Another Nancy Jane Chase (1845-1919) - My Great Great Grandfather's Sister and Some of Her Family - Yarmouth and Dennis, MA

I have previously written about my great great great grandmother Nancy J. (Brooks) Chase, as well as her son, my great great grandfather Franklin Howes Chase, both of Yarmouth and Dennis.  Nancy J. Chase had a daughter, a sibling to Franklin, also named Nancy Jane Chase of whom I had not researched beyond the most basic of vital record information.  What I found reflected in available documents was perhaps a difficult life for Nancy J. as well as for her children and others in her circle.  The documents themselves can present the facts but do not inform us of emotions, drama, and background, for any of the tribulations they actually lived through.

Nancy Jane Chase, sister to my great great grandfather Franklin Howes Chase, was born 25 February 1845 at Yarmouth, Massachusetts to George Washington and Nancy Jane (Brooks) Chase.  Like her mother and siblings, Nancy Jane's race is identified as "Indian" in the 1855 Massachusetts State Census at Yarmouth.  She is identified on the Earle Report compiled in 1859 as part of the Yarmouth Tribe.  In 1860, at age 16, she is again enumerated at Yarmouth with her family, a student attending school; she is still living with her family at age 20 in 1865.

On 14 March 1867, 22 year old Nancy Jane married 26 year old James Baker Nickerson, mariner, of Dennis, Massachusetts. James was the son of Obed and Elizabeth (Nickerson) Nickerson; it was a first marriage for both. Twin daughters were born 27 November 1867 at Dennis.  This family is enumerated at Dennis, Massachusetts in 1870 - husband James is identified as a 30 year old mariner, Nancy Jane, aged 27, is keeping house with two year old twins, Bessie and Jenny. 

According to vital records, on 18 May 1876, Nancy J. Chase, aged 32, daughter of George Washington Chase and Nancy J. (Brooks) Chase marries William D. Baker, 26 year old laborer and son of Washington and Sukey Baker.  It is Nancy's second marriage.  Osborn Everett Baker is born at Yarmouth on 6 January 1879, to William D. Baker, mother's maiden name identified as Chase, but first name not mentioned.  In 1880, William D. Baker, his wife Nancy J., twelve year old daughters Bessie and Jennie, and one year old son Osborne E. are enumerated at Barnstable (note the record identifies all children as step children of William's but I believe William is father to Osborne).

Meanwhile, Nancy's first husband, James B. Nickerson, son of Obed and Elizabeth Nickerson, 43 year old mariner of Dennis, married Reliance Stetson, daughter of Lorenzo Kelley on 8 September 1879; it was a second marriage for both. In the June 1880 U.S. Federal Census James B. Nickerson is identified as married, but was found living with his sister Bethiah Baker and family at their home at Dennis.  By 1900 James and Reliance are living together in Fall River.  While I have currently not found any record indicating what happened to the marriage between James B. and Nancy J., they were more than likely divorced.  (James' second wife Reliance had previously been married to Edward Stetson in January 1872, and is identified as widowed in the 1880 Census at the home of her parents in Harwich, along with a young son named Edward. (Records show that another son Philip had died at age 3 while the Stetsons were living in Gloucester, Massachusetts.) ) James B. Nickerson died eighteen years later in 1918 at Fall River.

Nancy and James B.'s daughter, sixteen year old Jennie Nickerson, of Yarmouth, married 23 year old Edgar Eldridge of Dennis at the New Jerusalem Church at Yarmouth on 4 October 1884. Edgar is the son of Nathan and Sylvia Eldridge.  (Note Jennie's mother Nancy J. Baker is 39 years old at the time of her daughter's marriage to Edgar.)

According to Barnstable County Superior Court Records, William D. Baker filed libel papers on 9 January 1894 wherein he recounts that he and his present wife Nancy J. Baker were married on 19 May 1876 by Charles Thacher.  He notes that his wife's name at time of marriage was Nancy J. Chase -- and that her maiden name was Nickerson.  Vital and other records, of course show that the reverse is true, and this specific information is incorrect. Baker further states that he and Nancy Jane lived as husband and wife in Yarmouth until 3 January 1891 and that he had always been a true and faithful husband. However, on that day (3 January 1891) his wife Nancy J. committed the crime of adultery with Ezra F. Eldridge of Dennis, and continued to commit adultery at diverse times since that date up to the date of this court filing.  Since 3 January 1891, Nancy J. had deserted William, and William D. Baker prays for a decree of the court to dissolve the marriage.  A writ of summons was issued for Nancy Jane to appear in February to answer the libel, but Nancy did not attend. A continuance to April was issued, and again she did not appear -- her default was entered.  A full hearing of the evidence and allegations was ultimately proven, and 14 April 1894 a decree for divorce nisi was entered in favor of William, which became absolute six months later on 14 October. The marriage was dissolved.  (Note that a search for Ezra Eldridge in these towns find an Ezra Eldridge who died at Dennis in 1889 - so cannot be the "Ezra Eldridge" mentioned in these records.) On January 13, 1890 Nancy J. Baker petitioned for guardianship of Osborne E. Baker, a minor under the age of fourteen, which was granted with permission of his father.

In 1900, records find Nancy J. Baker, aged 65 (in actuality she is 55) and divorced, head of household enumerated at Dennis, living along with her son-in-law Edgar F. Eldridge, a 40 year old married sailor, and a grandson Nathan Eldridge, aged 14 (along with a married boarder Frances Robinson).  Living next door is Nancy's son, 21 year old Osborne E. Everett and his 28 year old wife Alice (probably Alice Baxter). Jennie Eldridge, Nancy's daughter is identified as a servant at Dennis in the home of Pauline Hamilton; the census notes that she has been married for 15 years and mother of two children.  In August of the next year, 1902, Jennie W. Eldridge, of Yarmouth filed a libel suit with the Superior Court of Barnstable.  

In this case, Jennie W. states that she was married to Edgar Eldridge of Dennis on 4 October 1884, and the couple had lived together at Dennis and Yarmouth since that time.  Jennie states she was always faithful to her husband but that he, at Dennis and other places since 1888, had committed the crime of adultery with Nancy J. Baker.  Edgar Eldridge failed to appear at court on the selected dates and a default was entered.  Ultimately a divorce nisi became absolute on 8 October 1902.  I can only surmise that the Ezra Eldridge and the Edgar Eldridge in these two separate divorce cases are one in the same person.  Jennie Eldridge died of pneumonia two months later in December 1902.

Daughter Bessie married Richard Cass 12 August 1885 when she was 17 years old - he was 21. Both were of Yarmouth although Richard Cass had been born in Boston. Ultimately Bessie filed for divorce in the Barnstable Superior Court February 1896 for extreme cruelty and physical abuse.  The Court documents give her maiden name as Bessie Warren Eldridge.  The divorce was granted in April 1897. Two months later, Bessie married second Lemuel Mullet; she died in 1929 at Chatham.  On the same page of these Court records are the divorce documents filed by Addie E. Baker, wife of Bessie's half brother Osborne E. Baker.  They had married in January 1889 and lived at Yarmouth.  Addie states that Osborne had treated her with extreme cruelty and was often intoxicated over the last four years.  On 16 April 1897 the decree nisi became absolute.

In 1910, Nancy J. Baker, aged 65, is enumerated as head of household in Dennis, living with Edgar F. Eldridge, aged 50, widowed son-in-law. (Nancy had three children, two living at the time.)  Jennie died in 1902. 

In 1911 Osborne E. Baker married Jennie Harris in Lynn, Massachusetts, both were divorced.  Nancy J. Baker may have intended on spending the last few years of her life close to her son Osborne E. Baker in Lynn, Massachusetts.  She died 5 March 1919 at 518 Summer Street in Lynn where the Certificate shows she had been living for the last four months although had been under the doctors care in Lynn since October of the previous year.  Her son Osborne was the informant. The Death Certificate identifies her parents as Washington Chase and Nancy Ellis - Nancy Ellis was the name of her grandmother, and my great great grandmother, who's fourth husband was Joshua Ellis.  Place of burial or removal was Chatham, date of burial 7 March 1919.  The 1920 Federal Census shows the dwelling address for Osborne and his wife Jenny to be Summer Street in Lynn. Osborne died in 1930 and his obituary states that he had lived in Lynn for twenty years.  Edgar Eldridge ultimately remarried and lived with his wife Margaret (Obrien) Gorham at Dennis. I have currently found no actual marriage record for them but continue to search.

                                       

Bessie's Death Certificate identifies her parents as William Nickerson and Nancy J. Chase.  Her father was James B. Nickerson.

Sources:

Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, accessed on Ancestry.com.

Earle Report

U.S., Federal Census Records, accessed on Ancestry.com.

MA, State Census Records, accessed on Ancestry.com.

U.S. Family History Books

U.S. City Directories

Court Records, 1859-1932, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Vol. 8, multiple images, familysearch.org.https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS9Q-KQ5Q-2?lang=en&i=9

Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States records," images, FamilySearch (https:// www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9B29-7X4?view=fullText : Feb 21, 2026), image 396 of 559; Massachusetts. State Archives. Image Group Number: 005203425 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9B29-7X4?view=fullText

Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States records," images, FamilySearch (https:// www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9YB-X5J5?view=fullText : Feb 22, 2026), image 365 of 868; Barnstable County (Massachusetts). Register of Probate. Image Group Number: 007704753 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9YB-X5J5?view=fullText.