Warren Chase

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title: "Warren Chase" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1813-births", "1891-deaths", "abolitionists-from-new-hampshire", "american-city-founders", "american-pioneers", "american-spiritualists", "american-temperance-activists", "california-greenbacks", "california-state-senators", "fourierists", "politicians-from-fond-du-lac-county,-wisconsin", "people-from-pittsfield,-new-hampshire", "ripon-college-(wisconsin)", "wisconsin-free-soilers", "wisconsin-state-senators", "workingmen's-party-of-california-people", "writers-from-california", "writers-from-new-hampshire", "writers-from-wisconsin", "19th-century-members-of-the-wisconsin-legislature", "19th-century-members-of-the-california-state-legislature"] description: "American politician (1813–1891)" topic_path: "people/1810s" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Chase" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (1813–1891) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Warren Chase
image	Studio portrait of Warren Chase.jpg
state_senate	California
district	3rd
term_start	January 5, 1880
term_end	January 8, 1883
predecessor	Patrick W. Murphy
successor	George Steele
state_senate1	Wisconsin
district1	4th
term_start1	June 5, 1848
term_end1	January 9, 1850
predecessor1	Position Established
successor1	John A. Eastman
birth_date
death_date
birth_place	Pittsfield, New Hampshire, U.S.
death_place	Cobden, Illinois, U.S.
restingplace	Cobden Cemetery
Cobden, Illinois, U.S.
profession	Pioneer, farmer, politician
spouse	{{plainlist
* {{marriage	Mary P. White
children	3
party	Democratic (before 1848)
Free Soil (1848–1854)
Republican (1854–1872)
Liberal Republican (1872)
Greenback (1874–1884)
Workingmen's (1879–1881)
::

| name = Warren Chase | image = Studio portrait of Warren Chase.jpg | state_senate = California | district = 3rd | term_start = January 5, 1880 | term_end = January 8, 1883 | predecessor = Patrick W. Murphy | successor = George Steele | state_senate1 = Wisconsin | district1 = 4th | term_start1 = June 5, 1848 | term_end1 = January 9, 1850 | predecessor1 = Position Established | successor1 = John A. Eastman | birth_date = | death_date = | birth_place = Pittsfield, New Hampshire, U.S. | death_place = Cobden, Illinois, U.S. | death_cause = | restingplace = Cobden Cemetery Cobden, Illinois, U.S. | residence = | profession = Pioneer, farmer, politician | spouse = {{plainlist|

• Rachel Lukens | children = 3 | father = | mother = | religion = | alma_mater = | party = Democratic (before 1848) Free Soil (1848–1854) Republican (1854–1872) Liberal Republican (1872) Greenback (1874–1884) Workingmen's (1879–1881)

Warren Chase (January 5, 1813 – February 25, 1891) was an American pioneer, farmer, reformer and politician. He served in the state senates of Wisconsin and California, and was a candidate for Governor of Wisconsin in the election of 1849.

Early life and education

Chase was born in Pittsfield, New Hampshire, on January 5, 1813. He was the son of Susanna Durgin, who was unmarried at the time. His mother was maligned by the community and expelled from the church for giving birth out of wedlock, making it difficult to provide for herself and Warren. Warren's father was Simon Chase, who was married to Huldah Peaslee. Simon Chase fought in the War of 1812 and died at Plattsburgh in the fall of 1814, when Warren was not yet two years old. His mother died only a few years later, when Warren was five.

As a child, Warren lived briefly with a Quaker family near Catamount Mountain. But after his mother's death, he became a ward of David Fogg and his family. Warren later described this time as a miserable experience and compared his servitude to slavery. He did not receive an education with the Fogg family, and at age fourteen was still not able to read or write. It was at that age he ran away to his grandmother's home in Pittsfield. Warren's grandmother and other members of the community interceded on his behalf and he was transferred to the care of his paternal grandfather, Nathaniel Chase, where he received a proper education and upbringing.

In 1834 he moved to Monroe, in the Michigan Territory, and then, in 1838, he moved to the Wisconsin Territory, settling in Kenosha (then known as "Southport").

In Wisconsin

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Warren_P._Chase_Ambrotype.jpg" caption="Ambrotype of Chase {{circa}} 1838–1853"] ::

In the fall of 1843 the Franklin Lyceum of Southport began discussing the ideas of the French philosopher Charles Fourier and his American popularizer Albert Brisbane. Convinced of the applicability of Fourier's "Associationist" prescription, Chase committed himself to the emerging movement without reservation, organizing a series of preliminary meetings to draft a constitution for a local "phalanx."

On March 23, 1844, a formal meeting of phalanx supporters was held at the Southport village schoolhouse, officers were elected, and a group of three, including Warren Chase, were tapped as trustees of the phalanx. A bond sale of $10,000 was approved and stock in the new enterprise began to be sold. On May 8, 1844, they decided to purchase 1.25 sections (800 acres) of government land, located in a valley between two gentle hills. By that fall a total of 1.5 sections (960 acres) were purchasedwhich would become Ceresco, Wisconsin (later merged into Ripon).

Chase helped found Ripon College. He was a supporter of the temperance, abolitionist, and spiritualist movements and wrote books and articles.

He served in the two Wisconsin Constitutional Conventions of 1846 and 1847 and was elected to the first Wisconsin Senate from 4th Senate district as a Democrat. In 1849, he was the candidate of the newly organized Free Soil Party for Governor of Wisconsin, coming in third behind Democratic incumbent Nelson Dewey and Whig Alexander L. Collins.

After Wisconsin

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Greenbacker_and_Spiritualist,_San_Francisco_News_Letter_Caricature_of_Warren_Chase,_1881.jpg" caption=""Greenbacker and Spiritualist," a caricature of Chase published in the ''San Francisco News Letter'', May 14, 1881"] ::

After the dissolution of the Wisconsin Phalanx, he moved to Michigan in 1853, then to Missouri, where he was elected as a Presidential elector for Horace Greeley in the 1872 United States presidential election.

In 1876 he moved to California and settled in Santa Barbara, where he worked as editor of the Independent. While in California he was elected to the California State Senate on the Workingmen's Party ticket, serving from 1880 to 1883. In 1880, he was a candidate for Senate President Pro Tempore, losing to Republican George F. Baker by a margin of 15 to 22. In 1882, he ran for Congress as a Greenbacker.

Chase was a supporter of free silver, anti-monopolism, and Chinese exclusion, although on the latter point he condemned racial violence like the San Francisco riot of 1877. When the California State Legislature convened in 1881 to elect a U.S. Senator, Chase nominated economist and newspaper publisher Henry George. In his nomination speech, Chase eulogized George as follows:

George only received two votes out of 40 cast in the State Senate; one from Chase, and the other from fellow Workingmen's Senator Joseph C. Gorman.

Death

Warren Chase died in Cobden, Illinois, in 1891, and was buried at Cobden Cemetery.

Books

References

References

1. Chase, Warren. (1868). "The Life-line of the Lone One: Or, Autobiography of the World's Child". William White & Co..
2. Pedrick, Samuel M.. (1903). "Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin at its 50th annual meeting held Dec. 11, 1902". [[Wisconsin Historical Society]].
3. (2007). "State of Wisconsin 2007-2008 Blue Book". State of Wisconsin.
4. (3 August 2012). "Chase, Warren 1813-1891".
5. (1880). "Memorial Record of the Fathers of Wisconsin". David Atwood.
6. . ["Warren Chase"](https://www.joincalifornia.com/candidate/7422).
7. . (5 April 1877). ["The cause of hard times"](https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SJMN18770405.2.48&srpos=2&e=------187-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22warren+chase%22+silver-------). *[[San Jose Mercury News]]*.
8. . (22 November 1877). ["Currency and legislation"](https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SJMN18771122.2.26&srpos=8&e=------187-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22warren+chase%22-------). *[[San Jose Mercury News]]*.
9. . (6 December 1877). ["Hon. Warren Chase's Lecture"](https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SJWM18771206.2.42&srpos=9&e=------187-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22warren+chase%22+chinese-------). *[[San Jose Mercury News]]*.
10. . (15 January 1881). ["Henry George"](https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=RBS18810115.2.9&srpos=3&e=------188-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22henry+george%22+senate----1881---). *Red Bluff Sentinel*.
11. . (12 January 1881). ["The State Legislature"](https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SJH18810112.2.13&srpos=1&e=------188-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22henry+george%22+senate----1881---). *San Jose Herald*.
12. (December 2003). "Photograph - Warren Chase".
13. "Warren Chase".
14. "Founders of Ripon College".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::