When John was just 1 year old the family moved to the small town of Ossipee, where his father Levi M. Chase met with an accident that caused his death.

[2] The family relocated frequently in search of steady work, living also in Sanford, Maine, and Barnstead, New Hampshire.

[3] He joined the Boot and Shoe Workers' Union in 1888 and was subsequently elected as a delegate to that organization's annual convention.

[3] Chase's trade union activities soon lead to his being made unemployable in the shoe industry, so he instead helped to establish a cooperative grocery store in Haverhill, which provided him a source of work.

[5] Chase was soon a committed member of that Marxist party, running for Massachusetts Attorney General on the SLP ticket in the election of 1896.

In February 1898 Chase returned Section Haverhill's SLP charter to the national office in New York City, thereby ending its connection with the party.

[12] This success was tempered by the fact that the Haverhill Common Council had 21 members at the time, relegating the socialists to a minority position in the civic government.

Julius Wayland, editor of the weekly Appeal to Reason declared that "the mere casting of these 2500 votes has done more to direct attention to Socialism than could have been done with any other means.

[16] Chase was re-elected as mayor of Haverhill in 1899, defeating a so-called "fusion" candidate jointly nominated by the Democratic and Republican Parties.