Chase, Enoch

Born: 1809-01-16 Vermont

Died: 1892-08-23 Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Flourished: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Enoch Chase was a physician, farmer, businessman, and state legislator. He attended the school of medicine at Bowdoin College and graduated from Dartmouth College as a Doctor of Medicine in 1831. After graduation, he moved to Coldwater, Michigan Territory, where he practiced medicine. Finding the Michigan Territory too unhealthy and suffering from illness, Chase, in April 1835, moved to Chicago. On April 6, he moved to Milwaukee to join his brother. Though not intending to practice medicine, Chase's services were soon required, and he became the first trained physician in Milwaukee. He combined his medical practice with building a homestead and speculating in real estate. He also took an interest in local politics. In the first elections for Milwaukee held in September 1835, he won election as assessor and school inspector. He continued to practice medicine until 1839, when he turned to financial and political affairs. In 1849, 1850, 1851, and 1853, Chase represented Milwaukee and Milwaukee County in the Wisconsin State Assembly. After the Civil War, he served another stint in the Wisconsin State Assembly and a term in the Wisconsin Senate. He established a brickyard and glass works.

J. D. Beck, comp., The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin (Madison, WI: Democratic Printing, 1909), 906; Louis Frederick Frank, The Medical History of Milwaukee 1834-1914 (Milwaukee: Germania, 1915), 2-3; James S. Buck, Pioneer History of Milwaukee, rev. ed., (Milwaukee: Tate & Swain, 1890), 49-53; Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin at its Fortieth Annual Meeting Held December 8, 1892 (Madison, WI: Democratic, 1893), 23; "Chase, Enoch, 1809-1892," Wisconsin Historical Society, accessed 5 May 2020, https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS6275; Gravestone, Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, WI.