Ezra F. Chase of Yarmouth, 1918 Flu Victim - Only Son of Franklin H. and Julia Chase - Another Seriously Injured Train Employee

I looked at this family photo many times before I finally noted the obvious - the man in the picture is missing an arm.  Instant identification.  Ezra F. Chase, son of my two times great grandparents Franklin Howes Chase and Julia Etta Covil, lost his arm in a train accident while working for the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad.  It appears that despite losing his arm, Ezra lived a full life, found love, enjoyed close family relationships and continued to work until succumbing to influenza in 1918.  While I have currently found nothing specific as to the date and circumstances of the train accident that took his arm, social posts in the local papers identify key dates for job transitions which may have been driven by his health circumstances.

Ezra F. Chase was born 18 August 1870 at Dennis, Massachusetts, the only son of Franklin Howes Chase and his wife Julia Etta Covil.  He had five sisters: Julia, Lilla, Winnie, Addie, and my great grandmother Violet.  Ezra is unnamed in both the town birth record and the Federal Census taken at Dennis just days after his birth on August 27, 1870 (birth noted as in July). He is finally named in the 1880 Federal Census at Yarmouth when he is enumerated at the age of 9.  Included in the 1880 household is his maternal grandmother Orinza Covil.  Ezra's mother Julia died in 1886.  His father Franklin remarried in December 1888 to Mary Percival; Franklin died in 1903.  

            

Ezra married Fannie May Wheldon, both of Yarmouth, on 3 November 1889. Fannie was the 18 year old daughter of David and Julia Ann (Gage) Whelden.  

The couple is enumerated on Main Street, Barnstable Village on June 1, 1900 in a rented home, noted as having been married ten years.  Ezra is a day laborer.  They have two children, ten year old daughter Inez born in 1889/1890 (her headstone in Bourne gives a birth date of 12 February 1890 which makes more sense than the 1889 date which would imply an out of wedlock birth), and two year old son Ezra F. Chase, Jr. born in November 1897.  (Note that Ezra Jr.'s middle name in a corrected birth record is Forester, and his WWI draft card shows Foster.) A note in the June 18, 1900 edition of the Barnstable Patriot informs readers that Ezra (Sr.), who had been employed by F.H. Hinckley, was moving on to employment as a freight brakeman "on the consolidated road."  According to his obituary it was while working as a brakeman that he lost his arm.

April 20 ,1903 The Patriot reports Ezra accepting a position at Wood's Hole.  Was this after the accident that took his arm?

On 14 December 1905 Ezra Chase filed for divorce from his wife Fannie. Ezra testifies in writing that he and Fannie had married in Harwich in 1889 and had lived together at Yarmouth and Barnstable. Ezra alleges that Fannie left him on 1 August 1902 and they had been apart for the three years since.  He also requested custody of their two children Inez and Ezra Jr.  Fannie did not appear on the appointed court day causing the case to be continued; she failed to show a second time and thus defaulted.  The marriage was ultimately dissolved in October 1906 however custody of the children remained with Fannie.  

On November 11, 1907 Ezra married Ida M. Jordan.  Ida was the daughter of Richard Jordan and Mary Summer.  She was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts.  Ida had been married first to George Synette with whom she had one daughter named Gladys born in [May] 1899.  In 1900, Ida Synette (identified as a niece) and her daughter Gladys are enumerated in the Barnstable home of Merrill and Annie Marston. Ida is a 26 year old widowed housekeeper in the Merrill's boarding house.  Research, however, shows that Ida was not a widow but  divorced.  According to a complaint entered in the Barnstable Court in 1902, her husband George Synette's last known address was Portland Maine.  The couple had married at New Hampshire on 26 February 1896 and had lived together as man and wife at Winthrop Massachusetts.  Ida's husband had deserted her at Marblehead on 10 April 1899 and they had been separated ever since; she requested custody of their child.  Husband George defaulted, and on 3 October 1903, divorce was granted.  

I venture to propose that the picture shown at the beginning of the blog and again here below may be Ezra and Ida's wedding day.  I believe the woman in the front left of the photo is Ida (Jordan) Chase as this woman appears to have a "veil" as part of her dress.  I believe the other women pictured are Ezra's sisters considering other family photos in our collection.  Back row left to right, Violet, Lilla, and then Addie; bottom row left to right Ida Chase, Ezra Chase and then sister Winnie seated front row right.  Please contact me if you can provide any further identification!  

Ezra F. Chase is listed in the 1908 Bourne Directory living at 18 Puritan Road, Buzzards Bay; he is a "towerman." Mrs. Fannie Chase, Ezra's first wife, is in the same town at a different location. Newspaper accounts represent that on April 25, 1908 Mrs. Ezra F. Chase and her daughter Gladys moved from Cummaquid to Buzzards Bay where Ezra was employed with the railroad - some five months after their marriage.

                                        

                                                        Barnstable Patriot

                                                        March, 1909

In April 1910, Ezra, identified as a telegraph operator, his wife Ida, and stepdaughter Gladys are enumerated together at Buzzards Bay, Bourne.  Then on October 25, 1910, the newspaper reports that Ezra is taking a much needed break from his job as a towerman.  August 1911, Ezra's family is visiting him in Buzzards Bay for his birthday.  Several months later, on December 12, 1911, Ezra is very ill with pneumonia.

On May 27, 1912 Ezra purchases a house lot on the same road he has been living - Puritan Road in Buzzards Bay where he intend to build a new home.

Ezra Chase died of pneumonia at age 48 on October 13, 1918.  His body was brought to Yarmouth for interment.  

I am still sorting out the probate documents filed regarding Ezra Chase.  It seems both his wife and son filed petitions with the court to be appointed administrators of the estate.  I believe the petition filed by Ezra Jr. was ultimately dismissed and Ida J. Chase was appointed administratrix. Her petition however included several errors i.e., identifying her husband as Ezra S. as opposed to Ezra F., and using the town as Plymouth as opposed to Barnstable.  This document appears to have been amended. Ida correctly represented that her husband had died intestate on 13 October 1918 and that she and her husband's son Ezra were the only heirs at law.  

In 1923 Ezra's estate is still being dealt with.  On 17 January 1923, Ezra Forrest Chase (Jr.) filed a petition for partition representing that he was a tenant in common of his father's property which consisted of three lots of land, a dwelling house, and other buildings, located in Manomet Heights in Buzzards Bay. His step mother Ida Chase is the other tenant in common.   A petition for partition is defined as a lawsuit filed by co-owner of real estate to legally divide or sell property when owners are unable to agree. Ultimately Ezra Jr. and Ida J. Michelson (formerly Ida Chase) convey separately their parts of the property (consisting of a bungalow) to his mother Fannie Chase in an unnamed mortgage amount. Additionally another portion of his stake in this property, consisting of the former residence of his father Ezra F. Chase, he conveys to Ida J. Michelson.  In turn Ida J. Michelson and her husband Carl Michelson engage in a mortgage transaction with Wareham Savings Bank on the same day.  Ida J. Chase married Carl Michelson at Bourne on 21 March 1923.  After this date I have found no records where Ida uses the last name of Michelson.  She is enumerated Ida Chase in 1930 in the Boston home of her divorced daughter Gladys Synette. In 1940 Ida is back living in Bourne, widowed, head of household.  She died in 1853 at Bourne. 

Resources:

Secretary of Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Registry of Deeds, Barnstable, online access.

Estate Case Files, Barnstable Probate Estate Files, 1923, Familysearch.org.

Barnstable, Massachusetts Court Records, 1908-1922, Familysearch.org.

Film 112553666, familysearch.org., Estate Case Files, Barnstable, No. 18764

Bourne Directory 1908, Ancestry.com. 

Barnstable Patriot, accessed online.

Yarmouth Register, accessed online.