The biographical encyclopœdia of Ohio of the nineteenth century:

ENCYCLOP2EDIA.
stand, and a partnership with Davis of five years, which
proved pleasant and profitable for those times. At the
expiration of that partnership he removed to Milan, Huron
county, Ohio, in May, I835. In September, I833, he was
married to Delia Conger, by whicl marriage he had four
children, two of whom survive. His wife died at Peru,
Huron county, on July 7th', I840; and on May igtb, 1841,
he was married to Mrs. Amey A. Draper, by which moarriage he has four child ren, a ll o f whom still survive. InA
May, I836, he gave up business in Milan, and removed a
part of his goods to Jackson county, Michigan. In October
of the same year, having;old out in Michigan, lie removtel
with his family to Buffalo, and embarked in a wholesale
and retail hardware business. This prov ed a failure owing
mainly to losses of debts for goods sold to parties in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, a ided by the DurWild Cats" tiues,
He returned in May, I840, with hi s fa mily t o O hio, where
his wife died. In September, I84I, he commenced again
at Milan with very limited means; and the year- following,
s old out his s to ck of goods, settle d all his de bts, and associated with a Mr. Shaw as partner i the produce commissiOon busines s. This association was dissolved by the death
of his partner. Three years later hb turned his attention to
farming, buying in August, I844, one hundred and eighty
acres of new land, lying one mile from the village of Milan.
This be caused to be improved and cultivated, and sold in
August, I856, having in the meantime been awarded the
first premium offered on the best farm, by the Huron and Erie
County Agricultural Society, in I852, and again in I853 that
offered by the State Agricultural Society for the best regulated and best cultivated farm in Ohio (see "Agricultural
Reports "). This farm he purchased at eight dollars per
acre, and sold at fifty dollars per acre. In April, I857, he
moved to Toledo, and opened a warehouse and general
commission business, in company with John Stevens ancl
Charles N. Ryan, under the firm-name of Stevens, Ryan &
Chase. This business proved unprofitable, and continued
one year, when Mr. Ryan withdrew. During its continiuance, on the night after the October election, the warehouse and canal elevator was destroyed by fire. After
pursuing the commission business, in company w,ith Mr.
Stevens, until the spring of I866, Mr. Chase retired to
accept the office of Collector of Internal Revenue. His
commercial experience has been quite varied-sometimes
successful, but at other times quite disastrous, so that now,
as the evening of life is tipoii him, be has passed the limit
of threescore and ten, he finds himself poor. Politically,
his first vote was cast for De Witt Clinton, for Governor
of New York, and he has been a Wlhig, and is now a
Republican. At the October election in I 849 he was
elected by the Wvhig electors of Erie and Huron counties to the Legislature of Ohio; these two counties
then composing an election district for senator and
representative. He was the last Whig elected on the
WNestern Reserve.
330 B.IOGRAPHICAL
ANNA, HON. JOHN E., Lawyer and Jurist, was
born, December Ixth, I8O5, in Westmoreland
county, Pennsylvania, of American parents. His
father was a saddler by trade, but subsequently
became engaged in agricultural pursuits. The
family removed to Ohio in I815, and settled at
Cadiz, in Harrison county, and John attended school at the
academy in that town. lie commenced studying law in
I823, with Chauncey Dewey, of Cadiz, and was admitted to
the bar in September, I825. ie immediately entered upon
the practice of his profession, and in I826 removed to
McConnellsville, Morgan county, where he opened an
office, and where he has since continued to practise, except
when on the bench. In I829 he was appointed Pr-osecuting
Attorney for the county, and in I831, when the office was
made elective, he was elected, and held the same until
1838. He was appointed Postmaster of the town in I83I,
but resigned that office in I833. -In I834 he was elected
Brigadier-General Ohio Militia, and served as such until
I840, when he resigned to take his seat as Judge. Ile was
elected to the Legislature in I838, and re-elected in I839.
In I840 he was elected President Judge of the Eighth
Judicial District, embracing eight counties, including Morgan, Washington, Meigs, etc., etc. He was on the bench
for seven years. His political creed has always been
Democratic; nevertheless he was of great assistance in raising troops for the Union army during the war of the rebellion. He was married, June 7th, I826, to Susanna Robertson, of Cadiz, Ohio, who was the mother of six children,
of whom five are living; she died April 15th, I865. He
was again married, October 25th, I865, to Sarah, daughter
of Rev. William Swayze, of Ohio.
el.[;ASE, HARRY, Superintendent of the City
-Infirmary, Toledo, Ohio, was born in Hoosic,
~I~ I! Rensselaer county, New York, on May Igth,
i805. As early as I8o6 his parents removed to
Fabius, Onondaga county, New York; in I8i6
to Clarkson, Monroe county (then Genesee
county), New York, and in I836 to Medina, Orleans
county, New fork, where they both died. His father was
a farmer, ani he himself was raised on a farm until fifteen
years of age, having up to this time received only the rudiments of a common school education. On October 20th,
I820, he was placed in a small country store, where he
commenced to learn the trade of a merchant. There he
continued until May, I827, when he was engaged to take
command of a line boat on the Erie canal. In May, I828,
he was employed by his uncle, Arad Joy, an old merchant
at Ludlowville, Tompkins county, to' take'charge of his
store, which resulted in the purchase, in company with
Charles Davis, of his uncle's old stock and good-will of the