Pull Apart Bread

 

Have you ever tasted any pull-apart bread? If you haven't, you're missing out. It's a cheezy, garlicy, festive indulgence into carbohydrate heaven.  I've included the recipe from The Pioneer Woman, in case you haven't. The name sounding rather ancestry-like and all.

• 1. 1Preheat the oven to 350. Slicing just to the bottom but not through the bottom of the loaf, cut 3/4-inch thick parallel slices. Rotate the bread 45 degrees and repeat the slices, creating a diamond pattern in the loaf.
  2. 2Spread the pesto in between the bread slices. Fill the grooves with mozzarella. Spray a piece of foil with nonstick cooking spray and wrap it around the loaf. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 30 minutes.
  3. 3Remove the bread from the foil and return to the sheet tray. Increase the oven to broil. Broil just until the cheese is bubbling and the top is golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes.

So what does Pull Apart Bread have to do with genealogy, or the family I have been posting on for the past few weeks, the Solomons? My reasoning is because, to correct the massive merging and layovers and confusion in the cousins and descendants and nephews of Rev. Bennett Solomon and Ava McGregor, its like working with pull-apart bread. To untangle the absolute mess that online trees have made of this 5-headed montstor called "Bennett Solomon, Jr.", I first must pull apart the looser strings of later generations until this massive, entangled ball of string is untangled. 

No, Bennett Solomon Jr. did not have 10 wives. He did not die 5 times in 5 different places. There were obviously multiple Bennett Solomons of the latter ages, and not all of them were direct descendants of Bennett and Ava.

Frederick K. Solomon

So to begin this journey, I am starting with Frederick. Why? Because he is a Frederick, and not a Bennett. Because I know he was born on October 10, 1842 in Tennessee and died on November 16, 1912 in Jackson, Missouri. Because I know he married Nancy Catherine Yates on April 15, 1868 in Dade County, Missiouri, and because he named his very firstborn son, Bennett. He also had some other interesting names for his children, like Willis. In various family trees, he has been given two different men and two different women for parents. So, Frederick K. Solomon, who's your Daddy?

The confusion comes in with two different men with similar names. There was Bennett Solomon who married Nora Elizabeth Parker, daughter of Eldridge Parker of Montgomery (Stanly County), North Carolina. Then there was a William Bennett Solomon who married Anna Carlilse Morton. There was also a third Bennett Solomon who married Mahaley Dearman on October 14, 1823 in Grainger County, Tennesee. There was a William Bennett Solomon who lived in Lincoln County, Tennesee, whose wife is named Dorinda.  Don't get me started on the 4 different marriages in Lincoln County, Tennesee to 4 different women by Bennett Solomons during the late 1840's through the 1860's. Some of those, I'm sure, were repeat offenders. 

The confusion began, I am sure, with the fact that in 1830, there is only one Bennett Solomon in the census records of the United States.This one in Montgomery County, NC. 

Name	Bennet Selmon
Home in 1830 (City, County, State)	Montgomery, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5	2
Free White Persons - Males - 5 thru 9	3
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39	1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5	1
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9	1
Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39	1
Free White Persons - Under 20	7
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49	2
Total Free White Persons	9
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored)	9

This shows a man in his 30's, with a wife in the same age group. They have a large family of young children, from all appearances. There are 3 boys and 1 girl between the ages of 5 and 9. There are 2 boys and 1 girl under 5. That must have been a busy, buzzy household with all of those little mouths to feed.

Name	Bennet Solomon
Home in 1840 (City, County, State)	Warren, Tennessee
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5	1
Free White Persons - Males - 5 thru 9	1
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 14	1
Free White Persons - Males - 15 thru 19	1
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29	1
Free White Persons - Males - 40 thru 49	1
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9	1
Free White Persons - Females - 15 thru 19	1
Free White Persons - Females - 40 thru 49	1
Persons Employed in Agriculture	2
Free White Persons - Under 20	6
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49	3
Total Free White Persons	9
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves	9

Ten years later, in 1840, there is no more Bennett Solomon in Montgomery County, instead, we have two in Warren County, Tennessee, where Ava McGregor Solomon took her younger children to live near her brothers om Caney Creek in Warren County, Tennessee. In the above census record, we see what looks like a married couple in their 40's. There is one young man in his twenties, perhaps an oldest son who has now hit 20, or almost. The ages checked were not always dead on the money. There's another boy between 15 and 19, one more between 10 and 14, another between 5 and 9 and one under 5. There's a girl between 15 and 19 and one between 5 and 9. If this is the same family as in 1830, and I believe that it was, while they have gained three children in the last decade, they also lost about 3 as well. Sadly, that happened, far too often in those days. They couldn't run the baby to the ER when the childhood maladies came along. Sometimes a disease could wipe out half the family. The parents also had to work very hard just to keep food in their bellies and a roof over their heads. Sometimes parents had practices that were normal or usual in their days, that would be considered neglectful today. Toddlers falling into fires were not unheard of. Accidents involving horses were common. With lack of bridges, drowning occured while trying to cross rivers and streams. I will never get over an old newspaper story I read about from the late 19th century, where a mother had laid an infant on a pallett, or blanket, while she worked in the garden and the baby had been eaten by a pig. I can't remember if it was a wild boar or a domesticated pig that had escaped from a pen. She had ran over and tried in vain to get the infant away from the pig, but to no avail. It was too late.

Name	Bennet Sollomon
Home in 1840 (City, County, State)	Warren, Tennessee
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29	1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5	2
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29	1
Persons Employed in Agriculture	1
Free White Persons - Under 20	2
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49	2
Total Free White Persons	4
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves	4

This was not the only Bennett Solomon in Warren County, however. There was another Bennett Solomon in Warren County. This one was in his twenties, with an apparent wife in the same age group. There were two little girls under 5 in the home, too. This Bennett is living near a Benjamin Morton, and that fact is important, too. 

Ava McGregor is not listed in the 1840 census, but she was there and in 1850, she is back as head of her own household.

Name	Willis Solomon
Home in 1840 (City, County, State)	Warren, Tennessee
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29	1
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29	1
Free White Persons - Females - 60 thru 69	1
Slaves - Males - 10 thru 23	4
Slaves - Males - 36 thru 54	1
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49	2
Total Free White Persons	3
Total Slaves	5
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves	8

1840 is also the first census that Willis Lymon Solomon, a son of Bennett and Ava, shows up in in the census records. Wills is in his twenties and has a wife, Myrick Safely Solomon. The Safely's are mentioned in Montgomery County deeds, as neighbors of and in conjunction with, the Solomons and McGregors. Some off them joined in the migrations to Warren County. There are no children in the home, but there is a woman in her 60's. So there is Ava, living with Willis, or vice versa, and there are her slaves, brought with her from North Carolina. Also on the same page with Willis are several of his brother-in-laws. There's George Bullens who married Martha, Henry Russell who married Molly and Sam Turner, where no adult  male is in the home, so this must be Mrs. Turner, or rather, his sister Jane. There are also a number Mauzy's or Mosey's and on the next page,  a Micajah Mauzy, who married his sister, Sarah. There is also an Asa Hill, who might be a Green Hill descendant and next to Willis, a Solomon Mauzy, which makes me wonder if that is a coincidence, or was there another Mauzy/ Solomon connection way back.

There is a fourth Solomon who appears in the 1840 census of Warren Couny.

Name	Henry Sollomon[Heny Sollomon]
Home in 1840 (City, County, State)	Warren, Tennessee
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5	1
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29	1
Free White Persons - Females - 15 thru 19	1
Persons Employed in Agriculture	1
Free White Persons - Under 20	2
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49	1
Total Free White Persons	3
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves	3

That is Henry Solomon. Henry is a very young man, in his 20's, but as his wife is between 15 and 19, he's probably on the lower end of that. They have a son under 5, probably a baby. Now, Henry doesn't live near the others, but quite a distance down the page is William McGregor, Jr., Ava's brother, so the same community. 

So, I will stop right there with this train of thought and return to the subject of Frederick K. Solomon.

Frederick K. and Nancy Yates Solomon family about 1891-1893. Front row l to r: Hardin (1886), F. K (1842), Nancy (1849), Bennett (1869), Mollie (1882) Back row: Jame (1878), Willis (1875), Thomas (1871).

Why Frederick? I chose Frederick primarily because of the number and level of DNA matches I have to his descendants. I have matches at the same level as my matches to others of Bennett and Ava McGregor Solomon's descendants who stem from siblings of my Rev. William Solomon. I also have that same level to descendants of some of his siblings.

The reason this is so important is that people have multiple Bennett Solomon Jr's as sons of Bennett and Ava. I don't believe they named four or five sons the same name, and they didn't. Some were nephews, even Great nephews, I have matches there, two,  but the centimorgans and segments drop. That tells me the relationship is more distant. The connection is not with my 4th Great Grandparents, Bennett and Ava, but probably with my 5th Great Grandparents, William II and Deanna Gordon Solomon. I  say 'probably' because I want you, whomever may be reading this, to keep in mind, some of my posts contain my theories. I will post facts and evidence when I find it, but sometimes records can not be found. They are lost to time and the memories of people who have long left this existence. DNA is the one science left to us after the courthouses have burned. That and coincidence, the habit of being in the right place at the right time, and the naming patterns of children. When I say, "I believe or it's possible", that is my theorizing.

Name	Frederick Solomon
Age in 1870	27
Birth Date	1843
Birthplace	Tennessee
Dwelling Number	30
Home in 1870	Center, Dade, Missouri
Gender	Male
Post Office	Greenfield
Occupation	Farmer
Male Citizen Over 21	Yes
Personal Estate Value	328
Real Estate Value	400
Inferred Spouse	Nancy Solomon
Inferred Children	Bennet Solomon

Frederick K. Solomon fell out of the sky. What I mean by that is that he first shows up in records as a full grown man, agend 27, married, and already a father, in 1870.  He is farming in the community of Center, post office Greenfield, in Dade County, Missouri. He was born in Tennessee. Family records have him being born in Warren County, Tennessee.

Now, we do have information on Frederick K. Solomon before 1870, as his was the generation that served in the Civil War. I don't want to explore his entire, unique, military career, but a number of essential facts can be gleaned from these records.

First, is that he was drafted from Benton County, Missouri

Second is that he suffered from epilepsy. Frederick was in the the 8th Missouri Calvary, i the Union Army,  and had spent most of his military career in the hospital at Springfield, Missouri. The document also gives some valuable personal information. It states he was born in "Farren County, Tennessee". There was no such place. Type it in Google and you will get "Warren". He was 26 years of age, six feet tall, with a fair complexion, blue eyes and dark hair. He had been unfit for duty 60 days. 

"This soldier to my knowledge had occasional bouts of epilepsy during the last year, at present they occur of once per week,. Intellect - much impaired", wrote Dr. E. A. Clark, Surgeon,  Little Rock General Hospital, in  Arkansas on January 18, 1864.

In an earlier document, September 1, 1861, Frederick was declared "non compos mentis", which meant incompetent, or not in his right mind.

So we know Frederick K Solomon was born in 1843 in Warren County, Tennessee. We he was living in Benton County, Missouri when he enlisted. Although I haven't gotten to that part yet, Frederick lived long enough to have a death certificate. From that document we know his father was named Bennett Solomon. The question is which Bennett.

So, to find the answer, I looked for a Bennett Solomon in 1860 in Benton County, Missouri. And, I found him.

Name	Bennet Soloman
Age	48
Birth Year	1812
Gender	Male
Race	White
Birth Place	North Carolina
Home in 1860	Township 40 Range 22, Benton, Missouri
Post Office	Warsaw
Dwelling Number	748
Family Number	746
Occupation	Fl
Inferred Spouse	Anna Soloman
Inferred Child	Esther Soloman; Avy Soloman

Household members

Name	Age
Bennet Soloman	48
Anna Soloman	43
Mary Soloman	19
Esther Soloman	13
Avy Soloman	9
John W Soloman	8
William Soloman	6
Lydia Soloman	4
Martha Soloman	1

The issue is, Frederick is not living in the home with the rest of the family. He would d have been a teenager, so he may have been off working for a neighbor, or away  at schoool, or knowing of his medical condition, maybe away at a hospital. 

This Bennett was born in North Carolina in 1812, or around. His wife Anna, was a Morton by birth. Some have him merged with the Bennett  born in 1797. Ages can be off, I've seen it countless times, but there are other reasons why Bennett 1812 and Bennett 1797 can't be the same person. The main reaons being that Bennett 1797 is shown in Lincoln County, Tennesee where Jordan and William III had migrated to, in 1850. He has no wife living with him, and I will get to that in a later post. Bennett 1812 and Anna Morton were married well before 1850, they have the children to prove it. If this was the same man, where was Anna? Also, though some of the children have the same names, like Bennett and  Mary, the family just does not match. 

Another factor is the DNA one. The siblings of Frederick Solomon in Thru-lines that I match the descendants of at the highter centimorgan count are daughters of this Bennett and Anna Morton Solomon. It is my belief, that Bennett 1812 was the Bennett with four people in his household in 1840 and that Bennett 1797 was the one with 9. I also believe that this one was the son of  Bennett Sr. and Ava McGregor Solomon. Add to that the possibility that Anna was somehow related to another ancestor of mine, Rev. Samuel P. Morton, who it was recorded, had attended The Mouth of the Uwharrie Baptist Church as a young man. He was a member of the Badin area Mortons, for lack of a better term, and Bennett Solomon Sr. had preached at the Mouth of the Uharrrie Baptist Church after the death of his father-in-law, Rev. William McGregor. 

Bennet Solomon Sr. was not an old man when he passed away in 1818, he was only 45, and Ava  was younger. She would have been only 34 when this Bennett was born.

Bennett 1812 didn't die as an old man, either. He passed away in 1862 at the age of 50. 

In 1868, in Dade County, Missouri, Frederick married Nancy Yates, daughter of Fanning Yayrs. By the 1870 census, they were still in Dade with a newborn son named Bennett.

Below is the location of Dade County, Missouri.

At the same time, his widowed mother was still in Benton County.

1880 finds the family farming with 4 young sons. Only daughter, Mollie, and last child,  would complete the family. By 1900, they had relocated to Cedar County, Missouri, just one up from Dade.

This residence was brief, however, because by 1908, they are found in Marshall County, Missouri, which was several counties north. I have found no explanation as to why they kept moving.

Nancy Yates Solomon would pass away in 1908.

Fred showed his gratitude, publicly, for those who would assist with her during illness and death.

Fred did not let this tragedy stop him, however. Two years after the death of Nancy, he would marry, at 66, for companionship to a 58 year old widow named Mary M. Brown. This year found him in the town of Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, where he would remain.

Earlier that year, she is seen in the census as a boarder. Mary was a practical nurse, and in the 1920 census, she is back working at that profession, reason being, she was again widowed. 

Frederick K. Solomon died on November 16, 1912, of heart failure, brought on by chronic nephritis. He was 70 years old. 

The six children of Frederick Solomon and Nancy Yates Solomon were:

A) Bennett C. Solomon born 1869. Married twice, one son. Died in 1942 in Los Angeles, California.

B) Thomas Solomon, born in 1871. Never married. 

Thomas died in 1921, of sepsis, at the age of 49 in Marshall. He was buried at Ridge Park with his parents. He had worked as a laborer. I get a feeling he may have inherited his father's illness.

C) Willis Frederick Solomon was born in 1875. He married once and had 5 children, three who lived to adulthood.

He lived for awhile in Kansas, but returned to Sedalia, Missouri. He lost his wife in 1948. Willis died in 1954 at the age of 79.

D) James Richard Solomon was born in Cedarville, Missouri in 1878. He married twice and had a child with each wife. 

His second wife was the sister of Willis's wife and a widow. He helped raise her son. He died in 1946 in Abilene, Kansas at 67. 

E) Mary E. "Mollie "  Solomon was born in 1882. She married Roswell N. Bailey.  One daughter. 

They lived most of the time in Saint Louis, however, she died at the age of 51, of bronchial pneumonia, in Saline, where she married.

F) Hardin Wesley,"Hardy" Solomon was born in 1888. The youngest child, he had an interesting story. 

In 1906, he was working with his father in a grocery store. He was in love and wanted to marry, but had disappeared. The above article is important in another way, because it mentions his aunt, Mary Bristow. Mary Adeline Solomon Bristow was the oldest child of Bennett 1812, and Anna Morton Solomon. She was in the 1860 census. This cinches the theory that Bennett 1812 was the correct father of Frederick K. Solomon. 

Hardy was apparently quite a character and 'man about town. In 1906, he's in Springfield, MO. In 1910, he's in Idaho Falls, Idaho, working for a Frank Marshall 

In 1911, Hardy is in Nehama County, Kansas and, married Elva Beck. Two years later, they have a son, Lawrence. 

In 1915, in the Kansas State Census, the young family is still in Nehama in a town called "Home". 

But in 1917, on his draft card, he's in Gentry County, Missouri and claims to be single. In the 1920 census, he's farming in the town of Dallas, Hamilton County, Missouri, and claims to be single. In 1930, he claims to be widowed and is working as a Farm Laborer in Gentry, Gentry County, Missouri. 

His wife is very much alive and is living with their son and her father. Hardy is assumed or declared dead in 1935 and two years later, Elva remarried. 

Hardy made a final disappearing act. It is not known exactly when or where he died or where he is buried. I want to find him.