Daily AncestorChas.
Chas. is an old abbreviation of the first name Charles, common in deeds, wills, church registers and census pages.
Chas. is a clerk's shorthand for the given name Charles. Writers shortened common first names to save time and ink, usually by keeping the first letters and the last one or two, often with the final letters raised above the line.
The spelling looks odd today because the abbreviation keeps the opening Ch and the closing s of the name. It turns up in census entries, city directories, deeds and newspaper notices well into the twentieth century.
As seen in a recordEntry in a nineteenth century city directory
Chas. Miller, carpenter, h. 14 Pine St.
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Daily Ancestor. "Chas.." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/abbreviations/chas. Last checked 2026-10-01.