiso; Cyrus Van Buren Chase, of Clayville. New York; and
Hudson V., whose name introduces this sketch. The father was a manufacturer
of woolen goods in the east, and later carried on a wagon-making
establishment in Valparaiso, he having come west to Indiana in 1860. He died
in Valparaiso in 1874, at the age of seventy-three years. His widow survived
him about ten years and at the time of her death was eighty-three. Both were
members of the Universalist church. He was a Republican and was at one time
nominated for congress, but preferred not to enter public life and withdrew
from the contest.
Turning back to another generation, we find that the paternal grandfather of
the subject of this sketch was named David Chase. He was of English descent,
was a native of Massachusetts, and at the time of his death was eighty years
of age. He was the father of six children. The maternal grandfather of Mr.
Chase was a native of Holland. On coming to this country he located in New
York, where he spent the rest of his life and died at a ripe old age. His
was a remarkable family. Of his fourteen children all with one exception
lived to be over eighty.
Hudson V. Chase passed the first three years of his life in Pennsylvania. He
then went with his parents to New York, where he lived until he was sixteen,
the family home being in Oneida county. During this period he spent his
winters attending the common schools. When he was sixteen he began working
at the carpenter's trade in Valparaiso, and was thus occupied at the time
the civil war broke out. In May, 1862, he enlisted in Company E, Fourth
Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which became a part of the Army of the
Cumberland, and he was in the service twenty-one months. Among the
engagements in which he participated were the battles of Dandridge and
Chickamauga and numerous skirmishes.
The war over, Mr. Chase received an honorable discharge and returned to
Valparaiso, and instead of resuming work at his trade he took up the study
of law% diligently pursuing the same and being admitted to the bar in 1866,
and for a short time he practiced law in Valparaiso. About that time,
however, the ministry seemed to have a great attraction for him, and,
feeling called to preach, he left the bar for the pulpit, entering the
ministry of the Universalist church. His first charge was at Franklin Grove,
Illinois, where he preached one year. Afterward he was stationed at Dixon,
this state, eight years; Cedar Rapids, Iowa, two years; Sycamore, Illinois,
three years; and Earlville, Illinois, three years. At the end of this time
he was threatened with nervous prostration, and rested for two or three
years. His next work was to edit the Earlville Gazette, he being its first
editor, a position he filled two years. Since 1894 he has filled the
positions of police magistrate and city clerk.
On the 1st of May, 1866, he married Miss Addie Arundle. To them were born
four children, — Isadore, Herman, Hudson and Evelyn, — all living and at
home except Hudson, who died at the age of ten months.
Mr. Chase belongs to McCullough Post, No. 475, G. A. R. He is a Republican.
Extracted 17 Jul 2017 by Norma Hass from Biographical and Genealogical Record of LaSalle County, Illinois, published in 1900, volume 2, pages 467-469.
| Lee | DeKalb | Kane |
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