Let's dispel some myths around Samuel Chase, the Eastern Shore's native revolutionary

Samuel Chase is known by many titles: signer of the Declaration of Independence, Maryland colonial legislator, associate justice of the Supreme Court.

But in Somerset County, one label rises above the rest: native son.

With the stroke of a pen, Chase's legacy would forever be associated with one date in history: July 4, 1776. On the 241st anniversary of that event, it seems like a good time to look back at Chase's life and clear up a few of the myths that have cropped up into the story.

Between gazing at fireworks and consuming hot dogs, you probably don't have time to read 1,776 Chase-related facts. So we'll stick with four.

Myth 1: Chase was born in a small house that stands today on Market Lane in Princess Anne.

Credit fellow Somerset native and historian Mark Tyler with putting this myth to rest once and for all.

He had grown up hearing from his teachers that Chase was born in the so-called Chase House in 1741. In fact, he would later find out that there were three candidates vying for the title. 

On behalf of the local chapter of the Maryland Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, he began researching the topic a few years ago. He quickly ruled out the Market Lane house because it wasn't built until 1784, documents showed.

That left two possibilities: a property on the Wicomico River near Allen known as the Bounds Lott and another called the Walker Plantation off Stone Creek Lane near Redding Ferry Road north of Princess Anne.

Lore held that Chase's mother, Matilda Walker, was visiting one of her sisters when she gave birth. But there was no evidence that any of the owner's sons were married to any Walkers at the time Chase was born, Tyler found.

By deduction, that left the Walker Plantation as the only plausible birthplace.

"There is no smoking gun where I would say that 100 percent this is his birthplace location," said Tyler, an attorney by day. "But based on all the evidence that’s out there and drawing on a legal standard, I think it’s been proved beyond a reasonable doubt that that’s the place where he was born.” 

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Myth 2: Chase signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4.

The Continental Congress adopted its declaration on July 4, but no one signed the famous parchment on that day, according to Snopes.com. Instead it was sent to be printed and distributed throughout the colonies. That version bore only the names of John Hancock, the body's president, and Charles Thomson, its secretary.

The final "engrossed" copy wasn't signed until Aug. 2 that year, and some signed it even later than that. 

Myth 3: Having secured Maryland's last-minute vote in favor of independence, Chase raced to Philadelphia inside of two days' time so he could sign the document in time.

Just because it says so on the internet doesn't make it so.

According to the Journal of the American Revolution, the fiery advocate for independence was an integral force in persuading Maryland's hesitant convention toward breaking with England. That vote didn't happen until June 28, and a courier brought the news to the Continental Congress on July 1.

For his part, Chase wasn't present on the Fourth itself. Remember, though: The signing didn't take place until August anyway.

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Myth 4: Chase signed his name beneath John Hancock's unusually large signature, reasoning aloud that if the king could read Hancock's signature, then the king also could read his.

This one may or may not be true. But it's probably not.

Little was recorded for posterity about the actual signing itself. Legend has nonetheless attributed several mostly pithy sayings to the signers. 

There's Benjamin Franklin: "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." 

And, of course, there's Hancock himself, saying, "There, I guess King George will be able to read that!” or something to that effect while unfurling his unmistakable signature.

Then, as legend has it, Chase appended his name immediately below Hancock's and made some utterance that he, too, would wish to be singled out by the king.

But as Slate.com has noted, Hancock signed his name front and center because he was the president of the Continental Congress and likely was first to sign. The individual colony representatives then signed, with only a few exceptions, by from where they were from — going from north to south and from right to left.

In this way, Georgia's delegates signed on the far left while New Hampshire's (then the northernmost outpost in the colonies) did so on the top right. Since Maryland was in the middle geographically, its signers marked their names down in the middle, which just so happened to be beneath Hancock's name.

It was probably an accident, then, that Chase's name appears directly beneath Hancock's, and it likely would have been have been unremarkable to him in the moment.

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