Thanksgiving and the Mayflower Part III: Rhoda Chase to Isaac Chase

In a previous blog post, I shared an announcement from FamilySearch, American Ancestors (New England Genealogical Society) and the General Society of Mayflower Descendants that they are working together to make available records for descendants of Mayflower passengers. In exploring the website for this collaboration, I found that I purportedly descend from John Alden and Priscilla Mullins through my grandmother, Fern Laurine Stoddard. In the last post, I proved the generational linkages between Ira Stoddard, Elanthropy Stoddard and Rhoda Chase. In this post, I will continue my efforts to prove (according to the genealogical proof standard), the generational linkages between Rhoda Chase and her proposed ancestors John Alden and Priscilla Mullins.

Generation 4: Rhoda Chase to Isaac Chase

The death certificate for Rhoda (Chase) Hinman reports that she died 28 January 1920 in Centerville, Davis County, Utah.[1] It reports that she was born 29 September 1830 in New York and that she was the daughter of Isaac Chase and Phoebe Ogden. The information for the record was given by Rhoda’s niece, Kate Chase with whom she had been living in the final months of her life. Prior to that time, she had been living in Cardston, Alberta, Canada. Though the information for the record was given by someone who might have been less familiar with the exact birthdate and parentage of Rhoda, this reported information is supported by several other sources.

In the 1830 U.S. Census, Isaac Chase was enumerated with his family in Sparta, Livingston County, New York. Prior to 1850, United States Census records only named heads of households whereas all other individuals in the family were represented with tick marks based on age and gender. The 1830 census was taken in June 1830 a few months before Rhoda’s reported birth. Ten years later the family was enumerated in the 1840 census in the same locality. Comparison between these two enumerations suggest that one of the females aged 10-14 who was enumerated in the 1840 U.S. Census was Rhoda Chase. According to reminisces that Rhoda recorded during her life, she and her older siblings were born in Sparta, Livingston County, New York. According to this same record, in 1840 her family migrated to Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois where they joined the main body of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[2] The earliest record found to date mentioning Rhoda by name is an 1842 Census of Nauvoo carried out and organized by the general Church clerk.[3] Rhoda was enumerated immediately after her parents (Isaac and Phebe) and her older half-sister Clarissa. Other records confirming Rhoda’s birthdate and birthplace include her patriarchal blessing which she received while the family was still residing in Nauvoo on 7 March 1843.[4] It confirmed that she was the daughter of Isaac Chase and Phebe Ogden and that she was born 29 September 1830 in Sparta, New York. Another record confirming her birthdate was the 1901 Canada census.[5] After the death of Rhoda’s first husband, Judson, she married Morgan L. Hinman as a plural wife. Application of federal laws prohibiting polygamy in the United States and prosecution of many practitioners caused many to migrate from Utah to Mexico or Canada. Rhoda moved to Canada in the 1880s with her family and was enumerated there in 1901 in the census. Her enumeration confirmed that she was born 29 September 1830 in the United States. On her final trip returning to the United States, Rhoda reported that she was born in Sparta, New York.[6] While the manifest of her boarder crossing through Sweet Grass, Montana was dated 24 May 1920, nearly four months after her documented death, closer analysis of the document reveals that the date of her examination and entry into the United States was 3 October 1919. This date of entry is confirmed in Rhoda’s diary which also reported that she paid eight dollars in immigration fees.[7] Instructions for the creation of the border crossing list indicated that once a manifest was filled it was supposed to be returned to Montreal, Canada at the end of each month. The fact that the manifest documenting Rhoda’s entry into the United States was not completed and returned until seven months after her entry is perhaps a testament to the low number of individuals crossing at the port in Sweet Grass.

Rhoda’s reminisces also report that while living in Nauvoo she married Judson Lyman Stoddard in 1845. An interview and biography written in 1915, when she was 85 years old, reported that she married Judson Lyman Stoddard on 29 October 1845.[8] This date is also reported in several other compiled records and life histories. The only documentary evidence we have for these dates are in memories recorded many years after the event, so it is possible that this date may not be entirely correct. However, we do find that before leaving Nauvoo, she and Judson were sealed in the Nauvoo Temple on 4 February 1846.[9] Judson and Rhoda were among the first settlers to migrate across the plains to Utah, arriving there between 20 and 24 September 1848.[10]  

After the death of Judson Lyman Stoddard in December 1869, Rhoda married Morgan Lewis Hinman on 4 April 1870 in Salt Lake City as a plural wife.[11] He died in Alberta, Canada in 1891 and was buried there.[12] Rhoda continued to live in Alberta for most of the remainder of her life, but spent the last few months of her life in Utah where she died 28 January 1920.[13]  A short obituary reported that she died at the Chase farm in Centerville, Davis County, Utah.[14] It also confirmed that she was the daughter of Isaac Chase and Phebe Ogden, that she had first been married to Judson Lyman Stoddard and that she was later married to Morgan Hinman.

From these records, we conclude that Rhoda Chase was born 29 September 1830 in Sparta, Livingston, New York. She was the daughter of Isaac Chase and Phoebe Ogden. She married Judson Lyman Stoddard in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois in late 1845 and at least before February 1846. He died in December 1869 after which Rhoda married Morgan Lewis Hinman. He died in 1891 in Canada and nearly 30 years later, Rhoda Chase Stoddard Hinman died 28 January 1920 in Centerville, Davis, Utah. 

While documentary evidence supports the family relationship and generational linkage between Rhoda Chase and her father, Isaac, it is important to note that biological relationships can differ from documented genealogies because of adoptions, cases of misattributed parentage, or other reasons. In this case, there is genetic evidence to support Rhoda’s biological relationship to her father. This evidence will be explored in a future blog post. Next up: to prove the parentage of Isaac Chase.

---

[1] Utah, U.S., Death and Military Death Certificates, 1904-1961 (index and images), death of Rhoda Hinman, 28 January 1920, Centerville, Davis, Utah, certificate no. 550, https://ancestry.com, subscription database, accessed November 2020.

[2] Rhoda Chase Hinman, Memoirs of the Chase Family, “Early Reminisceses of the Chase Family,” 1952, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/, accessed November 2020.

[3] Nauvoo Stake, Nauvoo Stake ward census, 1842, “Nauvoo 3^rd ward census,” Rhoda Chase,  https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/, accessed November 2020.

[4] Nellie Hinman Pitcher, “Life History of Rhoda Chase Stoddard Hinman,” https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/LLQ8-D5V, accessed November 2020; and,

Hyrum Smith, “Patriarchal Blessing of Rhoda Chase,” 7 March 1843, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, churchofjesuschrist.org, privately shared with author, accessed January 2021.

[5] 1901 Census of Canada (index and images), Cardston, Alberta, The Territories, Canada, p. 2, Rhoda C. Hinman household, https://ancestry.com, subscription database, accessed November 2020.

[6] Washington, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1882-1965 (image), Rhoda C s Hinman, S.S. Canadian Pacific Railway, 3 October 1919, Sweet Grass, Montana, https://ancestry.com, subscription database, accessed January 2021.

[7]Rhoda Chase Hinman, Rhoda C. Hinman diaries, 1896-1919, “Journal, 1917 December-1919 December,” p. for 4 Junes, image 167 of 200, Church History Library call number MS 6713, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/, accessed January 2021.

[8] Jane Bates, “Rhoda Chase Hinman,” written for the Alberta Stake Relief Society, May 1915, transcript, https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/LLQ8-D5V, accessed November 2020.

[9] Nauvoo Community Project, “Rhoda Ogden Chase,” LLQ8-D5V, http://nauvoo.byu.edu/, accessed November 2020, citing: Nauvoo Temple (LDS Church), Sealings and Adoptions of the Living, 1845-1857 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1958), p. 499-500, FHL microfilm 183374.

[10] Pioneer Database, “Rhoda Chase Stoddard,” Brigham Young Company (1848), https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/, accessed January 2021.

[11] Nauvoo Community Project, “Rhoda Ogden Chase,” LLQ8-D5V, http://nauvoo.byu.edu/, accessed November 2020, citing: Endowment House (LDS Church), Sealings of couples, living and by proxy, 1851-1889 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1958, 1978), p. 143, FHL microfilm 1149515.

[12] Find A Grave (image and transcription), Cardston Cemetery, Cardston, Alberta, Canada, headstone for Motgan Lewis Hinman, 1831-1891, memorial no. 107771248, https://findagrave.com, accessed January 2021.

[13] Utah, U.S., Death and Military Death Certificates, 1904-1961 (index and images), death of Rhoda Hinman, 28 January 1920, Centerville, Davis, Utah, certificate no. 550, https://ancestry.com, subscription database, accessed November 2020.

[14] “Mrs. Rhoda Hinman Called by Death,” Salt Lake Telegram (Salt Lake City, Utah), 28 January 1920, p. 12, https://newspapers.com, subscription database, accessed January 2021.