When I first starting to do genealogy, I wanted to find out more about my Place ancestors. I quickly came to the conclusion Brig. Gen. Solomon Place was a direct ancestor. I soon found some cousins had come to the same conclusion. It seemed to be a family tradition.
But, we were all wrong. Wishful thinking. And it was easy to demonstrate our mistake with just a little actual research. Our ancestor Thomas Place (1803-1893), of Auburn, New York, was not Solomon’s son.
Solomon Place
Solomon Place (1770-1834) was an affluent citizen of Greenwich, New York, a descendant of immigrant Enoch Place, who came to America in 1657 and settled in Rhode Island.
Solomon had a military career and rose to become a brigadier general. In 1803 he appears as a Captain in Lt. Col. Simon De Ridder’s regiment in Washington County, New York. His name appears on the Massachusetts Civil List for June 1806, when a legislative committee reported the state owed “Solomon Place to the time of his leaving the State, £150 45s.” He was named as “Capt. Solomon Place” on the gravestone of his son Hiram, who died 23 January 1811. In 1812 he was Second Major in Lt. Col. Hendrick Van Schaick’s regiment in Washington County. In 1814 he was First Major. In 1815 he was named Lieutenant Colonel following Van Schaick’s resignation. In 1819 he was Brigadier General, 16th Brigade. He was named as “Gen. Solomon Place” on the gravestone of his wife Martha (1825), and on his own gravestone (1834).
My Connection
When I started doing genealogy, I didn’t have much to go on or much help to start. My (step) dad Carroll Place was puzzled about my interest. One of his cousins from California was in Daughters of the American Revolution. She had already done their genealogy. All done; no reason to look further.Dad didn’t remember any details. His parents owned Place Dairy in Rock Island, Illinois. Before they came to Rock Island, the Place family was in Michigan. Back further, there was a Revolutionary War General, some Mayflower people, and a guy who came from England in Colonial times.
I did find out my grandfather’s name was George Washington Place (1889-1958). (I never knew him. My parents were married after he died.)
Grandma tried to help. She pointed out my bedside lamp: George Washington praying before the Battle of Valley Forge, a lamp that had belonged to my dad when he was growing up. George Washington was part of my dad’s heritage. Grandma didn’t know how; don’t ask silly questions, just be proud of our heritage.
I did some poking around–as much as I could do at the public library in Grand Junction (Colorado) in the days before the Internet. I also wrote some letters and ordered Family Group Sheets from the Mormon library in Salt Lake City.
I quickly figured out our ancestor was Thomas Place, who went from Cayuga County, New York to Huron County, Ohio in 1833, then I hit a brick wall. Thomas sold land to his brother Solomon Place in 1835, and was co-executor of Solomon’s estate in 1845. Before that, nothing.
Speculation
However, it looked like our ancestor the unnamed General might have been Solomon Place. This was an exciting discovery. Solomon was the only General I could find anywhere with the surname Place. He served in the War of 1812, not the Revolutionary War, but close enough.
Solomon was born in 1770 and married Martha Heard in 1796. Thomas Place, who we thought would be Solomon’s son, was born in 1803 or 1804 in New York. His brother Solomon was born in 1811. The names, dates, and places fit. It’s easy to see how the brothers Thomas and Solomon of Cayuga County, New York could have been sons of Gen. Solomon Place of Washington County, New York. I didn’t find any explicit evidence, but it looked like a reasonable guess based on the evidence.
Evidence
That’s where I left it for some 35 years, with no further research. Over the years, I heard from other researchers who had come to the same conclusion. Some of them claimed to have an explicit family tradition our ancestor Thomas Place was a son of Gen. Solomon Place.
Then, in 2005 I was contacted by John Folsom, a fellow researcher.
John pointed me to the published family record from the Bible of Gen. Solomon Place. Solomon made this record in his own hand and signed it February 10, 1817. He names (among other relatives) himself, wife Martha, and children Phebe, Hannah, Harriet, and Hiram. (New York DAR GRC). No sons named Thomas or Solomon.
The Bible record is supported by the cemetery, will, and probate records of Gen. Solomon.
Solomon’s cemetery plot also contains the remains of his son Hiram (died 1816, age 1 month), (1st) wife Martha (died 1825, age 54); two daughters: Phebe (died 1869, age 73) and Hannah (died 1882, age 84); and grandson Stephen (died 1849, age 22).
Solomon’s January 1833 will names (2nd) wife Dorothy; daughters Phebe, Hannah, and Harriet, all apparently unmarried; his grandson Stephen Place (son of his unmarried daughter Phebe); and Josiah Barrett, whom he calls a nephew of his first wife.
Conclusion
Armed with this information, which has been easily available since 1934, we can no longer believe Thomas was a son of Gen. Solomon Place.
Thomas is now believed to be a son of Shadrach Place (1778-1840), who came from Washington County, New York to Cleveland, Ohio some time after 1810. The evidence, however, is circumstantial. If this is the correct connection, Thomas was a cousin, not a son, of Gen. Solomon.
Sources
- Findagrave.com: Solomon Place.
- New York DAR GRC report, Series 2, Volume 23 (1933-34), pages 123-24. Family bible in the possession of Mrs. Herbert Whelden of Greenwich, New York, copied October 1933 by Mrs. H. C. Hill.
Other Sites
Brig. Gen. Solomon Place (1770-1834)
- FamilySearch.org: Solomon Place
- Geni.com: Solomon Place
- WeRelate.com: Solomon Place
- Wiktree.com: Solomon Place
Thomas Place (1803-1893)
- FamilySearch.org: Thomas Place
- Geni.com: Thomas Place
- WeRelate.com: Thomas Place
- Wikitree.com: Thomas Place