Amos Chase

Amos Chase (1718–1818) was the first deacon of the first Congregational Church and one of the founders of Pepperellborough, ME (which is now Saco, ME).

Dea. Chase was one of the pioneers in the area. He first came to Saco in about 1734, and soon after the division of the Humphrey Scamman property in 1736, purchased a part of the estate at the lower ferry and built an ordinary (tavern) there. He kept the ferry for several years, and was one of the builders of the first bridge on the west side of Indian Island. He drove the first team of oxen to Buxton, ME, and moved there in 1741. His daughter was said to be the first white child born in Buxton. Due to Indian wars, he moved to Newbury in 1744, then back to Saco in 1753.

He was chosen as selectman at the first town meeting of Pepperellborough in 1762. Chase was active during the Revolutionary War, serving on the town's first Committee of Correspondence and on its Committee of Inspection.

He was a lumberman and farmer, and prominent in religious and civic matters relating to the town and the Saco River. Chase was one of the largest taxpayers in the area. He was described as "stately and commanding in figure, six feet in height, vigorous and erect even in old age, eloquent in conversation and pre-eminently so in prayer." "His tongue seemed oiled from root to tip expressing eloquence. I thought him the finest looking old man I ever saw, long hair down over his shoulders, white as snow..." Chase lived to be 100 years old.

Chase's brother, Samuel Chase, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and served as a Supreme Court justice. Dea. Chase's house in Saco, ME still exists (as a private residence) and has been recently restored.

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