"Here's Father Chase, we are saved!"

Isaac Chase

Meet Isaac Chase, my Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Uncle, brother of Abner Chase, friend of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Prophet Brigham Young, born in Little Compton, Rhode Island, December 12, 1791. 

Phebe Ogden Ross Chase

He met and married his wife, Phebe Ogden Ross, in New York in 1818. Phebe was a young twenty-three year old widow with three young children. Isaac and Phebe added 7 more children to the family for a total of two sons and eight daughters.

The family moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1840, the year after the saints inhabited the swampy town of Commerce on the Mississippi River and renamed it.

The saints were in very poor circumstances and the Prophet Joseph Smith needed monetary help.

In order to assist the Prophet, Isaac returned to New York to dispose of his property. He disposed of all he could

for cash and when he returned to Nauvoo he found the Prophet in court. Isaac went to the court house, and when he opened the door the Prophet raised to his feet and said: "Here's Father Chase, we are saved." Whereupon, Isaac Chase gave the cash that helped the Prophet to pay the fine that had been imposed upon him by his enemies.

Shortly afterwards the Prophet asked Isaac to go back to New York to sell the remainder of his property to secure goods to help stock the Nauvoo Store. This he did. When he returned the Prophet gave him a slip of paper with his signature showing he had received the goods and the money. I am told that family members still possess this note, but I have not seen it.

Isaac's wife Phebe's baptism is not recorded as happening until 1844, however daughter Desdemona was baptized in March, 1840, and Sylvia in 1841.  It is unknown when Isaac was baptized, but there is no doubt of his conversion and dedication to the restored gospel. 

We do know that he received his greatest birthday gift at age 54 when he received his temple ordinances December 13, 1845, in the Nauvoo Temple. The following month Isaac and Phebe's marriage was solemnized in the Nauvoo Temple for time and all eternity.