117 Interesting and Influential Family Members From 1016 to 1840 1016-1840  1840-1900  1900-1945  1945-Present

Surname Family Tree Diagrams Surname Facts Historical Statistics Recent Statistics Famous Family Members to 1840 to 1900 to 1945 to Present Family Trees: Chaffe, Chaffey, Chaffee, Chafy, Chafe Devonshire Wills, by Charles Worthy, 1896 Chaffee Genealogy in America, by William H. Chaffee, 1909 Excerpts from the Diaries of the Chafes, by Rev. W.K.W. Chafy, 1910 Chaffe/Chaffey Lineage in England from 1016 Chaffee/Chafee Lineage in America from 1637 Chafe Lineage in Canada from 1705

Chaff - 2 Chafy - 2 Chafe - 25 Chaffe - 4 Chafey - 1 Chafee - 5 Chaffey - 28 Chaffee - 39 Chaif - 1 Shared - 10

Hugo, Thegn of Chaffcombe: (c.1016)  A Norman by descent who lived in or near the village of Chaffcombe  (50.8871ºN 2.919ºW) which was likely founded in the time of the Saxons.  The link to Hugo is based on research by Charles Worthy published in the Devonshire Wills in 1896.  Hugo was thought to be a confidential advisor to Queen Emma, and came over from Normandy France around 1002.  Hugo's son was Reginald Fitz-Hugo (Fitz means son-of).  After the Norman conquest of 1066, King William I (1027-1087) gave the whole of the Chaffcombe property to his Chief Justiciary and powerful favourite, Jeffery - Bishop of Coutances (Geoffrey de Montbray d.1093).  In the Domesday Book the Bishop was endowed with many lands - including Chaffcombe.  From the Domesday Book; The Land of the Bishop of Coutances: The same bishop holds Caffecome and Ralph (holds) of him.  2 thegns held it TRE and it paid geld for 3½ hides.  There is land for 3 ploughs.  In demesne is 1 (plough); and 2 villans and 6 borders have one plough.  There is woodland 8 furlongs long and as much broad.  It is worth 40s.  To this manor has  been added 1 hide and 3 virgates of land.  2 thegns held it TRE as 2 manors.  There is land for 2 ploughs.  3 villans there have these (ploughs).  It is worth 20s.  Chaffcombe is located in Somerset just east of Chard, it is thought to be the town where the Chaffe/Chaffey surname originated.  The Saxon word combe means a deep narrow valley or basin on the flank of a hill.  The British kumb, meaning valley was used so extensively that it was adopted into Old English as cumb and has yielded numerous English place names containing Combe and Coombe.  Chafecombe or Chaffcombe can also be derived from the term cleaf (ceaf) cumb which in Saxon means light or breezy valley.  Variations in the spelling of the Chafe surname that (may) have evolved within the Devon, Dorset, Somerset area include: Chaffyng (1332 Dorset), Chaf (1663 Devon), Chafe (1558 Devon), Chafee (1657 Dorset), Chafey (1651 Somerset & Dorset), Chaff (1479 Devon), Chaffe (1578 Devon), Chaffee (1550 Somerset), Chaffety (none found), Chaffey (1560 Somerset), Chaffie (1536 Devon), Chaffin (1533 Dorset), Chaffy (1593 Somerset), Chaffye (1585 Somerset), Chafie (1584 Dorset), Chafin (1559 London, 1589 Dorset, 1593 Wiltshire), Chafy (1500 Dorset), Chave (1595 Devon), and Shafe (1692 Devon).  Posted on this website are analytical studies of the surname evolution in England, the United States, Canada as well as interesting facts about the surname.

Huges (Hugo/Hugh/Robert II) Count de Meulan: (965-1016)  Webmaster note: this link to the surname is conjectural and needs further research to confirm a positive lineage.  It is based solely on Worthy's claim that Hugo of Chaffcombe is the origin of the Chaffe surname.  It is possible that Hugo of Chaffcombe was Huges (Hugo/Hugh/Robert II) Count de Meulan and Valois who lived from 965-1016.  Meulan is a village located 30 km (18 miles) northwest of Paris.  Huges was a descendant of Waleran/Galeran Count of Mulan who lived in 985.  Huges married Alais (Alix) de Vexin (b.970) in 989.  Huges may have fought and died in the final Battle of Assandun in October 1016.  If this connection is correct, Huges was the brother-in law to Dreux, Count of Vexin (974-1035).  Druex married Godgifu (1003-1055) who was the daughter of Emma of Normandy.  Various descendants and family members had connections with Chaffcombe and Exeter.  The possible family tree shows how the family is linked to many members of the English, French and Norman nobility around the time of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.  It is possible that Hugo of Chaffcombe was Huges (Hugo/Hugh/Robert II) Count de Meulan and Valois who lived from 965-1016.  Meulan is a village located 30 km (18 miles) northwest of Paris.  Huges was a descendant of Waleran/Galeran Count of Mulan who lived in 985.  Huges married Alais (Alix) de Vexin (b.970) in 989.  Huges may have fought and died in the final Battle of Assandun in October 1016.  If this connection is correct, Huges was the brother-in law to Dreux, Count of Vexin (974-1035).  Druex married Godgifu (1003-1055) who was the daughter of Emma of Normandy.  Various descendants and family members had connections with Chaffcombe and Exeter.  The possible family tree shows how the family is linked to many members of the English, French and Norman nobility around the time of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. 

Thomas Chafe: (?-1283)  Son of Robert Fitz-Ranulf.  First person to use the Chafe surname as opposed to "de Chaffecombe" (50.8871ºN 2.919ºW).  He married Matilda daughter of Andrew de Bosco of Somerset.  His widow recovered the custody of his son and heir Thomas, from a cleric called William de Saint Esprit in 1284.  Thomas Chafe II married Christina de Mandeville one of the foremost families of southwest England.  They had two sons, with the youngest son called Andrew.  Thomas, the older son, had three daughters and no sons.  The daughters may have divided the Chaffcombe property.  Andrew Chafe also had lands at Chaffcombe but seems to have moved to Bridgwater (25 miles north of Chaffcombe) around 1375, where he eventually died.  Thomas Chafe II's grandson son John Chaffe, who also had land in Devonshire, fought at the Battle of Agincourt on October 1415.

Robert Chaffe: (?-1580)  Robert was the son of William Chaffie who was born in Wellington (18 miles northwest of Chaffcombe).  Robert's brother was Nicholas.  Robert moved to Exeter, was the Sheriff 1566,  Steward in 1557, churchwarden of St. Petrocks in 1568 and was Exeter's mayor two times 1568/9 and 1576/7 (co-mayor with Thomas Prestwode).  In 1571, he was governor of the "Societe of Merchant Adventurers of the Cite of Exeter, trafficing the realm of Fraunce and dominions of the French King, incorporated by Queen Elizabeth June 17th. 1560".  He was the first Chafe or Chafy known to have borne arms.  He had five sons and two daughters.  The Devon Record Office has the Exeter Chamber Account Books (June 1560-Nov 1584) no. III pages 212-232 and 372-384 show Robert's contribution to city affairs.  Robert Chaffe died in 1580 and registered as buried in Exeter Cathedral, with his worn tombstone on the floor of the church nave "crossing floor south side" xf c(s).  The words on the tomb are hard to read as it is heavily worn away.  It appears as Robert? John Chaffe.  The word Nicholas (his brother?) was engraved on the opposite side of the tombstone.  One of his sons was John Chafe (1585-1619).  In 1613 the Chamber of Commerce of Exeter fitted out a ship called the Hopewell of Dartmouth (80 tons) and John Chafe of Exeter was the captain.  His task was to pursue pirates.  Later that year he was commissioned the Amytie of Plymouth (100 tons).  John's son was Thomas Chafe (1611-1662), a member of Parliament for Totnes in 1660.  Thomas' son was Thomas Chafe who was elected in 1685 to serve in Parliament as Burgesses for the Borough of Bridport. 

William Chaffey: (1558-1621)  William was was born in Stoke sub Hamdon, Somerset (50.9546ºN 2.7513ºW).  He was the resident curate of St Mary's in Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset and by 1601 he was the vicar of St Mary's.  His father was Thomas Chaffey (1532-1582/3) whose father was John Chafy (1500-1569/70) whose father was Richard Chafy (1475-1523), buried in Sherborne, Dorset.  He married Maude Tachell (1563-1615) in 1587 in Stoke-sub-Hamdon.  They had 14 children.  Six generations have been identified in William's line from 1475 to 1680.

Thomas Chafe: (c.1585-1648) of Dodscott was the third son of Thomas Chaffe, Notary Public of Exeter and Dorothy Shorte (grandson of Robert Chaffe d.1580).  His sister, Pascha, was the wife of Tristram Risdon of Winscott, author of The Chorographical Description or Survey of the County of Devon.  Thomas married Margaret Burgoyne (d.1655).  The effigy is described in detail in Charles Worthy's Devonshire Wills, published in 1896 and is located in St. Giles Church, in the village of St. Giles in the Wood (near Dodscott) located 3 miles east of Great Torrington in northwest Devon (50.9525ºN 4.09ºW). When the church was rebuilt in 1862 the effigy was removed from its original position, but in 1987 it was placed in the newly created Mary Withecombe Chapel.  Dorothy's Will mentions her son Thomas Chaffe but he seems to have been an odd person, rather a black sheep.  John Chafe (1585-1619) of Exeter was married to Anne Mayho of Cornwall in 1610. In his Will he is described as "John Chafe of the Citye of Exeter, Merchante".  He was a Churchwarden of St. Olaves, Exeter.  He died and was buried at St. Olave's May 27 1619.  

Matthew Chafey: (c.1636) The first person recorded in the United States, bearing the surname of Chaffe.  He owned land in Hingham, MA, but when is not known.  The will of William Hersey of Hingham, dated March 9, 1657-58, gives to his son William "ye Lott I bought of Matthew Chafey at ye Capts Tent" (now Hewitt's Cove west of Hingham Center on the Weymouth Back River).  The records of the First Church of Boston contain the last entry regarding Matthew and Sarah Chaffe, "Oe Brother Mathew Chaffe upon his desire with his wife was dismissed ye 10th of 6 mo. 1655".  Whether Matthew and Sarah returned to England, or whether they settled in some other part of the country is not known.  There is no mention of any other family members by the surname of Chaffe in the Boston area around this date.  There is one record in Stock Gayland which records the birth of Mathew, son of Thomas and Margery in 1602.  A marriage record for a Mathew Chafey to Sara Bowry was recorded at St. Dunstan, Stepney in East London in June 1631.  This record indicates Mathew as "a shipwright of Wappingwall".  The Mathew Chafey in the New World is described as a ships carpenter.  It is possible that Mathew Chafey was born in 1602 in Stock Gayland, Dorset (son of Thomas and Margery Chafy) and married Sara Bowry in 1631, aged 29, in the docks area of east London, with a trade established as ships carpenter, and emigrated to the New World where he is first recorded in Boston in 1636. In 1629, John Winthrop (1588-1649) heard about a new venture called the Massachusetts Bay Company.  The company whose charter was signed by the king, was financed by investors.  They could send workers to the New World to obtain furs, spices, and other exotic goods and ship them back to England for a profit.  John Winthrop sold all he had to contribute to the venture, and during the planning of the voyage became recognized as a leader of the Puritan colony.  In 1630, John Winthrop and five ships with 400 colony settlers arrived in Salem but after exploring the coastal wilderness area he settled the colonists around the Boston Harbor area.  Five more ships would arrive later that year.  Winthrop governed the colony for fifteen of its first twenty years.  That winter 200 colonists out of 700 would perish.  Over the next ten years, twenty thousand settlers would emigrate to Massachusetts.

Thomas Chaffe: (c.1610/15-1683)  Born in England.  Among the first settlers in North America and likely from him the Chaffee surname flourished in the United States.  He settled in Hingham (near Boston) Massachusetts in July 1637 and moved to Swansea by 1660 (42.2408ºN 70.8864ºW).  He may have arrived as early as 1635.  From the Complete Book of Emigrants 1607-1660 by Peter Wilson Coldham (1988) the following can be found: 22 April, 1637 The Speedwell - Master, Mr Robert Corbin, bound from Weymouth to New England.  Passengers on the ship: Thomas Claff, his wife and two friends.  The 60-ton Speedwell carried 64 passengers from Weymouth to Boston in 1637.  The Speedwell could have been the same ship that was to accompany the Puritans on the 180 ton Mayflower ton in 1620 from Southampton to Plymouth.  However soon into the voyage the ship proved unworthy, returned to port, was sold and some of the passengers crowded onto the Mayflower.  Thomas Chaffe could not read or write and was likely a farmer.  He first moved to Batchellor St. (now Main St.),  Hingham nearly opposite the present meeting-house of the First Parish. Later he had lands near Nantasket (Hull); Worlds End Hill (1637), Peddock's Island (1642), Pleasant Hill (1650), Squirrel Hill (1650), Broad Cove Meadow (1650), Sagamore Hill (1657) and Strawberry Hill (1657).  His wife was likely named Dorothy and his father may have been named Joseph due to family naming conventions.  They had two sons; Nathaniel (1638/1640-1721) and Joseph (1639/1642-1694).  In 1660 Thomas purchased 10 acres of land at Rice’s Neck Rhode Island, located on the west bank of the Barrington River (in Thomas' time Sowams River) northwest of the present town of Barrington Centre, RI (founded in 1909).  In April 1664, Thomas bought a 25 acre Seekonk homestead from Thomas Willett who later became the first Mayor of New York City in 1665.  Apparently after King Philips' War (1675-76), Baptists moved into Thomas' area and Congregationalists, including Thomas, moved closer toward Barrington; prompting his purchases at Phebe’s Neck (1679) and Mount Hope Neck (1683). Thomas died in 1683 near Barrington Center, Rhode Island, likely on his farm near the Popanomscut (two miles north of Barrington (41.7421ºN 71.3088ºW). On the same year that Thomas arrived in Hingham, Samuel Lincoln in the John and Dorothy of Ipswich settling in the town.  Samuel was born in 1622 in Hingham, Norfolk, England and his great-great, great, great, grandson was Abraham Lincoln who became the 16th President of the USA in 1860. A house at 464 Chestnut Street in Seekonk, MA (41.8187ºN, 71.3105ºW) that was owned by Cyrus Chaffee (1814-1885), was possibly a home of Thomas Chaffee (the 25 acre Seekonk purchase).  It resides next to the Chaffee-Peck Nature Conservatory. The house is dated from the early 1800's, however a local historian believes it to be rebuilt on an original homestead of the Chaffee family. The historian refers to King Phillips War and how families were hold up in the cellar which contained narrow slits in which rifles could defend the homestead. This could be the "Chaffe's Garrison," W.H. Chaffee wrote in this Chaffee History.  The nearby cemetery is located between the house and the Chaffee-Peck Nature Conservatory.

Thomas Chaffin: (c.1664)  The first known Chaffin to come to America who may have started this line in the United States.  He may have been one of 84 settler of Accomack County, Virginia Colony lead by Captain John Savage in 1664.  Later Chaffin generations were reported in the County of Middlesex, VA.  It is uncertain if the Chaffin/Chafin/Chaffins surname shares a common lineage with the Chaffe/Chaffey/Chaffee surname.  From the Internet Genealogy Service (LDS), the name Chaffin starts in 1533 in New Sarum (Salisbury), Dorset; Mere (1566), Wiltshire; and Bruton (1639), Somerset, England.  The surname also appears in 1691 in Haute-Saone, France.  However in the 1500's this surname appears in LDS to originate in southwest England along with the other Chafe surnames.  From the LDS website, for 297 Chaffin/Chafin surnames born between 1537 and 1886, the highest proportion were born in Dorset (22%), then Somerset (13%), then Wiltshire (10%) and then London 8%).  Looking closely on a subset of 139 names between 1537 and 1699 the distribution is Dorset (38%), Wiltshire (17%), Somerset (13%), London (5%).  Some of the cities of note are Bruton, Somerset - 28 miles northeast of Chaffcombe, Mere, Wiltshire - 35 miles northeast of Chaffcombe and Chettle, Dorset - 40 miles east of Chaffcombe.  The 1851 England census showed 33% of Chaffins were from Somerset.  There was a famous battle of the Civil War fought at Chaffin's Farm, New Market Heights Virginia, September 29-30, 1864.  Eugene Chafin was on the electoral ballot in 1912 against Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt.  In 1921, James Chaffin, a farmer from Davie County, North Carolina, died as the result of a fall.  Four years after his death, the farmer's second son saw the spirit figure of the deceased standing at his bedside and told him of an alternate will that would redistribute the family's assets.  The new will held out in a court of law.  Lillie D. Chaffin, a native of Pike County, Kentucky, was a poet, an editor, a librarian, a teacher, and a Kentucky Poet Laureate.  She published 17 books, and was an advocate of women, Appalachian writers, and young writers.  Lillie died in 1993.  Chaffin/Chafin/Chafins surnames are 4 to 1 more prevalent than Chaffee/Chaffey/Chafe in the United States, however the name Chaffin has far fewer place names.  In the UK Chaffin has been consistently third place over the number of Chaffey and Chaffe surnames and now presently represents 11% of the Chaffey/Chaffe/Chaffin total.. In the US Chaffin overtook Chaffee in popularity of the surname by the 1900's. There is one US town with this name; Chaffinville, MA.    Based on LDS data compiled from 1567 to 1727, Chaffin/Chafin accounted for 9% of the surname total.

John Chafe: (c.1665)  John Chafe or Chaffe was on a Talbot County, Maryland jury in 1665.  In 1676, he and Mary Chafe were living along the Chester and Hambleton Rivers south of Chestertown.  Miles Chaffe of Maryland was involved in legal proceedings involving tobacco sales in 1667/8, had servants and was tied to Bristol, England. The Hambleton River is located near Chestertown, MD (39.1846ºN 76.042ºW).  Wills issued in 1679 transferred the boat Bachelor's Joy to Richard Chafe on the south side of Chester River, and The Adventure to Rebecca Chafe on Reed's Creek.  Reed Creek is located 20 miles to the south west along the Chester River.  The tobacco industry was the major source of revenue for the Virginia and Maryland economies located around the Chesapeake Bay.  Introduced to Europe in 1518 by Fernando Cortez, tobacco use accelerated in Europe after Jean Nicot de Villemain (originator of the word Nicotine), wrote about its medicinal properties.  In 1564/5 tobacco was introduced into England by Sir John Hawkins and his crew.  Tobacco use was rampant among sailors.  John Rolfe (who married Pocahontas in 1614) raised Virginia's first commercial crop of "tall tobacco" branded Orinoco in 1612.  He obtained the seeds from Trinidad under the noses of the Spanish.  The plant was grown in Maryland by 1631.  The Virginia brand of tobacco competed favourably with other variations as the seeds were planted in Europe and other colonies worldwide.  Tobacco became the colony's main form of currency and barter but was labour intensive to cultivate. In 1619 the Dutch sold 20 Africans to the colony contributing to the start of the American slave trade.  In 1621 George Calvert sent out a group of colonists to settle at Ferryland, Newfoundland.  He called his colony Avalonia, and it included the area around Petty Harbour.  In 1632 Calvert, Lord Baltimore was granted a charter to settle Maryland.  He died that year, but two years later his heirs founded St. Mary's City, the first settlement in Maryland.  Another unrelated Chafe, James Chafe was a soldier who assisted in fighting during King Phillip's War (1676/6) in Rhode Island under Capt. Samuel Brocklebank, Sept 23d, 1676. These lines of Chafe's did not seem to flourish in America.  From the Complete Book of Emigrants 1607-1660 by Peter Wilson Coldham (1988) a Miles Chaff (from Bristol) had four servants in Virginia in 1658.  In September 1685 a William Chafe travelled to Virginia in the David.

John Chafe: (c.1685-1759)  Born near Ipplepen/Berry Pomeroy in Devon (50.488ºN 3.6362ºW).  John was the first recorded Chafe in Newfoundland (47.4633ºN 52.7022ºW).  Likely from him the Chafe surname flourished in Canada.  He arrived in Petty Harbour Newfoundland circa 1705/6, likely leaving from the port of Topsham (south of Exeter).  When he arrived he was an unmarried bye boat keeper.  Bye boat keepers obtained their own goods from merchants and hired their own fishermen.  John was literate and of good character as he was hired as a constable in 1729.  There is no reference to his wife, but her name could have been Ann from naming patterns.  The Chafe's were followers of the Church of England.  The branch was prosperous because of fishing, sealing and attempts to establish farms at Goulds, a few miles west of Petty Harbour.  Some of the oldest headstones in Petty Harbour belong to the Chafe branch and were imported from England.  They had four known sons: Edward (born c 1720 and buried Tormoham, England in 1802), Samuel (c.1722-1800), Henry (born c.1725 and buried in Petty Harbour in1801) and William (c.1728-1812).

Joel Chaffe: (1702-1745)  Born in the area of Swansea, Bristol MA and the son of John Chaffe (1673-1757) and Sarah Hills.  Joel Chaffee married Elizabeth Bicknell.  Their daughter, Lucy Chaffee was born in Oxford, MA or Woodstock, CT (1742-1797) married John Call in 1761.  John was in the Battle of Quebec in 1759 and was later a soldier in the Revolutionary War.  Their son John Call (1761-1831) married Fanny Johnson.  Their son Eber Call (1791-1864) married Violette Lawrence.  Their son Charles Call (1822-1890) married Henrietta Gross.  Their daughter Flora Call (1868-1938) from Steuben, Ohio, married Elias Disney from Bluevale, Ontario (1859-1941) in 1888.  Their son, Walter Elias Disney, from Chicago (1901-1966) married Lillian Bounds.  In 1928 Lillian Bounds thought the name "Mortimer" was too pompous and suggested "Mickey" Mouse.  It was from this point that the Walt Disney empire started.  During his following 43-year Hollywood career, Walt Disney transformed the entertainment industry, pioneering the fields of animation, art, motion pictures, entertainment and education.  The specific family tree is a follows: Thomas Chaffe (1610/15-1683) father of Joseph Chaffe (1639-1694) father of John Chaffe (1673-1757) father of Joel Chaffe (1702-1745) father of Lucy Chaffee (1742-1797) who married John Call (1739-1808) father of John Call (1761-1831) father of Eber Call (1791-1864) father of Charles Call (1822-1890) father of Flora Call (1868-1938) who married Elias Disney and was father of Walter Elias Disney (1901-1966).  Flora was one of the three magical fairies in Disney's 16th major picture Sleeping Beauty released in 1959.

Rev. John Chafy: (1719-1782)  Born in Lillington, Dorset.  John was the son of Rev. John Chafie (1686-1757).  His father became the rector of Purse Caundle (1731-1782).  John Sr. may have changed his surname to Chafy around that time.  John Jr. was educated at Eton and matriculated from Kings College in 1738.  The famous English landscape and portrait artist Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) painted a portrait John Chafy in his early thirties (c.1572) and probably still a bachelor - The Rev. John Chafy Playing the Violoncello in a Landscape.  Chafy, who was the vicar at Great Bricett in Suffolk at the time, was also talented amateur musician.  Gainsborough was known to have played several instruments with ‘native skill’ and was an active member of the Ipswich Musical Club.  In the temple behind John is a statue holding a lyre, the attribute of the Muses of dancing and love poetry.  This is probably a reference to Chafy’s forthcoming marriage to Ann Gisborne, a rich heiress with an estate located in Hilton, Derby.  He was vicar of Broad ChaIk, Wiltshire and died in 1782 (or 1788).  In 1753 John's sister Martha (1726-?), was married at Purse Caundle to Richard Littlejohn of Taunton.  The floor slabs in St. Peter's in Purse Caundle are dedicated to three families, one of which are the Chafy's.

Edward Chafe:  (c.1720-1802) Born in Petty Harbour, NF.  Edward was the son of John Chafe (c.1685-1759).  He was sent back to Devon to receive an education.  Edward married at Ipplepen, Devon, in 1750 to Jane (Jenny) Way (1731-?).  They had eight children baptized at Wolborough, Devon.  He submitted a claim around 1783 to the Longitude Board for the Longitude Problem award.  In 1714, the British Government offered, by Act of Parliament, £20,000 for a solution which could provide longitude to within half-a-degree.  John Harrison (1693-1776) submitted his first timepiece, the H1 in 1737.  Four models later and after much lobbying of the Longitude Board, King George III and finally parliament, an Act of Parliament in June 1773 finally awarded him £8750.  Apparently there were many board members who coveted the award themselves.  John Harrison was recognised as having solved the longitude problem.  Captain James Cook confirmed the accuracy when he returned to England in July 1775.  However the actual prize went unclaimed until the Longitude Act was repealed in 1828 as the board had asked for very extensive land and sea trials.  Edward was buried at Tormoham (Torquay), Devonshire.

Dr. Hezekiah Chaffee: (1731-1819).  Born in Rehoboth, MA.  He lived in Windsor, 10 miles northeast of Hartford, CT.  He was the great-great-grandson of Thomas Chaffe ((1610/15-1683).  The house of Dr. Hezekiah Chaffee is a 15 room Georgian Colonial (41.8557ºN 72.6384ºW) and is located nearby to the present Loomis Chaffee School (41.844ºN 72.6399ºW). John Adams (1735-1826), the future first Vice President (1789-1797) and second President of the United States (1797-1801) dined at the home of a Dr. Chafy (Chaffee) living in Windsor, Friday November 4, 1774.  From Adam's Diary, he was "very cordially entertained".  One of the doctor's son's was Hezekiah Chaffee (1762-1821).  His daughter Abigail Sherwood Chaffee (1787-1867) married Colonel James Loomis of Windsor, CT in 1805.  One of their children, James Chaffee Loomis (1807-1877), graduated from Yale College in 1828 and was a lawyer with a large practice in Bridgeport, CT.  In 1837 he was a State Senator.  James Chaffee Loomis and his three brothers and his sister outlived all their children. As a memorial to their own offspring, and as a gift to future children, they pooled their considerable estates to found a secondary school in the Windsor area.  Their co-educational school was incorporated in 1874.  In 1914 the student body was 39 boys and 13 girls, the boys were to live in, but the girls had no quarters. The co-educational status caused a lot of unrest over the years - even going to court.  James helped start the School for Girls in 1926.  Nancy Toney was about 10 years old and ineligible for freedom when the state passed a gradual emancipation law in 1784.  As a child she was given to the wife of Dr. Hezekiah Chaffee of Windsor and later became the property of Abigail, who reputedly took affectionate care of "Old Nance" in her dotage.  When Nancy died in 1857, at age 82, she was, so far as is known, the last slave in Connecticut.  Loomis Chaffee School was created in a merger between the Loomis Institute (1914) and the Chaffee School for Girls.

Asa Chaffee: (1734-1810) Born in Woodstock, MA (now Connecticut).  In 1774, Asa Chaffee was one of one hundred and twenty-five men from South Wilbraham, MA who signed an agreement not to buy English-made goods.  He married Mary Howlett in 1753, in Woodstock, and later in 1785; Sarah Ormsbef in Wilbraham, MA.  Asa was a private in the Wilbraham Company under the command of Captain James Warriner, along with Joshua, Comfort (Rehoboth), Darius and John Chaffee.  The Company had a two-day march of fifty miles to Lexington/Concord, and may have participated in the battle and later pursuit of the British.  The men were paid 7s each.  They "marched in defence of American Liberty on ye alarm last April (April 19,1775), occasioned by the Lexington fight."  Seven hundred British troops had marched from Boston toward Lexington and Concord to seize the colonists' military supplies and arrest revolutionaries.  Paul Revere, in his famous ride from Boston, first alerted the colonists to the British movement.  In the early in the morning of April 19, 1775, seventy seven militia met the British at Lexington, which became the first battle of the Revolutionary War.  One musket went off.  Historians debate which side fired the first shot ("the shot heard 'round the world"), but the resulting British volley left eight colonists dead on Lexington Green.  Later that day at Concord, advancing British troops met resistance from four hundred Minutemen (because they could march on a moment's notice).  After the battle thousands of colonists harassed the retreating British troops along the Concord-Lexington Road.  Joseph (Somerset/Swansea), Sergeant Noah (Rehoboth), Shubael and Stephen Chaffee were also soldiers in the Revolutionary War.  Thomas Chaffey (1756/60-1828) enlisted in the Revolutionary Army as a private, from Monmouth County, NJ in the spring of 1780.  He served with the 1st Battalion, 2nd Establishment, 1st Regiment, under Col. Matthias Ogden and Captain James Mitchell.  He took part in the surrender of General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781.  He applied for a pension in 1819, became a farmer in Hornerstown, NJ, and was buried there in the Zion Cemetery.  Other Chaffee's include Abiel (RI), Comfort (MA), Clifford (VT), Ernest (VT), Ezra (VT) and William (CT).

James Chaffey: (1747-1797)  The first recorded Chaffey in North America.  Born in Somerset, England.  His father had twenty one children, and had visited America at some point.  James apprenticed as a goldsmith.  He planned to settle in Philadelphia.  Setting out In 1760, his ship was to head to Boston, but upon putting out to sea, the captain opened up his sealed orders and found he had to sail to Africa to pick up slaves.  The ship picked up the slaves off the Coast of Guinea and resumed its voyage.  They encountered a fierce storm and foundered in the high seas.  Another commercial sailing ship came along side and the passengers and crew transferred to the other ship.  The slaves, shackled in the cargo hold, were never released.  James Chaffey was disturbed and haunted by the experience.  The rescue vessel landed in Philadelphia, but he later moved to Gouldsboro, MA.  In 1765 he took up residence as a squatter on Indian Island, New Brunswick (44.9233ºN 66.9706ºW).  He built the first house on the island.  Indian Island is 1.8 km long, 0.5 km wide and located in Passamaquoddy Bay, 1.5 km across from Eastport, Maine.  In 1768, he was joined by another settler, John Lefontaine, a British sailor, who had taken part in the Battle for Quebec in 1759.  John's daughter, Elizabeth and James Chaffey were married in 1770.  They became the parents of eleven children between 1771 and 1796.  Chaffey's vocation was trading and a flourishing trade in fur and fish ensued.  In 1776, Colonel Ethan Allen sent a party of American natives to make Chaffey swear allegiance to General Washington.  Although confined to bed by illness and threatened with violence, he would not relent and they left with their mission unfulfilled.  In the late 1700's, James Chaffey helped a man named Goldsmith establish a salt works company to produce salt, which resulted in the wholesale clear cutting of the island's trees, to the regret of his descendents, and brought the salt works enterprise to an end.  James' sons John (1792-1835) and James  II (1778-1853) formed a shipping company with a fleet of wooden sailers under the name Chaffey & Chaffey Shipping Company, which flourished with trade in the West Indies.  In the early 1800's the islanders were active in the smuggling business.  In the 1820's, boats carried fish and lumber to the West Indies and returned with sugar, molasses and rum, which were re-shipped in large quantities on smaller ships to ports like Saint John.  The West Indies trade from the west isles far exceeded the trade from St. Andrews and contributed half the tax duties paid into the Charlotte County coffers.  The descendents of John and James Chaffey became fishermen and earned a hard living in the Bay of Fundy.  James II had eight sons with two wives.  Among them were James Edward (1802-1851) who had another set sons called John Francis (1839-?) and James William (1832-1885); Gilman A.L. (1838-1920), Horatio Nelson (1820-1849) and Guy Carleton (1826-1849).  In 1849 during a gale on a voyage to the West Indies, Guy fell overboard and drowned and Horatio, trying to save him, was killed by barrels that had broken loose on deck.

William Chaaf or Chafe or Chaff: (c.1763-1790)  Convicted in Exeter March 20, 1787 for burglary with a value of 225 shillings.  William was one of a list of convicts on the Charlotte (barque 105 feet long, 88 male and 20 female convicts, Captain Thomas Gilbert) that sailed from Portsmouth to New South Wales in 1787.  His sentence was 7 years - death commuted.  William left England at age 24.  Between 1788 and 1850 the English sent over 162,000 convicts to Australia in 806 ships.  The first eleven of these ships are today known as the First Fleet and contained the convicts and marines that are now acknowledged as the Founders of Australia.  The First Fleet left England on 13th May 1787 for the "lands beyond the seas" -  Australia, stopping at Tenerife, Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town, where food supplies were replenished.  The Fleet consisted of six convict ships, three store ships, two men-o-war ships with a total of 756 convicts (564 male, 192 female), 550 officers/marines/ship crew and their families.  The six convict ships were the Alexander, the Charlotte, the Lady Penrhyn, the Friendship, the Prince of Wales and the Scarborough.  George Chaffey was a Second Mate on the HMS Scarborough.  The fleet arrived at Botany Bay between 18th and 20th January 1788.  However this area was deemed to be unsuitable for settlement due its lack of fresh water, so they moved north to Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, January 26, 1788.  William received 150 lashes in 1789 for stealing a pumpkin and was executed for attempting to steal food from a hut in 1790.  In later years the Charlotte would do transport duty from London to Jamaica until she was sold to a Quebec merchant in 1818 and was then lost off the coast of Newfoundland that very same year.  Mary Chafey was convicted in Middlesex in 1787, sentenced for seven years and arrived in Australia on the Second Fleet, in June 1790 on the Lady Juliana.  The voyage took 309 days from Plymouth and the ship carried 206 females.  Convict William Chaffey was one of 3217 men, women and children who were issued rations in Sydney, Australia on September 8, 1821.  Richard Garth (1807-1838) was born Norfolk Island and wed Maria Mary Ann Chaffey in 1827.  He died in Hobart, Tasmania.

Thomas Chaffey: (c.1762-1849)  Born in England.  Thomas may have been in the pack tread industry.  Chaffey was arrested in East London in 1788 in connection with the assault of Samuel Bevan near the King's Highway "putting him in fear and taking from his person, and against his will, three guineas, one half guinea, and twelve shillings in monies, and counterfeit sixpence value one farthing, and sixteen copper half pence".  Bevan identified him as the one who had first stopped him in the robbery.  Chaffey was probably under suspicion because he had been tried and acquitted for a similar crime the previous month.  It was common in those days that people convicted for stealing goods worth as low as five shillings could be sentenced to death.  Chaffey was tried in 1788 and sentenced to be hung.  Offered a pardon a year later, on the condition he be sent to Australia, Thomas was one of seven others who cause a sensation by answering “no” - likely preferring death to exile.   In 1789 he agreed to be exiled and sailed from Plymouth to Australia on the Scarborough with the Second Fleet arriving at Botany Bay in 1790, with 73 of the 169 convicts perishing.  Maria Israel (c.1772-1849) was arrested in London and indicted for the theft of two pieces of cloth valued at three pounds in 1789, and though she claimed she had bought the linen, she was found guilty of stealing and sentenced to seven years.  Two weeks after her conviction, she embarked to Australia on the Lady Juliana ("The Floating Brothel").  Thomas and Maria were among 194 convicts sent to Norfolk Island on the Surprise in 1790.  Together they built their home and established a farm on the island.  Chaffey received a conditional pardon in 1796.  By 1802 he was listed as an overseer.  In 1805 Thomas was mustered as a constable and by 1807 he held 35 acres of land.  His family was uprooted and sent to Van Diemens Land (Tasmania), sailing aboard the Porpoise in 1807.  He settled at Sandy Bay south of Hobart on 260 acres which included a peninsula, that became known as Chaffey's Point.  In 1805, William Bligh (1754-1817) the famous Lieutenant of the HMS Bounty (1789), was sent to New South Wales as Governor.  In 1808, the Rum Rebellion, where regiment officers had a monopoly on rum sales and its use as a currency, contributed to a revolt.  Led by John Macarthur, a pioneer and wool merchant from New South Wales, British soldiers mutinied and Bligh was forcibly deposed and imprisoned by Major George Johnston of the 102nd Foot.  In 1809 Bligh was ordered to return to England but instead he sailed his ship, the Porpoise, to Tasmania where he hoped to wait out his eventual re-instatement.  He anchored off the beach close to the Chaffey's land along the River Derwent.  Following disagreements with the Hobart's Governor Collins, Bligh blockaded ships to the Hobart colony.  He and his crew lived aboard the ship for nearly a year.  During this time it was likely that the Chaffey family were privy to the comings and goings of Bligh and his visitors.  Chaffey's Point (42.9018ºS 147.3374ºE) became the site of public executions and the sight of the gibbets (gallows) would likely have been in full view of the Chaffey family.  Chaffey's Point was also a site to process whale carcasses and boiling down blubber.  Chaffey was appointed a constable for the district of Queenborough in 1813.  Thomas Chaffey died in Hobart in 1849 age 86.  Maria died 17 days later age 88.  His son, William opened two inns on the land in 1839, one being called the “Traveller's Rest Hotel”.  He sold the land in 1845.  Around 1928, Chaffey's Point was renamed to Wrest Point.  In 1973, the Point became site of Australia's first casino.  The "Traveller's Rest" building on Sandy Bay Road remains part of the casino offices.  On an unrelated surname coincidence for this location and time; Lucretia Chafe (1824-1916) who's family was from Petty Harbour, Newfoundland immigrated with her husband to Geelong, Victoria (38.15091ºS 144.3515ºE) in March 1853.  Edward and Fanny Shepherd (nee Chaffe) emigrated to Australia from Buckfastleigh, England and arrived in Geelong in January 1853.

Otis Chaffee: (1775-1813)  Born in Westminster, Vermont, Otis was four generations from Thomas Chaffee (1613/7-1683).  He married Abigail Abby (1767-1851) daughter of John Abby.  Otis was a Private for Vermont during the American Revolution.  He was in Major Elkanah Day's Unit in 1780.  From the 1791 census, it appears that Otis was married, had two sons and one daughter and lived for a time in Westminster.  They apparently were living in Rockingham VT. in 1807 and later settled near Olean, Cattarugus Co. NY. about 1814.  He was on the payroll of Captain John W. Weeks' Company during the War of 1812.  Seventeen hundred American soldiers from Sackett's Harbor attacked York (Toronto) April 27, 1813.  On May 26, while the navy and soldiers were still away in York, 800 British regulars with militia attacked Sackett's Harbor, the main naval base for the American Navy on Lake Ontario.  The town was defended by about 400 regulars and approximately 750 militiamen.  After a number of assaults the British withdrew to their ships.  The British lost about 150, the Americans 156.  One of the British objectives was to destroy the USS General Pike that had been under construction since April 1813.  The ship was set on fire May 29 during a British attack on Sackett's Harbor.  Otis died on May 29, in Sackett's Harbor on the day of the battle.  The unfinished General Pike was saved, made ready to sail by July and fought in heavy action against British ships during the war.

Rev. William Chafy: (1779-1843)  Born in Canterbury.  Grandson of Rev. John Chafy (1719-1788).  In 1778 he was admitted a King's Scholar at the Kings School.  In 1796 he graduated Cambridge.  He was Master of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.  Chafy was made Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University and married Mary Westwood in 1813.  The controversial, over-bearing and dynamic Master William Chafy invited the famous architect Sir Jeffrey Wyatt (1766-1840), in 1813 to refurbish the buildings which had been described in 1814 as 'gloomy'.  Wyatt later went on to build St George's Hall at Windsor Castle.  William married Mary Westwood in 1813 at Twickenham.  His son William Westwood Chafy was born in 1814.  That same year he was appointed Chaplain in Ordinary to George III and later George IV.  In 1822 he was granted the Chafy coat of arms by the Earl Marshall of England.  In 1829 he bought an estate of 533 acres in the hamlet of Sheriff's Lench, Worchestershire.  In 1831 he was appointed Chaplain in Ordinary to William IV and later Queen Victoria.  It appears he had correspondence with Charles Darwin (1809-1882) at some point in this career.  William Westwood Chafy resided at Rous Lench Court, Worcestershire.  The wonderful formal gardens of Rous-Lench Court were laid out by Dr, W. Chafy in the late 1800's.  The diaries of William Westwood's son, Rev. William Kyle Westwood Chafy-Chafy (1841-1916), describe the genealogy of the Chafe/Chafy surname in England.  For inheritance purposes, he assumed the additional surname Chafy due to the intermarriage of this great-grandparents who were both were Chaffie's. The Diaries of the Chafes or Chafys of Chafe-Combe, Exeter and Sherborne were published in 1910.  He became a priest in 1870 and was curate of the parish of St. Petrock, Lydford, Devon.  In his diary he mentions that Robert Chafe (d.1580) was the churchwarden of St. Petrock's in 1568.  W.K.W. married Mary Clara Shirley in 1872 and had two sons and four daughters.  In 1875 he donated the pulpit and a brass eagle lectern for St. Petrock's Parish Church - an ancient structure, with a tower and five bells, and is in the lancet style of the 13th century.

Benjamin Chaffey: (1779-1832)  Born in Stoke-sub-Hamden, 5 miles west of Yeovil (50.9546ºN 2.7513ºW) and it is from Benjamin and his close relatives that the Chaffey surname flourished in Canada, the United States and Australia.  His father Benjamin Chaffey (1749-1806), was in the wool stapler and woollen manufacturing business.  His grandfather was Richard Chaffey (1707/10-1795), and the the line has been charted back to Richard Chaffie of Stoke-sub-Hamden who died in 1631 and then to Richard Chafy (1475-1523).  Those in the family owned a stone quarry on Ham Hill overlooking Stoke-sub-Hamden and Norton, quarried for its golden stone for building since Roman times.  He married Frances (Elswood) Chaffey (1785-1865) in 1804.  Prior to leaving Somerset, Benjamin had been sued by his older brother Richard (1773-1828) for debts owed to Richard.  He emigrated from Somerset to Canada in 1816, with his wife and sons Benjamin Jr. (1806-1867), Mary Randall (1808-1860), William (1810-1890) and Richard (1813-1852).  His brother Samuel also emigrated with them.  In that year Benjamin obtained an Imperial Land grant at Perth, Ontario including an island since called "Haggart's Island" on which they lived for a year in a cabin made of blankets. The grant was cancelled by Canadian officials.  He and his brother moved to Brockville in 1817.  There they entered the mercantile trade as B&S Chaffey, set up a small distillery, and rented nearby farm and mills from Daniel Jones.  Based on their success, the Chaffeys were asked by settlers from the township of South Crosby to erect a mill there.  The brothers agreed and Benjamin secured a lease to the land for a suitable mill.  Construction began in the summer of 1820 under Samuel's direction.  In one account Benjamin was reported to being charged by the British government for bringing in goods for sale in Upper Canada without paying import duties.  Sometime near 1818, Benjamin, deeply in debt, moved to Zanesville, Ohio likely to escape his creditors or debts owed to the estate of Daniel Jones.  Here George Sr. (1818-1884) was born.  He and Frances also had other children all born in Brockville; Sarah (1815-1855), John (1820-1878), Susan (1823-1917), Frances (1826-1853), Elswood (1827-1868) and Emily (1829-1859).  There is some conjecture as to how long and for what reason Benjamin remained in the US.  It could have been until 1828, however this would have meant that some of his children were born elsewhere.  After Samuel died in 1827, Benjamin contested the property his brother owned at Chaffey's Mills and Samuel's wife petitioned Colonel By to resolve the issue.  Benjamin claimed ownership by virtue of the lease and his former partnership with Samuel.  Samuel's wife, Mary Anne, contested as she was in possession and that the claim that her husband had made the improvements.  In 1828 Benjamin began a machine shop in Brockville, in which three of his sons, William, John, and George Sr. worked.  Benjamin Chaffey built tugs in his shipyard in Brockville for towing rafts to Montreal and a steam operated floating grain elevator that helped farmers and millers.  However he contracted typhus caring for Irish immigrants, and died in 1832.  Benjamin Sr.'s daughters married two brothers; Susan Chaffey married Stephen Richards who served as the Minister of Agriculture in the first cabinet of the Province of Ontario (his brother William Buell Richards was the first Chief Justice of the Canadian Supreme Court); and Frances Chaffey married A.N. Richards, the future Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.

Samuel Chaffey: (1793-1827)  Born at Norton, near Stoke-sub-Hamden.  In 1816 he emigrated with his brother Benjamin Sr. to Perth Ontario and by 1817 had moved to Brockville.  There the two entered the mercantile trade as B&S Chaffey, set up a small distillery, and rented (under his brother's name) a nearby farm and mills.  At Brockville in 1821 he married Mary Anne Poole (1804-1888) from Somerset.  The brothers were asked to establish a mill by residents on the nearby Township of South Crosby, and by 1820 the land was leased under Benjamin's name.  While Benjamin was away in the United States, Samuel established mills on the Rideau River in the  in the area that became known as Chaffey's Mills.  Samuel settled at Chaffey's Mills in 1822, making many improvements to the site.  By 1827 an extensive complex had been established, including a distillery, gristmill, a sawmill, stores, barns, carding machines and fulling mills.  At the time the site was one of the largest milling establishments in Eastern Ontario.  In that year Samuel died of malaria at Edmunds Lock.  The malaria was likely brought over by British soldiers from India.  He was returning from a trip to Bytown (Ottawa) where he was endeavouring to obtain a contract for the proposed Rideau Canal construction linking Lake Ontario and the Ottawa River.  In 1828 Mary Anne's brother-in-law, Benjamin Chaffey, began to threaten her, claiming he had the right to evict her from her home and take the income from the mills.  Mary Anne was in danger of loosing the homestead.  With the help of family and friends, she petitioned the various authorities to grant her legal control over the mills.  She and Colonel By corresponded on compensation for her lost mills.  Mary Ann's legal right to the business were established but her actual compensation for the destruction of the complex to build the canal took a number of years to resolve.  The mills were flooded during the building the locks on the Rideau Canal (1826-32), but shipping and later tourism, stimulated the continuous growth of the community of Chaffey's Lock (no. 37 on the Rideau Canal).  The one-story limestone Lockmaster's house was built in 1844 as a low cost substitute for a blockhouse to defend the canal against American raids.  A tin roof protected it in case of fire and two stone porches and gun-slits provided extra defence in case of attack.  The existing Chaffey's Mill was built by John Chaffey (a nephew of Samuel Chaffey) in 1872.  Now a private residence, it was a gristmill used to grind wheat into flour.  Samuel and Mary Anne's only child, Samuel Benjamin (1826-1893) carried on with the mill.  Several of Samuel Benjamin's descendants branched into Wisconsin.  The Opinicon Resort Hotel located at Chaffey's Locks started as the Chaffey's family residence in early 19th century.  It became a boarding house in the 1890's, a men's fishing club in the early 1900's and not is a resort hotel.  A Memory Wall and outdoor chapel form the entry to Chaffey's Lock Cemetery, the resting place of Mary Anne Chaffey.

Joseph Chaffee (Chaffey): (1795-1873)  Born in Dorset, England.  Joseph was a farmer who emigrated to Prince Edward Island about 1813.  He may have jumped ship from a British Navy ship with his future father-in-law Robert Swallow.  His surname spelling changed around this time from Chaffee to Chaffey.  Joseph was the first of the surname to reach Prince Edward Island.  Joseph married Elizabeth Mitchell (b.1788) in 1828.  Elizabeth who was born at St. Mary's Church, Southampton, Hampshire.  Elizabeth Mitchell was the widow of a John McKenzie who had leased a 75 acre plot on lot 56, near Little Pond on the east side of PEI.  She also had been widowed before John in a marriage to John Henrico Hamarton.  Elizabeth had three daughters with Hamarton; Elizabeth, Fances Ann and Mary Ann.  At the time of her marriage to Chaffey, she was involved in a custody battle to retain her children.  She lost.  She had two children with Joseph, George (1828-1911) and Richard (c.1873-c.1883).  In 1847 George married Marie Swallow, of Prince Edward Island.  George was a carpenter, shipbuilder and wagon maker and lived in the area then known as Chaffey's Point on the north side of the Boughton River (Annandale Road).  George and Marie migrated to Arcata, California around 1874 and many of their family followed.  Some of the descendants carried on the family name in Massachusetts.  George Chaffey's son Joseph II (1855-1944) had a son Samuel Everett (1896-1973) who was shell shocked in WWI.  Samuel was the last of the line to reside in PEI and the point of land of the homestead is known as Chaffey's Point (46.2694ºN 62.4209ºW).

Jacob Chafe: (1798-1878)  Born in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland.  Jacob was a successful planter, sealer and fisherman.  The Newfoundland Museum in St. John's has a silver watch presented to Jacob Chafe in 1829, in recognition for his part in his first sea rescue, the Helen, a schooner out of St. John's which was shipwrecked on May 1, 1828.  The inscription on the watch reads "Presented by the Chairman of the Marine Insurance Association of St. John's, NF to Mr. Jacob Chafe as a testimony of approbation of his conduct in the saving of the schooner Helen on 1st May 1828".  On June 8, 1852, a bait skiff was caught in a squall near Petty Harbour while returning from Conception Bay with a load of bait.  Everyone in the community witnessed the event but were powerless to help the men.  They drowned one by one, except a boy clinging to the mast.  Jacob Chafe successfully rescued the boy.  The famous Newfoundland folk song, "The Petty Harbour Bait Skiff" written in 1852, recalls the event.  It was composed by John Grace of St. John's, where there was "crying and lamenting in the streets" on learning of the fate of Skipper John French and his crew.  Edward Chafe said that when he was little his grandfather had a copper sundial in the parlour which was presented to Jacob Chafe, the Hero Brave, in recognition of his courage and selflessness.  Jacob Chafe's daughter, Lucretia Chafe (1824-1916), married James Watt from Peterhead, Scotland.  He settled in Petty Harbour, where they met and married in 1849.  They sailed to Australia and settled in Geelong and then Melbourne, Victoria.

Sarah Chaffey: (1803-1870)  Born in Thorncombe, Devon.  Sarah married John Chislett (1800-1869) in 1825 in Thorncombe.  Her father was Richard Chaffey (1773-1828) who was the brother of Benjamin Chaffey Sr.  John Chislett trained with the Harris brothers in Bath, Somerset, England, learning sculpture and architecture from them, as well as becoming a proficient organist.  John Chislett opened his practice in Pittsburgh and became a famous architect.  The Burke's Building was constructed by John in 1836 for attorneys Andrew and Robert Burke and was a rare survivor of the great fire of 1845.  The spare Greek Revival design is accented by a minimum of classical ornament - a slightly projecting central bay with two pediments, double laurel wreaths and fluted columns at the entrance.  In addition to designing the Orphan Asylum of Pittsburgh and Allegheny in 1838, which still stands in the Mexican War Streets neighbourhood, and the Allegheny Court House (1841).  Chislett was responsible for the layout and the Tutor style Butler Street Gatehouse for the Allegheny Cemetery in 1844.  The cemetery is the sixth oldest rural cemetery in the United States and Chislett was the first superintendent.  Sarah's father at some point emigrated to Brockville, Ontario, and then came to Pittsburgh, PA.  He returned to Somerset, where he married and lived the rest of his life.  Sarah, John and Sarah's sister Ann were buried in Allegheny Cemetery (40.475ºN -79.957ºW)

Enoch Hyde Chaffee: (1805-1887)  Lived in Butternuts, New York in 1829 and at one time, Peterboro NY.  His father Walter Chaffee (1775-1855) was listed on an anti-slavery petition for Smithfield around 1838 and listed as an anti-slavery Liberty Party voter (for Smithfield) in the Liberty Press of Feb. 21, 1843.  Enoch was a farmer and later a broker.  He married Rhoda Mianda Stranahan from Cooperstown, NY in 1829.  He was Captain in the New York State Militia.  Enoch was involved in the UGRR (Underground Railroad) in Madison Co. NY.  He grew up and worked with the famed Gerrit Smith the founder of the UGRR for many years during the slavery times.  Enoch helped many slaves escape to freedom.  He worked with Joel Gillette Downer, another abolitionist known as one of the top ten abolitionists in NY.  Joel was brother to Emmon Downer, who married one of Enoch's daughters, Martha Stranahan Chaffee.  He was Justice of the Peace and a member of the School Board in Kilbourn City, WI.  Enoch died in Delton, Sauk Co, WI and is buried in Walnut Hill Cemetery (Baraboo, Cemetery), Baraboo, Sauk Co, WI.

Benjamin Chaffey Jr.: (1806-1867)  Born at Norton, Somerset and son of Benjamin Chaffey (1779-1832).  He was a skilled builder, contractor and engineer.  One of his first contracts was the repair of Fort Henry, its magazines and nearby martello towers in Kingston.  He built a grist mill in Morrisburg, Ontario in 1849.  He completed a section of the Beauharnois Canal and a section of the Grand Trunk railway in Dundas County.  In 1854 he was contracted to oversee work for the St. Lambert (southern) side of the section of Montreal’s great Victoria Bridge.  With a length of 1.8 km, the bridge included 24 ice-breaking piers, for the designer's feared damage from ice. Chaffey was contracted for masonry work and to build the abutments, coffer dams and piers.  His crew had to build the foundations for the bridge in the wide and rapidly flowing St. Lawrence River.  Benjamin found the English machinery unusable and had to design his own processes.  To improve productivity he fabricated the "Chaffey steam travelling crane" and "Chaffey compound derrick" (lifting 11 tons).  He also used a powerful centrifugal forcing pump to drain 13 of the 24 coffer dams.  Chaffey chose stone from the Lake Champlain area and had to quarry, lift and ship by boat and rail pieces up to 20 tons.  The railway deck was a long structural metal tube made of prefabricated sections (from England) and designed by Robert Stephenson, son of the builder of the famed Rocket locomotive.  The foundations were designed by Thomas Coltrin Keefer.  Benjamin built half the coffer dams, piers and tube staging for the bridge.  He married Janet Chisholm in 1856 and over the years had four children.  The Victoria Bridge was inaugurated by the Prince of Wales in 1860 and at the time it was considered to be the "8th Wonder of the World".  The tube was demolished in 1899 and over the years a second railway track and two highway lanes were added.  However the piers built by Benjamin still support and protect the bridge.  Somerset was the name of Benjamin Chaffey's house in Brockville, Ontario.  It was built by Benjamin in 1859 and named after the English county where he was born.  The house is a post-gothic style made of grey limestone.  The two-story house has 15 rooms, with a fireplace in each room, and has a full attic and cellar.  Chaffey lived in the house until his death on July 3 1867. The neoclassical District of Johnstown Court House and Gaol in Brockville (erected in 1842-44) as well as St. Paul's Anglican Church (constructed in the 1840's on 12 Pine Street (44.591ºN 75.684ºW) were also built by Benjamin Chaffey Jr.  Chaffey Township in Ontario's Muskoka District is located north of the Huntsville was named by Stephen Richards, Commissioner of Ontario Crown Lands, in honour of his brother-in-law, Benjamin Chaffey Jr.

Calvin C. Chaffee: (1811-1896)  Born in Saratoga, New York and son of Calvin Chaffee (1780-1853) and Elizabeth Hall of Westminster, Vermont.  Chaffee was elected as the Massachusetts representative for the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth Congress.  In the 1850's his life became intertwined with the destiny of Dred Scott.  Dred Scott was a Negro slave, born in Missouri c.1810.  In c.1834 was taken by his master, Dr. Emerson, an army surgeon, from Missouri to Rock Island, Illinois, and then to Wisconsin Territory (prohibited from slavery under the rules of the Missouri Compromise).  There he married and had two children.  In 1843 John Emerson died.  In 1846, on his return to Missouri, Scott sued in a local court in St. Louis to recover his freedom and that of his family, since he had been taken by his master to live in a free state.  Scott eventually won his case in 1850, but Mrs. Emerson (1825-1903) appealed to the state supreme court, which, in 1852, reversed the decision of the lower tribunal.  Ironically in 1850, Irene Emerson remarried Calvin Chaffee who was opposed to slavery.  In 1853, Mrs. Emerson's brother, John Sanford, assumed responsibility for John Emerson's estate.  Scott again sued again for freedom, this time in the United States circuit court in St. Louis in 1854.  The case was lost, but an appeal was made to the United States Supreme Court.  The case was tried in 1856, and the judgment of the lower court was affirmed.  The opinion was read two days after the inauguration of Democrat President Buchanan.  In March, 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered the majority opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case.  Seven of the nine justices agreed that Dred Scott should remain a slave, but Taney did not stop there.  He also ruled that as a slave, Dred Scott was not a citizen of the United States, and therefore had no right to bring a suit to the federal courts on any matter.  In addition, he declared that Scott had never been free, due to the fact that slaves were personal property and the Federal Government had no right to prohibit slavery in the new territories.  The court appeared to be sanctioning slavery under the terms of the Constitution itself, and saying that slavery could not be outlawed or restricted within the United States.  The American public reacted very strongly to the Dred Scott Decision.  Antislavery groups feared that slavery would spread unchecked.  This was a key issue that split the Democratic Party as well as Congress.  Dred Scott was a key topic of Abraham Lincoln's famous "House Divided" Speech in 1858.  After the Supreme Court decision, Calvin and Irene Chaffee turned Dred and his family over to Dred's old friends, the Blows, who gave the Scott's their freedom in May 1857.  Unfortunately in 1858, Dred Scott died of tuberculosis.  He was buried in St. Louis.  Chaffee was appointed librarian of the house of representatives from 1860-1862.  He settled in Washington, DC, and engaged in the practice of medicine until 1876, when he moved to Springfield, MA.  He was President of the Union Relief Association from 1880-1893.

Christopher Chaffe:  (1818-1894)  Born in Devonshire.  The son of a blacksmith, Christopher emigrated to Minden, Louisiana in 1840 and continued on with the family trade.  He had a large farm of 500 acres and a gin in addition to his livery business.  In 1854 Chaffe took a mail contract and started a mail line to Monroe from Minden.  Son Arthur Chaffe (1857-1901) worked for his Uncles John and  Charles Chaffe in the cotton business.  Arthur sang with the chorus of the New Orleans Opera and became the 4th mayor of Minden in 1888.  Christopher's brother, John Chaffe ( -1888) lived in New Orleans and owned John Chaffe & Sons, a large cotton and sugar trading firm in New Orleans.  His son William H. Chaffe succeeded him.  William was also the owner of Wm.H.&J.C. Chaffe's Shingle Mill, a manufacturer of cypress shingles and lumber in Eugenia, Louisiana.  John's grandson became a partner in the law firm of Chaffe McCall.  John's great grandson, John Chaffe (1938-1997) graduated Tulane University in 1961 and from childhood was drawn to the world of jazz music.  He picked up the banjo at an early age and later studied with two great New Orleans jazz banjo players from the 1920s, Lawrence Marrero and Johnny St. Cyr.  Chaffe was also a protégé of Edmond "Doc" Souchon, banjo player and early jazz patron.  Also an accomplished mandolin and guitar player, he appeared in shows with Al Hirt and Pete Fountain.  For years, he led the popular Dixieland band the Last Straws.  The legendary violist Isaac Stern stated to Chaffe "I've been sitting in the front row for the last two hours listening. If you played violin, I wouldn't have a job".

George Chaffey Sr.: (1818-1884)  Born in Zanesville, Ohio.  Son of Benjamin Chaffey Sr.  He built boats to serve the growing Great Lakes shipping trade, based out of Brockville Ontario.  He married Ann Maria Leggo in 1845.  He moved to Kingston in 1859.  They had children Ann Maria (1846-1847), George Benjamin Jr. (1848-1932), Elswood (1850-1920), William Benjamin (1854-1926), Charles Francis (1856-1934),  Emma Ann (1858-1946), and Albert (1864-1866).  He received his degree from Queens University, Kingston and later post graduate studies in Edinburgh.  His firm built ships that carried iron ore from Ontario mines to Cleveland Ohio.  George leased facilities at Brockville, Portsmouth, and at the Crosby Mill near Bedford to build more boats.  Forty-four ships, tugs, and steam barges were built, and more than 12,000,000 board feet of lumber were shipped from Canada to the U.S.  In 1864 his fleet were the Merritt, Cantin, Brockville, Whitby, Bristol, Bruno, Ranger and Magnet.  Four steam barges and five tow-barges were owned by the BW&G Chaffey company and plied Lake Ontario in 1872.  He and his wife retired to Riverside California in 1877 bringing Charles Francis, William Benjamin and Emma.  Dr. Elswood Chaffey received his degrees in Scotland, practiced as physician in Jamaica, married Eliza Campbell Boswell Chaffey in 1876 and moved to California in 1883.  He built a house on Euclid Ave. and bought land from brother George Jr.  He was not a successful farmer and went to British Guyana to consult on the feasibility of mining on the Upper Essequibo River.  Elswood made enough money to clear his debts and after a brief return to Ontario, in 1888 he moved to Santa Monica.  A year later, still in debt and unable to make enough in his private medical practice, he moved to Lerdo, Mexico as a mining company doctor and to care for the poor later in.  Emma Chaffey joined her brothers in Australia and in 1889 married Peter McLaren, whose family manufactured agricultural machinery.  George Sr. died in Arlington, CA and his wife Ann died at Mildura, Australia in 1903.

Jerome Bunty Chaffee: (1825-1886)  Born in Lockport, Niagara County, New York.  Chaffee was a clerk in a country grocery store and later began a business for himself as a dry goods merchant.  He lived in Adrian, Michigan for about six years.  He married and was the father of four daughters.  After his wife Miriam Comstock died, he moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, and started to take an interest in politics.  Chaffee opened a bank in St. Joseph, and carried it on for three years and then moved to Elmwood, Kansas, and became president of a land company.  In 1859 he was one for the first settlers of Denver CO, as he followed the gold rush.  In 1861 he had established a small stamp-mill at Lake Gulch, Gilpin County, and amassed his fortune through various silver mining ventures in Leadville, CO.  His political experience enabled him to take a prominent part in the civil organization of the territory.  Territorial House of Representative 1861-1863, and served in 1863 as speaker of the house.  President of the First National Bank of Denver 1865-1880.  Member of Republican National Committee from Colorado Territory, 1866-68.  Elected as a Republican Delegate to the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses (March 4, 1871-March 3, 1875).  Upon the admission of Colorado as a State into the Union, Chaffee was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from November 15, 1876, to March 3, 1879.  Chaffee was one of the founders of the city of Denver.  In 1879, Chaffee County in Colorado was established.  Though a Republican he had very independent ideas and opposed some of President Grant's measures so much so that their personal friendship was for a time interrupted.  In one case Chaffee was bitterly opposed to President Ulysses Simpson Grant's selection of General Edward McCook as the first Colorado governor.  After the marriage of his daughter Josephine (Fannie) Chaffee (1857-1909)  from Adrian, Michigan in 1880 to Ulysses S. "Buck" Grant Jr. (1852-1929), the friendship was renewed.  Chaffee was chairman of the Republican State executive committee in 1884 and died in Salem Center, Westchester County, NY.  Fannie and Ulysses died in San Diego, California.

James Franklin Chaffee: (1827-1911) A founder of Hamline University located in Saint Paul, Minnesota.  One of the men responsible for the university's present location and perhaps for its continued existence.  He served as a pastor of six churches in the Methodist Episcopal Church's Rock River Conference, located in northern Illinois.  He moved to Minnesota for his health in 1857.  His first congregation in Minnesota was St. Anthony, where he conducted one of the largest and most successful revivals in the Minnesota conference.  During the next forty-seven years, he led churches in Saint Paul, Minneapolis, Duluth, and Faribault and served as presiding elder for several districts.  Chaffee was a natural fundraiser, and this abilities helped raise funds for Hamline, which had closed operations in 1869.  In 1871, as a university trustee, he became its financial agent.  He gained pledges from the church congregations as well as prominent business men in the Twin Cities.  In 1873 the basement walls of University Hall were built.  Chaffee himself donated a year's salary to the building fund, but the 1872-73 financial crash stopped construction.  At that time a number of charges were brought against Chaffee.  Hamline's board of trustees replaced him as financial agent before he could be exonerated, consequently slowing Hamline's reconstruction.  The University didn't open its doors again until the fall of 1880.  Chaffee returned to Hamline's board and served as vice president or president almost every year from 1880 to his retirement in 1902. He also worked as financial agent when the University raised funds for Ladies Hall.  Hamline University is Minnesota’s oldest university.

William Tamlin Chaffey: (1830-1898) Born in Bridgwater, Somerset.  His grandfather was Benjamin Chaffey (1749-1806) from Stoke-sub-Hamden.  He, his wife Charlotte and their children arrived in New York City in 1864 on the vessel Antarctic.  Chaffey moved to.  He owned W.T. Chaffey and Co which sold compressed oil well drilling rods.  He was also President of the New Brighton Pottery Company and owner of the Queen City Forge in O'Hara Township.  He was involved in gold mining ventures in Mexico and a wholesale tea business, with his office located at 957 Liberty Avenue.  In 1872 Chaffey became one of the founders and first Vestrymen of Church of the Nativity, Crafton, a Pittsburgh borough.  He was also prominent in the Ancient Order of United Workmen, at the time one of the three largest fraternities of the US, which was formed to bridge the gap between worker and employee.  He was buried at Homewood Cemetery, Pittsburgh.

Edwin M. Chaffee: (c.1832)  The first rubber factory in the world was established near Paris in 1803 and the first in England by Thomas Hancock in 1820.  Hancock devised the forerunner of the masticator (the rollers through which the rubber is passed to partially break the polymer chains).  In 1832, Edwin Chaffee, and factory manager John Haskins founded the first rubber-goods factory in the United States; the Roxbury India Rubber Firm at Roxbury, Massachusetts.  However, the resulting products became brittle in cold weather, and tacky and malodorous in summer.  Chaffee thought that these difficulties were brought about by the use of solvents. In 1836 he invented and built a large machine (first known as the "monster", later as the calender) for applying rubber directly to the fabric without the use of a solvent.  In 1837 Charles Goodyear moved to Roxbury.  The India rubber business had rebounded, but was only selling limited products.  There he met Edwin M. Chaffee.  In 1837 Goodyear devised a process in which he coated the India rubber with metal and acid (this is only part of the vulcanization process).  They saw some of his work and allowed him to rent a small portion of the factory and use their machinery.  In the winter of 1837-38 he sold shoes, piano covers, and tablecloths utilizing his new process.  In 1843, Goodyear discovered that if you removed the sulphur from rubber then heated it, it would retain its elasticity.  Chaffee is credited with aiding Goodyear in the experiments which led to his discovery of vulcanized rubber.  Vulcanization made rubber waterproof and winter-proof and opened the door for a enormous market for rubber goods.  George Osborn Bourn (whose father Augustus became a Rhode Island Governor), also became interested in rubber.  In 1847 he partnered with Colonel William W. Brown, of Providence and from 1851 to 1859 with Edwin Chaffee to form Bourn, Brown & Chaffee.  When Goodyear died in 1860, he was $200,000 in debt.  Eventually, however, accumulated royalties made his family comfortable and his son Charles Jr. later made a fortune manufacturing shoemaking machinery.

Walter Scott Chaffee: (1834-1894)  Born in Peterboro, Madison County, New York.  Walter's father was Enoch Hyde Chaffee.  In 1858 he moved to Portage City WI and opened a general merchandise store.  Walter later sold out and moved back to New York.  In 1860 he travelled with Jerome B. Chaffee to Pikes Peak and bought some land in Leadville CO.  The next year he moved to San Buenaventura.  He started a ranch to raise hogs and later started a general store in Ventura.  Over the years the store name changed from; Chaffee & Robbins (1862); Chaffee & McKeeby (1863 - corner of Palm and Main); Chaffee, Gilbert & Bonestel; The Chaffee Store; and then Chaffee Dry Goods.  He was appointed by the town legislator as a member of the Board of Trustees in 1866.  He became the first mayor of Ventura from 1866 to 1867.  His wife was Rebecca Nidever, a native of Texas.  They had nine children.  He had a 100 acre ranch near the town and a 8,000 acre farm on the Santa Clara River.  He helped bring water to Ventura in the 1870's as well as incorporate the Bank of Ventura in 1874.  During the Civil war, he was a staunch Republican in an area that was a strong supporter of the Confederacy.  Walter had a brother James William Chaffee (1842-1927) who was in the Civil War; 86th Regiment NY Volunteers, Co A (Syracuse), Infantry (Steuben Rangers) and wounded twice, once at Gettysburg, PA and once at Germania Ford, VA.  Camp Chaffee Road in Ventura county is named after Walter Scott by the Board of Supervisors of Ventura county in the early 1900's.  The road is located about 15 miles north of the city and is named after the site where the family camped.  Chaffee Street was named by a contractor around 1968.

Oliver Newberry Chaffee: (1835-1916)  Born in Detroit, Illinois.  A "white limestone monument" was set by Oliver N. Chaffee in his 1869 survey for the Nebraska-Wyoming on the Colorado State Boundary (41ºN 104.05ºW).  The plaque nearby located next to this three state intersection is inscribed: "Corner common to Nebraska and Wyoming on the Colorado State Boundary, Oliver N. Chaffee, U.S. Astronomer and Surveyor established this corner Monument August 17, 1869, at Intersection of the Forty-First Parallel of North Latitude with the Twenty-Seventh Degree of West Longitude (West of Washington, DC)".  The Washington system of measuring longitude was practiced between 1850 and 112.  Today, longitude is measured from Greenwich, England.  Finding this point in 1869 was elusive.  Oliver Chaffee was sent down from Wyoming to survey the eastern border of Colorado.  He couldn't locate the baseline, which had been surveyed and marked 10 years before.  So Chaffee surveyed the corner "by the stars," and missed it by "9 chains, 28 links" (612 feet).  Chaffee, was a long-time resident of Detroit who surveyed the Great Lakes for some 13 years.  Later he established an office in Chicago, but it was wiped out in 1871 during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.  Oliver married Jeannie Merick in 1871.  He was a special agent of a life insurance company.  In 1883 he lived in Quincy, IL and 1892 in Detroit.  Their sixth child was Oliver Newberry Chaffee (1881-1944).  Oliver Chaffee became one of the most important and influential early modern painters and teachers in the art colony in Provincetown, MA.  Chaffee’s early work was strongly influenced by his training in New York with Robert Henri, as well as his training in Paris at the Academie Julian, where he became familiar with the contemporary Fauvist work of Matisse and Derain.  Chaffee’s work in the teens represents some of the earliest and most accomplished Fauvist work done in the United States.  Three of Chaffee’s canvases were included in the famous Armory Show of 1913 in New York.  All three were Fauvist landscapes.  His work was well received in the company of works by Matisse, Picasso, Hartley, Marin, and Maurer.  One critic’s review of the show compared Chaffee’s work with that of Maurer, and praised the effect of intense sunlight in his work.  "My Room in Vence" is a view on how Chaffee lived during his time abroad in Vence.  In the mirror is Chaffee himself, standing there painting the interior, with a glimpse of the mountains visible through the window behind him.  Soon after Vence became an artists' colony. Chaffee once described it as "a faraway Provincetown suburb."  At Vence in 1928, he married fellow artist Ada Gilmore (1883-1955) who was born in Kalamazoo.

Bertrand Chaffee: (1837-1916) Born and raised on the New York farm his grandfather settled in 1819.  Chaffee received his education at Springville Academy, and at the age of sixteen left the farm and spent two years as a clerk in a jewellery store in Cayuga county.  In 1855-6 he was employed as a clerk in the office of the Western Transportation Co. and American Express Co., Buffalo.  In 1857 he returned to the farm.  In 1863 he entered into the hardware business in Springville, and for twelve years managed the largest hardware store in Erie county outside of Buffalo.  In 1868 he bought the William Watkins estate on "East Hill", and for three years kept architect Thomas Lincoln employed remodelling, enlarging and beautifying the mansion.  In 1871 he bought a half interest in the Springville flour mills, and two years later he and his partner, C.J. Shuttleworth, bought the mills at East Pike.  After two years the firm of Shuttleworth & Chaffee dissolved.  Chaffee retained the Springville mills and conducting both the hardware and milling business until 1875, when he disposed of the hardware store and converted the mill from the old stone grinding to the roller process.  In 1871, Chaffee married Jennie B. Richmond from Vermont.  In 1887 he was instrumental in building the Springville & Sardinia Railroad, a short line connecting Springville to Sardinia.  He was president and general manager of the S&S.  He represented Springville in the State Legislature and was a delegate to the National Democratic convention of 1876.  For three terms he was Deputy Grand Master of the Masonic district of the state.  He was an importer of Holstein cattle and his farm was a large producer of milk; with two hundred and fifty cows on more than a thousand acres of land.  He developed several fast trotting horses which made records in the grand circuit.  In his will he donated his homestead and grounds to be used as a hospital.  In 1937 the Bertrand Chaffee Hospital initiated care for the elderly on the property provided by the Chaffee Estate.  The hospital went through four major building enlargements.  In 1974 the Jennie B. Richmond Chaffee Nursing Home opened.

1016-1840  1840-1900  1900-1945  1945-Present

 
November 01, 2009