Thomas and Elvira Chase

Sometime in the 1850's Thomas Chase, a lawyer practicing in Farmington Maine, moved his family (wife Elvira and eight children) to be a farmer in Manchester in Chesterfield County Virginia. While in Virginia his daughter Flora fell in love with and married a Confederate soldier named Harney Napoleon Richard. Harney returned to his home state of Florida not knowing that Flora was pregnant. In 1866 Flora gave birth to a daughter Marion in Chesterfield and, believing that Harney had died since he never returned, remarried and had several more children. By 1880 Thomas and Elvira had settled in Washington DC. Flora, her new husband, their children, and Marion lived next door.

Flora and Harney's daughter was my great-great grandmother. I have many unanswered questions about this family: what pressed Thomas to leave Farmington; what drew him to Chesterfield; did Harney ever consider returning to Flora; did Flora ever try to reach Harney in Florida; what happened between 1866 and 1880; was Thomas content with his break from practicing law? 

After a morning at the Chesterfield Historical Society, three attempts to find local libraries with genealogy records, and an afternoon at the Library of Virginia in Richmond I am no closer to answering any of my questions - for today anyway. I'll continue to search online for clues, and some day I'll return to Chesterfield, hopefully armed with a few more details and direction. In the meantime, I met some lovely people, strengthened my resolve to discover more about my ancestors, and spent some much needed down-time with my husband's Chesterfield family who, like Thomas and Elvira, relocated from Maine.