Biographical Database of Black Woman Suffragists
Biography of Elizabeth Chase, 1835-1915
By Chelsea Lundquist-Wentz, independent historian
Elizabeth Chase was born about 1835 in Washington, D.C. to Caroline Chase and an unknown father. She had two younger brothers, Andrew and Arthur Chase. Chase spent her childhood and young adulthood living in the Blagden Alley area in the northwest quadrant of the city. The Chase family would have been one of a cluster of black families living in a mostly white-owned area.
In 1860, Chase was 29 years old and working as a washerwoman in Ward 2. On the eve of the Civil War, the population boomed in this part of the city. Chase opened an account with the Freedman's Bureau Bank to finance her move to the Barry Farm subdivision, a planned settlement created by the Freedmen's Bureau to relieve the housing strain in the city. Elizabeth Chase was provided a loan to purchase her 1-acre lot, to be paid back in monthly $10 installments. By 1868, she had acquired her property on the corner of Stanton and Elvans Avenues, as well as lumber to construct an A-frame dwelling. Her new subdivision was known first as Barry Farm or Potomac City, though the residents moved to change the name to Hillsdale in 1874. Though Chase likely continued to live in northwest DC for several years during construction, by 1873 she was living in Hillsdale and operating her new business, an eating saloon.
As an independent, educated female entrepreneur, Chase fit right in with the engaged citizenry of Hillsdale. Chase was living in Hillsdale in April 1874 when Augustus Straker gave a lecture to the Pioneer Lyceum; Straker spoke on the obligation of African American citizens to act in favor of women's suffrage. In 1877, Hillsdale's prominent black residents, including Elizabeth and her mother Caroline Chase, petitioned Congress in favor of women's right to vote. They were two of 15 black female citizens to sign their names on the document. More than a third of the 33 petitioners were first-wave settlers of Barry Farm, including Solomon G. Brown, Ignatius and Julia Dorsey, Frederick Douglass, Jr. and the Chase women. This Congressional petition was indicative of a community aligned to better the world for black Americans. Hillsdale was a place where neighbors built churches and schools from the ground up, formed civic associations, and became activists for education and civil rights.
Elizabeth Chase and her mother signed a second woman suffrage petition circulated by Frederick Douglass, Jr. and his wife Virginia Hewlett Douglass in 1880. There were other repeat signers of this second petition, including Solomon G. Brown and Ignatius and Julia Dorsey.
Elizabeth Chase continued operating her Hillsdale restaurant and catering business for about a decade, and then turned to other pursuits like selling notions and gardening. Hillsdale residents typically had a diversity of income sources, as the large lots allowed for planting food, tending livestock, and other money-making ventures. The tide shifted in Chase's life by the end of the 19th century as she and her mother both started to fail. In 1895, Chase had vacated her frame house and it was destroyed in a fire of unknown origins, an estimated property loss of $500. By the time of the fire, Chase had likely already moved down the street to her mother's property, perhaps to care for her until her death in 1898. Chase and her brother Arthur were shown living together on Elvans Road in the 1900 Census.
Chase began to decline in mental function and in June 1904 was judged of unsound mind by a Marshal's jury at City Hall. The jury committed Chase to the Government Hospital for the Insane, whose property abutted the Hillsdale neighborhood. Chase spent the rest of her life incarcerated at the institution, which
in later years was known as St. Elizabeth's Hospital. For 11 years, Chase lived in the now-demolished Oaks buildings on the West Campus and was treated for vascular dementia. On April 9, 1915, Elizabeth Chase died from chronic endocarditis. A funeral was held for friends and relatives by her niece, Carrie Bell. Chase was buried in Columbia Harmony Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
Sources:
AMOS, ALCIONE M., and PATRICIA BROWN SAVAGE. “Frances Eliza Hall: Postbellum Teacher in Washington, D.C.” Washington History, vol. 29, no. 1, 2017, pp. 42–54., www.jstor.org/stable/90007373.
Amos, Alcione. Personal interview at the Anacostia Community Museum. 6 March 2019.
“Anacostia News.” Page 5 of The morning times. (Washington, D.C.), 03 Sept. 1895. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024442/1895-09-03/ed-1/seq-5/
Blagden Alley/Naylor Court Historic District National Register Application. 1990. Accessed online: https://planning.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/op/publication/attachments/Blagden%20Alley%20Nayor%20Court%20HD%20nom.pdf
“Corbetts of Unsound Mind”. Page 5 of Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), 25 June 1904. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1904-06-25/ed-1/seq-5/
Death Certificate for Caroline Chase, 30 October 1898, Record No. 121690, District of Columbia Health Department
Death Certificate for Elizabeth Chase, 9 April 1915, Record No. 222888, District of Columbia Health Department.
“Died”. Page 7 of Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), 10 April 1915. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1915-04-10/ed-1/seq-7/)
District of Columbia. Office of the Surveyor, et al. Map of the division of the north half of a tract of land called "St. Elisabeth," situated on the east side of the Anacostia River in the county of Washington, D.C.: surveyed into one acre lots for sale to freedmen. 1867. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/88693083/.
District of Columbia, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1863-1872, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G937-NSG4-8?cc=2333782&wc=9J3J-JWL%3A1069293002%2C1069293304 : 3 August 2016), Assistant quartermaster and disbursing officer > Roll 2, Registers of letters sent, vol 1-2, Jun 1, 1865-Aug 31, 1869 > image 73 of 95; citing NARA microfilm publication M1902 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
District of Columbia, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1863-1872, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L937-F9HZ-Q?cc=2333782&wc=9J3J-3TL%3A1069293002%2C1069293003: 3 August 2016), Assistant quartermaster and disbursing officer >
Roll 3, Press copies of letters sent, vol 3-5, May 2, 1866-Aug 31, 1869 > image 421 of 872; citing NARA microfilm publication M1902 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
“Fire in the Suburbs.” Page 6 of The evening times. (Washington, D.C.), 03 Sept. 1895. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024441/1895-09-03/ed-1/seq-6/
Frederick Douglass Jr. and Other Residents of the District of Columbia. "Petition for Woman Suffrage." Petitions and Memorials, 1813-1968. Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1789-2011, Record Group 233, National Archives Building, Washington, DC. https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/douglass-petition-woman-suffrage
"Two Petitions of Citizens of the District of Columbia," 16 February 1880, SEN 46A-H11.2, Box 179.
“Hillsdale, District of Columbia”. Page 3 of The bee. (Washington, D.C.), 10 Nov. 1883. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84025890/1883-11-10/ed-1/seq-3/
History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, “Petition for Woman Suffrage,” https://history.house.gov/Records-and-Research/Listing/pm_012/
Hutchinson, Louise Daniel. List of First Settlers of Barry Farm/Hillsdale 1867-1871. 1981. History of Place research files, Anacostia Community Museum, Washington, D.C.
Prandoni, Dr. Jogues. (D.C. Department of Behavioral Health), email message to Alcione Amos, December 14, 2016.
Historical Note. Records of the Field Offices for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1870. Retrieved from: https://sova.si.edu/record/NMAAHC.FB.M1902
Straker, D. Augustus. Citizenship, its rights and duties--woman suffrage; a lecture delivered by D. Augustus Straker, esq., at the Israel A.M.E. Church, and before the Pioneer Lyceum, at Hillsdale, Washington, D.C., April 13 & 14. Washington, New National Era Print, 1874. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, African American Pamphlet Collection www.loc.gov/item/09032738/.
United States Census, 1900; Census Place: Washington, Washington, District of Columbia; Page: 22; Enumeration District: 0010; FHL microfilm: 1240158
United States Census, 1910; Census Place: Precinct 11, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: T624_149; Page: 22A; Enumeration District: 0235; FHL microfilm: 1374162
United States Census, 1840, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHBC-KJZ : 7 September 2017), Caroline Chase, Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, United States; citing p. 55, NARA microfilm publication M704, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 35; FHL microfilm 6,700.
United States Census, 1850, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MX6M-3RH : 12 April 2016), Caroline Chase, Washington, ward 2, Washington, District of Columbia, United States; citing family 1047, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
United States Census, 1860, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCVM-22S : 13 December 2017), Elizabeth Chase in entry for Caroline Chase, 1860.
"United States, Freedman's Bank Records, 1865-1874," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NST7-8Y8 : 9 March 2018), Elizabeth Chase, ; citing bank District of Columbia, United States, NARA microfilm publication M816 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1970); FHL microfilm 928,574.
"United States, Freedman's Bank Records, 1865-1874," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NSTC-PWR : 9 March 2018), Elizabeth Chase, ; citing bank District of Columbia, United States, NARA microfilm publication M816 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1970); FHL microfilm 928,575.
Washington, District of Columbia, City Directory, Years 1874-1895. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
"Two Petitions of Citizens of the District of Columbia," 16 February 1880, SEN 46A-H11.2, Box 179.
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