A few years hence the California pioneers will live only in history. Since the author of this volume first laid his pen to the task, several of the pioneers of this county have joined the silent majority, among them he whose name heads this sketch.
He was a friend of the publisher, and his influence and patronage were by no means a small contribution toward the success of the undertaking. While feeling the inevitable sorrow for the abrupt termination of a life that promised many years of usefulness, I am glad to have this opportunity of offering a tribute to this worth.
His was an eventful life, with more than the ordinary vicissitudes usually attending those whose best and most active years are spent upon the frontier. He possessed abundance of pluck and perseverance-qualities necessary to success in the early days of California.
Mr. Chace, was born at the village of Hamden, among the rugged hills of Delaware County, New York, on the twenty-ninth day of March, 1829. His father was a farmer, and he was reared to the same vocation, and educated in the public schools of his native village. During his youth he also worked in a woolen factory, and before he was nineteen years old was foreman of twenty men. In 1850, while yet a boy, he started for the gold mines of California. He traveled via the Isthmus of Panama, and on August 25, 1850, he landed from the steamer Republic on the shore of San Francisco Bay. He brought with him, a capital of $100, and it was his intention to remain in California until his savings should aggregate $2,000 or $3,000, and then to return home. Had his first undertakings been successful, it is likely that this purpose would have been fulfilled, and the people of Santa Cruz would have been deprived of many of the advantages that have resulted from his residence among them. But he had bad luck in the mines, and it took him so long to accumulate the sum he had counted on taking home with him that he learned to like California, and determined to make his home here.
He soon left the mines and went to work for Stone, Baker & Co., driving cattle for $125 a month. This and similar occupations employed him for four years, in different parts of the State. In 1855 he came to Santa Cruz. His first venture was to rent Williams’ lumber mill, for which he paid $400 a month for two years, during which time he cut eleven million feet of timber.
In 1862 he went to Virginia City as foreman for the Cole Gold and Silver Mining Company, of which Leland Stanford was at that time president. Resigning after one year’s service there, he went to Coso, Inyo County, for the Josephine Gold and Silver Mining Company, taking charge of their mill at the salary of $200 a month. After several months he resigned and went to the Reese River Country, where he identified himself with the Ontario Mining Company. Six months afterward he returned to Santa Cruz, and in 1864 he bought a team and engaged in the draying and transfer business. Next year he sold out and bought a half interest in a butcher business, with A. L. Rountree as a partner. From this grew the leading butcher business in Santa Cruz, known as the Washington Market, and now under the control of the Butchers’ Union. He continued in this business from 1864 until the time of his death, with a short intermission at the time the Butchers’ Union was organized.
Mr. Chace’s business abilities were of the highest order, and all of his later undertakings were successful. Not alone to his own welfare did he devote his energies, however; he was a man of rare public spirit. His personality was highly influential in shaping the affairs and determining the character of the city of Santa Cruz. In his official acts, and in private life, he was a man who could always be depended upon to do his share for the promotion of any scheme for the public good. His name generally stood at the head of subscription lists when money was needed, and his voice was always heard and heeded when public affairs were under discussion.
He served twelve years as school trustee in Santa Cruz. He never sought that office, or any other, but accepted it at the solicitation of his fellow-townsmen, who had unbounded confidence in his ability and integrity. During his long service in this capacity he did much to bring the schools of Santa Cruz to their present high standard of excellence.
In 1880 Mr. Chace was elected mayor of the city. The record of his official career in this position is an eloquent tribute to the worth of the man. Time and time again was he the recipient of handsome tributes from the public press, from his fellow-citizens, and from visitors to Santa Cruz. During his administration many innovations were made that have since become leading features of local life. It was he who first secured the military encampments for Santa Cruz, and instituted the custom of inviting and entertaining military and civic organizations. The visit of the Knights Templar during his administration will ever remain a notable occasion in Santa Cruz history.
In 1882 he was re-elected mayor, this time without opposition. Up to this time he was the only man to be honored by re-election as the city’s chief magistrate. His second administration was accorded the same favor that his first had found.
Mr. Chace was also prominent in several orders, notably the Knights Templar, the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and the Order of Red Men.
On the 10th of December, 1859, Mr. Chace was married, at Santa Cruz, to Miss Elizabeth Liddell, a native of Chatsworth, England, whose family had sailed around Cape Horn to California when she was thirteen years of age. Mrs. Chace is a most estimable lady, whose character formed a fitting supplement to the able qualities of her husband. She now lives with her unmarried children in the handsome family residence, at the corner of Walnut Avenue and Mission Street, in the city of Santa Cruz.
Ten children were born to Mr. And Mrs. Chace, of whom eight now survive. Their names are as follows, stated in the order of their ages: John R., Frank, Hattie E, Elliot G., Minnie Eloise, Jennie Gertrude, Charles Hall, George Carlysle, Bertram Scott, and Mabelle Helen. Frank and George are the two who have died.
Mr. Chace’s life covered a little more than sixty years. His feet had traveled many a weary mile, and his hands done many a noble deed for his fellows. On the rough shores of the Atlantic he had many friends, and here in Santa Cruz his death was regarded as a public calamity. It was on the 1st of September, 1890, that the fatal sickness fell upon him. For two weeks he suffered, while all Santa Cruz watched and listened with anxiety. At last, on the 14th of the month, death touched his tired heart, and he sank to rest. On the day of his funeral, business was suspended in Santa Cruz; the merchants closed their doors, and the citizens, in sorrowing concourse, joined in the last ad honors, and laid his body to reset in the city he had loved so well, and whose people are still proud to honor his name.
History of Santa Cruz County, California
by E.S. Harrison
Published by Pacific Press Publishing Company
San Francisco, Cal., 1892
Transcribed by Yvonne Valentine 1/18/09, Page 245
Santa Cruz County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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