Mt. Moosilauke (1772) - Chase Whitcher
". . . Chase Whitcher was one of the first settlers of Warren, a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and a direct descendent of Thomas Whittier, through Nathaniel, Reuben and Joseph, who came from England in 1638, and settled at first in Newbury, Mass., afterwards removing to Haverhill, Mass., where, in 1688, he built the house in which his most famous descendant, John Greenleaf Whittier, was born, which, until the death of the latter, has been in the Whittier family, and is now owned by the Whittier Memorial Association.
The name of the descendants of Thomas have been variously spelled - Whittier, Whitcher and Whicher, the former being the most common form, though, until the beginning of the nineteenth century it was pronounced as of two syllables, "Whit-cher."
Chase Whitcher was more famous as a hunter and a trapper than a farmer. . . ."
From "Some Things About Coventry-Benton" by William F. Whitcher, 1905.
Mt. Moosilauke (1785) - First Ascent by Chase Whitcher
". . . Chase, the boy settler, was a tall, bony, raw-built fellow, with a spare face, red hair, and a hard head, and he could hunt as well as the best of them. Mink, muskrat, and otter he caught by the foamy, roistering Oliverian; beaver he trapped at Beaver-meadow ponds, the head waters of the wild Ammonoosuc, and his sable lines ran here and there upon the sides of the mountains.
Then it is said he was found of the occupation indicated by his given name - that in autumn he loved the chase. The cry of his old hound-dog in the woods was music to him, and following a moose one day he climbed over Moosilauke, being the first settler that ever stood on its bald summit. . . ."
From "The History of Warren, A Mountain Hamlet Located Among the White Hills of New Hampshire" by William Little, 1870.
