Founders
Arthur Chase
Arthur Chase was descended from a long line of New Englanders.
He was born at Bellows Falls, Vermont, on October 21, 1835. His father
was an Episcopal minister who later became the first Bishop of New
Hampshire. When Arthur was nine years old the family moved to
Claremont, New Hampshire, and this town remained his home for the
balance of his life.
Chase entered Norwich University in the fall of 1852, shortly before he became seventeen years old. He was graduated in 1856 and immediately entered a law office in Claremont to begin the study of law. He followed this study by attending the Harvard Law School from which he graduated in 1857 with the degree of LL.B. He practiced law in Claremont for nine years and then entered newspaper work, purchasing The National Eagle, a weekly newspaper published in Claremont, in 1868. Chase was married in 1863 to Garafelia Davis. Seven children were born of the union, four of whom, two sons and two daughters, reached adult life and survived their father.
After three years of newspaper work, Chase's health failed, and on the advice of his physician he retired to a farm he purchased on the outskirts of Claremont.
Arthur Chase was always a power in his community. At one time he was superintendent of public schools and filled the position with considerable efficiency. He was a staunch Episcopalian and active in church and diocese affairs until the time of his death.
Although Arthur Chase never enjoyed robust health, death came unexpectedly and suddenly on November 20, 1888. Chase was 53 years of age at his death, living scarcely beyond middle life. It was said that he lived more in fifty years than most men do in three-score and ten.
Frederick N. Freeman
The founder of Theta Chi Fraternity, Frederick Norton Freeman,
was born in Claremont, New Hampshire, on March 2, 1839. His ancestors
on his father's side had been in America since the early sixteen
hundreds. The grandmother of Freeman was a Chase, and through this
circumstance Freeman and Arthur Chase were distant cousins. Freeman
attended Claremont Academy and entered Norwich University at the age of
fourteen. he received the degrees of B.S. in 1856 and B.A. in 1857 and
A.M. in 1860. In the years of 1858 and 1859 Freeman read law in his
father's office in Claremont, New Hampshire, and was admitted to the
bar, but did not practice. In 1860 he became associated with Yonkers
Collegiate and Military Institute in Yonkers, New York, and in 1861 he
was made superintendent of this institution with the title of colonel.
In 1862 he took a similar position at the Englewood Military and
Collegiate Institute of Perth Amboy, New Jersey. It is interesting to
note that while Freeman was at Perth Amboy, Alpha Chapter made an
unsuccessful attempt to establish a chapter of the fraternity at the
Perth Amboy institution. In 1864 Freeman became the first
superintendent of the Pennsylvania Coal Company at Newburgh, New York.
While engaged in the construction of a new dock for his company at Newburgh, Freeman contracted a severe cold which progressed rapidly to pneumonia. He died suddenly on March 28, 1867, at the age of 28 years. Freeman was a young man of great promise and achievement, who held positions of responsibility and trust far beyond his years. It was unfortunate that his span of life was so short.
Source: www.thetachi.org
