William Solomon III and Harty Bridges

In the woods on Marty Road, just east of the town of Fayetteville, in Lincoln County, Tennesee, lies an old abandoned cemetery, not unlike so many more scattered across the southeast, remnants of a people and a past that life has continued on without. This is one of the two Solomon Cemeteries in Lincoln County. Below the frothy ground covered in vines and marked by an assorted of standing, leaning and collapsed markers, some gone forever, lies the bodies, or what is left of them, of William Solomon III and his wife, Harty Bridges Solomon. Most of the other graves are their descendants, or those that married into this family.

The legible stones bear the names of :

William Solomon born July 9, 1785, died June 30, 1845

Harty Solomon born September 22, 1791, died August 23, 1851

Elizabeth Harrison (1787 - 1855)

Mary Louisa Reece, consort of Joel R. Reece (1823-1849) 

Harriett H. Solomon (1820-1852)

Lucinda C. M. Solomon (1822-1852)

William B. Solomon (1850-1852)

There are so many more graves marked by fieldstones, or stones crumbled and buried, some even taken up into trees.

This William Solomon is my 4th Great Uncle.

On March 15, 1909, Josiah Bridges Solomon, then  in his late 70's, wrote a letter to his younger cousin, Frank Solomon, of Soves, Mississippi. This letter was contributed by Joe Max Williams, and kept in the archives of Auburn University. It can be read in its entirety Here .

Much of the information on our, the Franklin County and Stanly/ Montgomery branch of the Solomon family has been gleaned from this letter. Josiah Bridges Solomon was the son of Jeremiah Solomon, the youngest son of my fifth Great Grandparents, William Solomon and wife, Deanna Gordon Solomon (sometimes seen as Diana). Frank, in Mississippi, was the grandson of William Solomon and Harty Bridges Solomon. As the father of William who married Deanna Gordon was also a William, this William was the second (II) and the William who married Harty Bridges was William III. Josiah's middle name was Bridges because William III's brother, Jeremiah, had also married into the Bridges family.

Frank had obviously inquired into his heritage and information on his grandfather, William III.

As Jeremiah was the only son of William II and Deanna to remain in Franklin County, North Carolina, Josiah was going on what he had been told by his parents, for the most part, as many of them had left Franklin County before his birth. He was familiar with his Uncle Luke, who settled in Granville County and had married Mary "Polly" Gordon, a first cousin, daughter of Isaac Gordon, Deanna's brother. They had four children: Burchat, Abby, William and Jordan. Burchat was a female, and the unusual name was taken from a village their ancestors were from in England.

Josiah was also familiar with a few of his aunts, Sarah "Sallie" Solomon, the youngest daughter, had married a more distant cousin named William Solomon, I believe a second or third cousin and had two daughters, Diana or Deanna, who never married and Lucy, who married and moved west.

His aunt Elizabeth, also called Eliza, had married William Judd, and their grandson had married Josiah's sister.

His Aunt Jane, called Jenny, had married Guilford Lewis and he was well familiar with their children, as they were well educated and many made their mark on the world. 

Josiah's mother was Elizabeth Bridges, daughter of Josiah Bridges, who was a brother of William Bridges, who was the father of Harty Bridges, wife of William III and grandmother of Frank, the recipient of the letter. 

Of the three who came to Montgomery County, NC, Josiah knew little, but he did know that three of his uncles were ministers: Bennett, Goodwin and Jordan. Jordan had migrated to Lincoln County, Tennessee and would later move on to DeSoto County, Mississippi. William III would move to Montgomery County, NC with Bennett and Goodwin and then would later join Jordan in Lincoln County, Tennessee. William was the only one of these four who was not a minister. This is his story.

There are no pictures of William Solomon III that I know of, but he had to have been a looker as Josiah Bridges Solomon's mother, Elizabeth Bridges Solomon, had gushed to him as a child that his Uncle William was "the finest looking man she had ever saw."

The first census record William shows up in is the 1810 census of Montgomery County, North Carolina

He is shown as between 26 and 44, he was 25. His wife, Harty, is shown as between 16 and 25. She was 19.

He was living near John Freeman, Peter Davis, Mary Shankle, James Freeman and Jesse McHenry.

There is a male in the home between 10 and 15, this is not their son. I don't know who this is. Perhaps a hired hand. There is a male under ten, perhaps a baby. There is also a woman over 45 in the home. This is not his mother, as his father is still living and they are both in Franklin County. She is not his mothe-in-law, either, as Harty's mother passed away in 1807 and her father will remarry Tabitha Pittman and he lives until 1833.

William buys land in Montgomery County, NC on and along Mountain Creek. His second deed was one for 30 acres, from Will Stone, that joined his own line and Thomas Cox, surveyed on March 31, 1813 by David Cochran. This tract was located on the waters of Mountain Creek beginning at his own corner pine on the side of a hill on the east side of the creek. Chain carriers were Peter Davis and Thomas Nobles. I am not sure how he disposed of the property, but by 1820, he had moved to Lincoln County, Tennesee, following his older brother, Jordan. 

Now, he has three sons, William Calvin, John Rhea Robinson and James Madison Solomon. William and Harty are shown between 26 and 44. He's 35 and she's 29. He has two young slaves, a male and female. The female many have been Rachel, whom he drew from his father's estate in 1818. His nearest neighbors were Jeems and Jones, no familiar names.

Over the next ten years, William III grows his family and his estate considerably. He now has 6 children and 18 slaves. 

In 1833, back in Franklin County, North Carolina, Hary's father, William Braswell Bridges, had passed away.

He had married Harty's mother Nancy Bell, on January 10, 1789 and they had 7 children: Harty, Elizabeth, Celentha, Willis, Willliam, Mary and Henry Bell Bridges.  Nancy Bell Bridges passed away in 1807, and he had married Martha Crump about 1817. He outlived his second wife as well, as she passed away in 1828. He had married his third wife, Tabitha Pittman on February 22, 1830. By the reading of his will, it is evident that he was really fond of the new wife, and he must have had a falling out with his daughter, Harty, before she headed west. To her he left, "one dollar in addition to the property that she has already had." That property, whether it was land or goods, was not named or what sort it was.

In 1840, William is now in his 50's and his plantaion is a village of 35 people. All ten of their children have been born and they have 22 slaves. There's an extra woman in her 30's living with them, perhaps a tutor for the children.

William Soloman III died not make it to the mid-century mark of 1850. He passed away on June 30, 1845. He was buried in the family cemetery, located a few miles east of the town of Fayetteville in Lincoln County, Tennesee. This was the approximate area in which he also had lived. 

William left a will, dated January 16, 1833 and probated on September 18, 1845.

Within, he first requested that his executors gather all debts owed to him, and also to pay any just debts he owed. Second he wanted all of his property "of every deposition" to be left to his wife, Harty and for the maintenance and her and the mainenance and education of his children.

 He named his 9 children. It was 1833, and William would live another 12 years after the  will was written, so the youngest of his 10 had not been born yet. Still, he had written it as if his demise was eminent.  He might have recovered from a severe illness or accident that had him in doubt of his survival. The 9 who had been born he named as William Calvin, John Rhea, James Madison, Mary Louisa, Elizabeth Jane, Augustus Marion, Bennett Franklin and Joseph Hamilton. Later records would show a few of the names a little different, as in John Robinson instead of John Rhea or Benjmain Franklin instead of Bennett Franklin, but this is how they awere listed in the will. 

He made a stipulation in his will that if any children were born after the date of the Will, that they would share in an equal part to their siblings, and there was one, a daughter, who arrived about two years later.

He made a stipulation that is Harty remarried, the portion of the will involving her share of the estate would be null and void and she would only recieve a child's share, which at that time would be one tenth. These sort of stipulations were made, not out of jealousy or cruelty, but because there were unscrupulous men out there who would take advantage of widows and orphans, and would marry a widow, just to take all she had, and then leave her penniless and homeless.

He freed one of his slaves, named Lucy, and her youngest child 'Lucindy', but not others. He required her other three children, Minerva, Dinah and Clinton, to be sold and the profits arising to be used to take care of his children.

He requested that the property of his where his brother, Jordan Solomon lived be sold "on a credit for 12 months and that what I paid for said property together with legal interest and taxes, and other damages I have paid, be deducted out of the price arising from the sale of said property, and the balance, if any, to go to Jordan Solomon and his legal heirs."

He named James Fulton, James Bright, John V. McKinney and Abner Steed as his excetors. 

The Will was dated January 16, 1833. 

Samuel and A J Roseborough were witnesses and it was probated on September 18, 1845.

In the 1850 census, Harty is shown as 60 years old, with children Augustus, 21, Ben 19, Joseph 18 and Lavina, 15, the daughter born after the Will was written. Nancy H Solomon, 15, was the wife of Ben, as they were married in 1849. Henry King was likely an employee, and possibly an in-law of one of her relatives.

She is shown in the Slave Schedules as owning 9 enslaved people.

Harty followed William to the grave on August 23, 1851, and was buried next to him in the family cemetery. She was 60 years old and her last little bird, Lavinia, had just flown the nest

Fayetteville Observer

Dated September 9, 1851, The Fayetteville Observer, of Fayetteville, Lincoln County, Tennesee, had this to say about her passing :

"Fell asleep in Jesus on Saturday August 23, 1851, Mrs. Harty Solomon consort of the late William Solomon. She was aged 60 years. She was an affectionate and companiable wife, a devoted and self-sacrificing Mother. Long will she be remembered by a large cirle of relations and acquaintance who feel thier loss in (sic) irreparable. She often said she had no desire to live in this world where disease had worn out her natural body. That she was willing to die and be at rest. She died in an unshaken trust that as her mortal trials were passed God would recieve her spirit. She exhorted her children to live as consistent christions. 

The Ten children of Wililam Solomon III and Heary Bridges Solomon were:

1) William Calvin Solomon (21 Dec 1818 - 9 Dec 1880).

The firstbonr, W. C., garnered a life so full of tragedy that he almost had his own post. He was married four times.

He married first on December 21, 1842, at the age of 24, to Miss Lucinda C. Moore, daughter of Thomas and Lucinda "Linny" Bonner Moore. They had a nice family of six children, six boys and six girls:

A) 1843 Mary Louisa Solomon

B) 1845 Lucy Ann Solomon

C) 1847 Francis Elizabeth Solomon

D) 1850  William Augustus Bonner Solomon

E) 1851 James Andrew Buchanon Solomon

F) 1852 Joseph Harrison Solomon

Lucinda died on February 19, 1852, just weeks after the birth of Joseph. This was not the only tragedy that year, oh no, not at all. On January 9, 1852, just a month before Lucinda died, they'd lost their firstborn son, William Bonner Solomon, aged 2, to 

W. C. Solomon had went through three wives in one year. 

Calvin and Susan would have one son, Brice R. Solomon, on September 27, 1853. Susan would die just a few days after the birh of Brice, who had been named for her brother, Brice Rhea, who had died in 1852, a year prior.

Susan died not of childbirth, but of fever. Unusually enough, Brice did not catch his mother's fever. He lived to be two. Susan was buired in the Rhea Family Cemetery in Fayetteville, Lincoln County, TN, with her parents and first husband.

Sadly, all of Susan's daughters died fairly young.

Sarah Glenn McLaughlin married John F Fly on Dec. 12, 1860 and died on July 25, 1861 at the age of 19. She was gifted a lengthy obituary in the Lincoln Journal, which stated she died of Consumption.

Mary Francis McLaughlin lived the longest, making it past 30, but not by much. She married twice, first to a Ganoe and seoncd to a Blakemore, ghaving 2 sons with the first.

Agnes Araminta McLaughlin married on  on May 18, 1865 to John E. Broyles. She died on April 3, 1873 at the age of 328. No children.

Anna B. McLaughlin married on November 7, 1869 to James Moyers. She died on December 7, 1869, just one month later.

Calvin was not a quitter. On August 11, 1854, he married Sarah C. Traver. Sallie, as she was called, had been born in Columbus, Muscogee, Georgia. She was 34 and wasted no time. In 1855, she gave birth  to a son, William Travers Solomon.

Tragedy was not done with the family of William C. Solomon. The fevers again hit the family and the community. He lost two chiildren in one day. Mary Louisa, his oldest daughter, aged 12, died of scarlet fever.and little Joseph Thomas, aged 4, died of Thyphoid pneumonia, after surviving the death of his mother at 8 days old. Then on July 20th, less than a month later, Brice R. Solomon, his only child with Susan Rhea, died at aged two, after surviving the death of his mother sonn after his birth.

There was also a chancery suit that year involving W. C. and his brothers.

The Joyner - Solomon Sisters