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.
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.
