Slide 2
A young Philander Chase
We don’t know too much about Chase’s youth. We do know that in 1791, he ventured off to Dartmouth College, as his older brothers had before him. It was there he decided that he wanted to become an Episcopal priest.
Since at that time there weren’t any Episcopal seminaries, Chase, after graduating from Dartmouth in 1795, headed west to Albany, NY to study as an "apprentice," of sorts, under an Episcopal priest there. It was there also that he married Mary Fay.
Upon ordination, Chase spent several years in western New York establishing parishes. His young wife had developed tuberculosis, which was then called consumption. As her symptoms grew worse, Chase decided that a warmer climate might alleviate her suffering, so he moved south, to New Orleans, LA, and established the first Episcopal church in the city.
The warm, Southern weather didn’t help Mary Chase, and they desperately missed their sons, which they had left in the care of relatives in Connecticut. So in 1811, the couple moved back to New England and Chase took over the rectorship of Christ Church in Hartford.