I’m not sure what you did on Labor Day, but I remembered that it was the last day of the free census weekend on MyHeritage, so I got to work and labored for hours searching the census for both the US and Canada. I wasn’t exactly sure what I should look for because I had been away from my research for a long while. I decided that since I had never seen the Canadian census I should search it for a couple of the surnames I thought I could find on it. I methodically went through each year they offered searching for the two surnames and saving everything I found for a more in-depth look at a later time. I didn’t want to waste the little time I had left on this great day of free-ness.
After I ran out of Canadian census to search, I began by looking for my great-great grandfather, Thomas SOLON, in each census he would have been in the US for (1860-1900). I had seen most of them before, but didn’t have them saved in digital format, so made quick work of finding them again. I then decided to do the same for John SOLON the man we think was Thomas’ older brother. It turns out I had made a note on one of my genealogy websites about not being able to find this family in the 1870 census, but they were right there when I looked, so that was a win. I then decided to try to find John’s eldest son, Thomas, who was with the family in 1860 but then we knew nothing about him until he died in 1915 in Oklahoma.
1860 US John and Ellen SOLON Du Page, Will County, IL
Now it might be important to note that in 1860, the census listed John and Ellen as being born in Ireland, Thomas in England and James and Michael in Illinois. So we can estimate that John, Ellen and Thomas came to the United States sometime between 1850 and 1857. Also we can estimate that John and Ellen were likely married in Ireland or England before 1850. The census also indicated that John and Ellen cannot read or write and that John is a farm laborer with no real estate and a personal estate valued at $200.
When I found the family in the 1870 census, Thomas would have been about 20 and was no longer in the household with his family.
1870 US John and Ellen SOLON Colfax Twp, Champaign County, IL
I was able to search the census for any SOLON born in 1850 give or take five years either way. I found one that seemed like a possible fit. The age was about right and he was in Indiana instead of Illinois.
1870 US Thomas SOLON Washington, Daviess County, IN
On the 1870 census, this Thomas is listed as born in Indiana and he of all those in the house is not marked as having parents of foreign birth. As the head of the household is listed as a hotel keeper, we can guess this was a boarding house or hotel of sorts, so perhaps Thomas was either new to town or had no reason to build a home yet.
So, now I have a viable prospect for John’s son, Thomas, in the state next door to the one his family lived in and not so very far away really. Lets track this Thomas and see what happens to him.
1880 US Thomas SOLON Washington, Daviess County, IN
Looks like he stayed in the town of Washington, Indiana and was a shoemaker from the 1870 census until the 1900 census. In 1880, he lived at 130 South Street in what appears to be a boarding house. It says Thomas was 28 and born in Indiana with both his parents born in Ireland. The 1890 census was destroyed many years ago, so we cannot track anyone using that record, so we must move on to the 1900 census and see what it can tell us.
1900 US Thomas and Mary SOLAN Washington, Daviess County, IN
If you look at the rest of the info on the 1900 census it tells us that he owned his home, had a mortgage and it was a house, not a farm which makes sense for a shoe maker. It tells us that Thomas was born September 1846 in New York and Mary A. was born September 1843 in Maryland and that they have been married 10 years.
Looking back at some info I had sorted by location I found this among the records I had extracted years ago.
I found a couple more census I wish I had gotten copies of while I had access to them:
1850 Census Extraction
Washington Township, Daviess County Indiana 1850 census
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Name Age Occ. Birth Twp.
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Solon, John 35 Canl/Digger Ireland Wash
1870 Census Extraction
CENSUS YR: 1870 TERRITORY: IN COUNTY: Daviess DIVISION: Alfordsville PAGE: 32/246b
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LAST FIRST AGE BIRTHPLACE OCCUPATION
==========================================================================================
SOLAN John 52 Ireland Farmer
SOLAN Mary 50 Ireland Farmer
SOLAN Thomas 21 New York
SOLAN John 18 Indiana
SOLAN Catherine 17 Indiana (school in year)
SOLAN Bridget 14 Indiana (school in year)
SOLAN James 11 Indiana (school in year)
SOLAN Mary 9 Indiana (school in year)
RILEY John 16 Indiana (school in year)
Extracts from the Indiana WPA Indexes for Daviess County
BIRTHS
Child Name Father Mother Birthdate Original Source
=============================================================================================
SOLAN Catherine F W Jno Emma CHURCH Feb 14, 1906 Book H-5 Page 20
SOLAN --- F W John Emma CHURCH Feb 14, 1906 Book CH-2 Page 32
MARRIAGES
Name Spouse Date Original Source
=============================================================================================
SOLAN James DUFFEY Catharine 21 Jun 1882 Book 5, Page 310, Fiche 3881
SOLEN William C MATTINGLY Iola M 30 Jan 1917 Book 15, Page 418, Fiche 3881 (DOB 19 Dec 1894)
SOLEN John GUIRE Mary M 15 Nov 1855 Book 1, Page 447, Fiche 3881
SOLON Catherine SUMMERS Wm Ed 16 Sep 1884 Book 6, Page 1, Fiche 3881
SOLON Bridget CAVANAUGH Owen 14 May 1884 Book 5, Page 551, Fiche 3881
DEATHS
Name Age Deathdate Location Original Source
===========================================================================================
SOLON, Mary F W 75 Sep 05, 1900 Washington Book H-18 Page 81
SOLON, Katherine F F W 45 Oct 27, 1901 Washington Book CH-6 Page 69
SOLAN, Mary F W 75 Aug 08, 1903 Washington Book CH-6 Page 87
SOLAN, Mary Ann F W 76 Apr 24, 1918 Washington Book CH-7 Page 100
SOLAN, Emma F W 39 Feb 02, 1920 Washington Book CH-8 Page 13
I also found the following newspaper reference:
The Daviess County Democrat
Vol. 17, No. 7. Saturday, January 5, 1884 also this same notice was in Vol. 17, No. 8. Saturday, January 12, 1884
PAGE 2
"LEGAL"
NOTICE TO THE TAX-PAYERS OF DAVIESS COUNTY"
Greenwood Richard H. Treasurer of Daviess Co.
"SHERIFF'S SALE"
Solon John
Source URL: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~koliver/DaviessCountyDemocrat_01051884.txt
Now lets go back to what we know about John and Ellen’s son Thomas.
Oklahoma Land Patent Records
(http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/)
Patentee Name State County Issue Date Land Office Doc. Nr. Accession/Serial Nr.
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SOLON, THOMAS OK Comanche 5/4/1909 Lawton 02836 59338 (see it)
So we know from the death certificate that we have the correct Thomas. His younger brother Michael was the informant. This doesn’t do much to tell us where Thomas was all those years. I will need to look at some other census records, try to find marriage records, death certificates, obituaries, etc for Thomas and Mary SOLON who lived in Daviess County, Indiana and see what those documents can tell us about this shoemaker and his wife. The death certificate lists Thomas as single, but his brother apparently didn’t know him well enough to know his birth date, so perhaps he\wouldn’t have known if Thomas had married later in life and been a widower when he died.
I found digging into the census records to be an awesome way to spend the day. The fact that I could do the research without any additional cost was purely a bonus and a huge nudge to get me back into researching my family tree. To see more on the SOLON family as well as other lines I have researched, please visit Karen’s Kin. I have many many hours of work preserved there including virtual cemeteries and photos. If you have any info that might help me solve the mystery of Thomas SOLON and his ancestor, PLEASE get in touch with me so we can sort it out. What do you think, is the shoemaker the missing son of John and Ellen? The timeline looks like it fits or could fit, except there may be a different John SOLON who fathered the shoemaker according to the census extraction for 1870 that I haven’t got the real copy of yet. We shall see…stay tuned for further updates.
