Introduction
Brigadier General Solomon Place (1770–1834) holds a distinct place in the history of early nineteenth-century upstate New York. A prosperous citizen of Greenwich and a career militia officer during the War of 1812, Solomon’s life is well documented through public records and a family Bible record penned in his own hand. Although family lore sometimes attributed to him a larger lineage, the evidence reveals a more precise picture: a man whose only son died in infancy and whose legacy continued through his daughters and public service.
Biography
Solomon Place was born in 1770, descending from Enoch Place, an early immigrant who settled in Rhode Island in 1657. By the early 1800s, Solomon resided in Greenwich, Washington County, New York.
His military career began at least by 1803, when he served as a captain in Lieutenant Colonel Simon De Ridder’s regiment of the Washington County militia. In 1806, a Massachusetts legislative committee listed a debt owed to him totaling £150 45s. His infant son Hiram died in January 1811, with a gravestone referring to “Capt. Solomon Place.”
During the War of 1812, Solomon rose through the ranks: Second Major in 1812 under Lt. Col. Hendrick Van Schaick, First Major in 1814, Lieutenant Colonel in 1815 after Van Schaick’s resignation, and finally Brigadier General of the 16th Brigade by 1819. His military rank was etched on his own gravestone and that of his first wife, Martha (Heard) Place, who died in 1825.
In 1796, Solomon married Martha Heard. The family composition is clearly documented in a Bible record Solomon personally created and signed on February 10, 1817. The record lists Solomon, Martha, and their children Phebe, Hannah, Harriet, and Hiram—the latter having died in infancy. The Bible record, corroborated by cemetery, will, and probate records, strongly supports that Hiram was Solomon’s only son.
The Greenwich cemetery plot includes Solomon, Martha, their son Hiram, daughters Phebe and Hannah, and a grandson Stephen Place. After Martha’s death, Solomon remarried a woman named Dorothy. His 1833 will names Dorothy, his unmarried daughters, grandson Stephen (son of Phebe), and Josiah Barrett, a nephew of Martha.
Solomon Place died in 1834, leaving behind the legacy of a citizen-soldier, marked by public service and a well-documented family life. The surviving Bible record provides rare firsthand insight into his household and the loss of his only son.
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).
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.
See Also
- FamilySearch.org: Solomon Place
- Geni.com: Solomon Place
- WeRelate.com: Solomon Place
- Wiktree.com: Solomon Place
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Revised Aug. 14, 2025.
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