Chaffees can trace their name with unerring certainty to their ancient heritage of “Chafe-combe,” now Chaffcombe, or Chaffecomb, near Chard, Somerset England. This is from “ceaf cumbe,” meaning light or breezy valley in old Saxon English.

In Normandy (France), in the year 1002, Queen Emma of Normandy was wed to King Ethelred II, the “Unready”, of England. Among the retinue traveling with her to England was her confidential advisor, Hugo.

Hugo was given lands and the title “Thegn” (Earl) and settled in the valley near Chard, Somerset, known as “Chafecomb”. The little stone church (that at one time was connected to the Manor house at Chafecomb) still stands, though the manor is long gone. Only a trench suggests where part of the moat once flowed.

Hugo (anglicized to Hugh), Thane of Chafecombe, showed his Norman allegiance to Queen Emma, and to her second husband Knut the Dane, and thus, upon the Norman Conquest in 1066 was allowed to retain his manor when neighboring Saxon lords were dislodged by William the Conqueror.

The title and lands passed from father to son, adopting the Norman "Fitz" to express parentage, for about 350 years, until the inheritance dwindled for lack of male heirs and one younger son resettled in nearby Bridgewater. From there, several lines of Chaffe’s emerge, showing up in Exeter, Dorset and Sherborne. By that time ‘Thane of Chafecomb’ had become the surname ‘Chafe’ in common usage. We may never know which branch deposited a later Thomas Chaffe on the shores of the New World around 1635.

Information from Wm.H. Chaffee's ChaffeeGenealogy, 1909 and from chafetree.com

CHAPTERS OF OUR STORY

Introduction

Chapter 1: Chaffee Origins

Chapter 2: From the Mayflower to the Ousatonic

Chapter 3: From the Hills to the Plains

Chapter 4: E.W.C. and the A&S Land Company

Chapter 5: Herbert Fuller Chaffee - Genius of the Bonanza

Chapter 6: End of an Age