Theories of the ancestry of Aquila Chase (and his brother Thomas) date back to the early 1800's. For years it was believed that AQUILA CHASE, who immigrated to Hampton, NH, and lived in Newbury, MA, was originally from Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England, but recent study, documented in the Winter 2021 edition of The NEHG Register (Vol 175, No 1), indicates otherwise.

This more current research suggests that this family was from Woolverstone parish in Suffolk county:

Records from that parish show that it is likely that THOMAS CHASSE was born say 1592 and married before coming to Woolverstone about 1618 or 1619. THOMAS and his wife were both buried in Woolverstone as found in the parish records there. They had two children, Thomas and AQUILA CHASE.

According to the the book, Seven Generations of the Descendants of Aquila and Thomas Chase, 1928, a depositiion at the Quarterly Court in Ipswich, 25 Sept. 1666, mentions "Accquilla Chas about fourty-eight years," which would make 1618 the year of his birth." There is some evidence that he is of the Chase family of Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England. An Aquila Chase lived in Chesham, and later in London, who would be of the right age to be his father, but several inconsistencies exist that cast doubt that his son Aquila is the person who immigrated to Hampton, NH. (1) A baptism date of 1626 is inconsistent with the deposition that sets the date of birth around 1618, (2) the records of England show a death and burial in England, and (3) the records in England show no brother named Thomas, yet such a brother is mentioned in the 1670 will of AQUILA CHASE of Newbury, MA.

AQUILA first appears in America in Hampton, NH, with a company led by Timothy Dalton. Hampton was first settled in 1638 by Rev. Stephen Bachiler. AQUILA does not appear on the list of land allotments in 1639, for the original settlers. But the names of AQUILA and his brother Thomas do appear on the list of 1640. AQUILA received six acres for a home lot. Then in 1644, he received an additional six acres of "upland meadow and swamp," which he sold to his brother in 1646, when he moved to Newbury, MA.

In 1646, AQUILA was offered land in Newbury on the condition that he "doe goe to sea and do service in the towne with a boate for four years". Joshua Coffin writes in his History of Newbury that AQUILA CHASE was the first person to pilot a boat at the mouth of the Merrimack River. Thus, begins a lifetime career as mariner and fisherman.

Before moving to Newbury, AQUILA was twice served with notice for gathering peas on Sunday. The charges were eventually dismissed, partly because the sheriff could not find him to serve the papers because he had moved. In Newbury, his house was located at what is now the corner of Federal and Water Streets.

After AQUILA died, ANN married Daniel Silloway in Newbury, June 14, 1672