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Solomon Washington Suther
6 Feb 1831 - 9 Jan 1909
By
Great Granddaughter of Solomon Washington Suther
Tucson, AZ
Solomon Suther was born near Concord, Cabarrus County, NC the
youngest child of John J. and Catherine Yeoman Suther and was
one of seven children, 5 surviving to adulthood.
1. John M. Suther, born ca 1818 in Cabarrus Co., NC; died 11 Nov 1847 in Montgomery, Montgomery Co., AL.
2. Esther Suther, born ca 1820-25 in Cabarrus Co,. NC; married in 839 to Alexander Castor.
3. David A. Suther, born ca 1823 in Cabarrus Co., NC; married 9 Apr 1854 to Margaret Holston. He died 11 Jul 1871 in Autagua, Co. AL.
4. James Mack Suther, born 1 Dec 1824-26 in Cabarrus Co., NC; married 2 Apr 1854 to Margaret Cline. He died 2 Apr 1874 in Rowan, Co. NC.
5. Solomon Washington Suther, born 6 Feb 1831 in Cabarrus Co., NC; (married as described in the following). He died 9 Jan 1909 in Blossom, Lamar Co., TX.
In 1848, Solomon at age 17, had a guardian appointed for him as his brother in Alabama had died and it seems that both parents were deceased. His guardian was Joseph Barnhardt of Cabarrus County, NC.
The 1850 Census shows Solomon was apprenticed to and was living with David Slough and wife Mary L. Slough. Solomon was learning to be a blacksmith. It is known that Solomon earned his living all of his life as a blacksmith and was known as a "custom blacksmith," a high art.
The 1860 Census shows Solomon was in Hunt County, Texas in the household of James Bell, a miller. Solomon was listed as a blacksmith and he was unmarried. It seems he spent time between 1850 and 1860 in Fayette County, TN, as Col. M. A. Dillard, who signed an affidavit for Sol's Civil War Pension, mentioned knowing Solomon at that time and place.
Solomon married on 24 Oct 1861 in Hunt County, TX to Martha J. Byrd Cochran. Martha was born ca 1836 in Alabama to James Byrd and Elizabeth Bevers Byrd. Martha was a widow of John Cochran with one daughter, Susan Frances Cochran.
Solomon enlisted in the 2nd Texas Infantry for the CSA on 14 Aug 1862 at Greenville, Hunt County, TX.
His military records are difficult to interpret as he seemed to be moving about and his assignments were not regular. His muster roll cards and summary of duties seem to conflict. He was enlisted by Albert G. Pace. He remained at the rank of Private his entire enlistment.
Below is some of the summary of his enlistment:
In February 1863 he was stationed on the steamer "John Walsh." Then on Apr. 30, 1863 went "in the field" in Mississippi. His Company moved from Camp Timmons to Yazoo City in Feb. 1863, then ordered to Camp Pemberton Feb. 27, 1863, at Vicksburg Apr. 20,1863. Also sent to the "hospital at Vicksburg," Apr 1963.
Below are his Muster Roll cards:
#1
Co, A, 2nd Reg TX Inf.
Enlisted 14 Aug 1862.
Card is for Jan - Feb 1863.
States his pay is due from enlistment, he is present, assigned to duty in Co. A, Jan. 09, 1863.
Description roll sworn to.
#2
March - Apr 1863
Co. A, 2nd Reg TX Inf.
Attached to hospital April 21, 1863.
Has never been paid, he is present.
#3
May- Jun 1863
Pvt., Co. A, 2nd Reg TX Inf.
Hospital Muster Roll “Texas General Hospital” Quitman, MS
Same information as above.
Attached to hospital 25 May 1863.
He is employed as a nurse and is present.
#4
Apr 30 - Aug. 31, 1863
Pvt., Co. A, 2nd Reg TX Inf
Hospital Muster Roll “Texas General Hospital” Quitman MS
Same information as above.
Attached to hospital 25 May 1863.
Employed as a nurse and is present.
Last paid by Captain Decker 28 Feb 1863.
#5
Same information as above.
Jun 30 to Oct. 31, 1863
Still a nurse, still present.
#6
Same information as above except for the following:
Sep and Oct 1863
Employed as a butcher.
Last paid by Capt. Decker 31 Aug 1863.
#7
Same information as above.
Nov 1863
Absent sick at Quitman Hospital Mississippi.
#8
All information is the same as above.
This is a Muster Roll of the 3rd LA Inf and the 2nd Tx Inf.
Nov and Dec 1863
Station: Enterprise, MS
Last paid by Capt. Decker Aug 31 and is present.
#9
All information is same as above.
List of members of the 2nd TX Reg, not captured at the Surrender of Vicksburg, but now able and present for duty.
Written that this list is dated near Enterprise, MS on Dec 8 1863.
#10
Same information as above.
This is a Regimental Return card
Dated Dec. 13, 1863
Place: Velasco
Remarks: Transferred to Com'd East Miss River by order of Lt. Col. McGinnis.
#11
Solomon's information is all the same except now the 2nd is called a "detachment."
This is now the Muster Roll of Company E, 9th (Young's) Reg TX Infantry.
Apr 5 1864
Printed on card is below:
Note: This detachment was temporarily assigned to duty in Gen'l. Ector's Brigade by order of Lieut. Gen'l. Polk.
Jan, 1864
Solomon is present and remarks are:
Detailed as a blacksmith Jan 28 1864 by order of Gen'l. Ector.
#12
Solomon is now listed as a Pvt., Co. E, 9 Reg TX Inf.
This is a Roll of Prisoners of War
Consisting of:
Co I, 9 TX Infantry consolidated of Cos. I,F,G,B,E,C and D, Confederate States Army, commanded by Capt. M. R. Board, surrendered at Meridian MS. by Lieut. Gen. R. Taylor, C.S.A. to Maj. Gen. E.R.S. Canby, U.S.A., May 4, 1865 and paroled at Meridian MS, May 11, 1865.
So this ends the information on Solomons' service in the Confederate Army.
He returned to Greenville, Hunt County, TX and resumed his life as a farmer and blacksmith. He and wife Martha had three more children and are listed in the 1870 Hunt County Census.
Children of Solomon and Martha Byrd Cochran as follows:
**(Susan Frances Cochran, born ca 1855 in TX, Martha's only child from her first marriage. Susan married 2 Jan 1873 in Hunt Co., TX to James A. Wilson. Last know place of residence was Wilson Co. TX with one confirmed daughter. Other children possible. 1. Martha Lucinda Wilson.)**
1. Solomon Washington Suther II, born ca 1862 in Wolfe City, Hunt Co., TX. Married 7 Aug 1892 to Katherine Emma Walker "Emma Kate." Solomon II died 3 Oct 1937 in Albany, Shackleford Co., TX. They had ten children:
(1.) Oscar V. Suther
(2.) Clyde Lester Suther
(3.) Martha Suther
(4.) Nina Levania Suther
(5.) Fred W. Suther
(6.) Alice Suther
(7.) Robert Suther
(8.) Kate Pauline suther
(9.) Lucille Suther
(10.) Unknown
2. Martha Caroline "Carrie" Suther, born 22 Feb ____ Wolfe City, Hunt Co., TX She married 22 Feb 1891 in Lamar Co., TX to William Thomas Nuchols. Martha died 1 Jul 1940 in Blossom, Lamar Co., TX. They had three children:
(1.) Thomas Dooley Nuchols
(2.) Rufus S. Nuchols
(3.) William Harry Nuchols
3. Virginia C. "Virgie" Suther, born May 1868 in Wolfe City, Hunt Co., TX. She married 14 Dec 1888 in Lamar Co., TX to Elbert C Bruce. Virginia died in Vaughn, Guadalupe Co., NM. They had three children:
(1.) Richard A. Bruce
(2.) Eric C. Bruce
(3.) Ernest J. Bruce
4. Ida "Nannie Belle" "Miss Belle" Suther, born 26 Sep 1870-71 in Wolfe City, Hunt Co., TX. She never married and died 26 Dec 1952 in Paris, Lamar Co., TX.
Martha Byrd Cochran Suther died about 1871 and Solomon married her sister, Isabella Viola Byrd. Isabella was born 29 Jan 1849 in MS the daughter of James Byrd and Elizabeth Bevers Byrd. Solomon and Isabella were married 8 Jun 1871 in Hunt Co., TX. She died 3 Feb 1936 in San Jose, San Francisco Co., CA. They had seven children, four living to adulthood.
Solomon and Isabella and some of the children are listed in the 1880 Hunt County, TX Census.
Children of Solomon and Isabella Viola Byrd are as follows:
1. Elizabeth "Bessie" Suther, born ca 1872-73 in Wolfe City, Hunt Co., TX, died as an infant in Hunt County.
2. Mary William "May" Suther, born 1874 in Wolfe City, Hunt Co., TX. She married five times and had no children. She was the Stepmother to nephew: Charles Edwin Gilmer (son of sister Maud Emma Suther). Mary died ca 1941 in Phoenix, Maricopa co., AZ.
3 Jimmie Byrd "Byrt" Suther, born 24 Feb 1875 in Wolfe City, Hunt Co., TX. She married in 1901 in Austin, Travis Co., TX, to William Knox Barkley. They had three children:
(1.) George Barkley
(2.) Grace Barkley
(3.) Ella May Barkley
4. John Milton Suther, born ca 1877 in Wolfe City, Hunt Co., TX. Died ca 1900 in TX.
5. Ora Lee Suther, born May 1879 in Wolfe City, Hunt Co., TX. Died ca 1901 in Johnson Co., TX.
6. Maud Emma Suther, born 3 Apr 1881 in Wolfe City, Hunt Co., TX Maud married first on 11 Dec 1898 in Parker Co., TX to Joseph Walter Davidson They had two children:
(1.) Charles Edwin "Charley" Davidson, raised by Mauds' sister May Suther Gilmer
(2.) Ora Viola Davidson.
Maud married second on 06 Oct 1904 in Phoenix, Maricopa Co., AZ Territory to George Worth Hardesty. She died 10 Dec 1961 in San Diego, San Diego Co., CA and is buried in Buckeye, Maricopa Co., AZ. Maud and George had four children:
(1.) Luther Worth Hardesty
(2.) Dessie Inez Hardesty
(3.) Lawrence Lester Hardesty
(4.) Landon Knox Hardesty ( father of Lannie Hartman)
7. Roma Viola "Romy" Suther, born 7 Feb 1883 in Wolfe City, Hunt Co., TX. Roma married 12 Nov 1902 in Ft Worth, Tarrant Co., TX to Delbert Chester Lawrence. She died 24 Mar 1957 in Whittier, CA. They had seven children:
(1.) Ernest Knox Lawrence
(2.) Eron Christine Lawrence
(3.) Earl Anthony Lawrence
(4.) Eldon Roma Lawrence (male)
(5.) Elserd Chester Lawrence
(6.) Esther Gloria Lawrence
(7.) Ethel Mae Lawrence
About 1883, Solomon and his wife Isabella split up. Isabella took her children and moved to another part of Texas. About 1902 she moved to Arizona with a married daughter. She lost three children during her lifetime and was said to be very bitter towards her husband. She moved from daughter to daughter in her last years and talked constantly to her deceased children.
Solomon later went to live in the small town of Blossom in Lamar County, Texas where three of his daughters also resided. Solomon lived with one unmarried daughter, Nannie Belle Suther who was a spinster and a teacher. They are both found on the 1900 Lamar County, TX Census.
He qualified as a Lamar County Commissioner Nov. 30, 1888 and as a Notary Public Jun. 1, 1889.
He applied for a Confederate pension in August of 1906 pleading that he was indigent, (in fact, he owned “poor” land in Hunt Co. and listed himself as widowed which he was NOT), feebleness, heart trouble, and old age (75 years).
His physical state was sworn to by Dr. A. T. Beauchamp of Lamar Co., on 15 Aug 1906. The petition was also signed by the Lamar County Commissioners on 17 Aug 1906, namely L. D. Cabaniss, B. B. Brashears, W. M. Gault, and Charles Wilson.
Affadavits of service were given and signed by H. A. Evans on 3 Aug 1906 and by Miles A. Dillard on 3 Aug 1906.
Letters from Solomon's granddaughter-in-law state some interesting things about Solomon and his life. He did leave Isabella and his children for unknown reasons. His children by Martha came to be with him in Lamar Co TX and Isabella then moved to Johnson Co., TX and tried to farm and raise what children were with her. Solomon sent his youngest child by Martha to school at San Marcos, Texas. Since Nannie Belle was scarred from a burn and cross-eyed, he knew she would never marry. So an education was utmost for her. She became a teacher and taught in Lamar County.
There was a lifelong feud between the children of Solomon and both of his wives . . . these children of sisters. These children were not only step-siblings but first cousins.
In 1911, the children of the first marriage filed a lawsuit against Isabella and her children to gain ownership of the "poor land" in Hunt Co TX near Wolfe City. The land was leased out and no one knew until the lessee needed to know where to send the rent. The suit was settled, the land sold and money divided. A pittance for each person involved.
Sol was known to have had a slave by the name of "Pink." Now Pink called Solomon "Cap'n Sol", and as Solomon was a huge eater, fond of eggs and salt mackerel. Pink would always say that "Cap'n Sol" would eat his way to his grave with a knife and fork.
Solomon, probably very large, was said to have a ruddy face, reddish sandy hair and light eyes.
He would always wear a starched white shirt to work at the forge every day, and put on a fresh white starched shirt every evening for supper.
He was averse to owning anything because it led, as he put it, to being responsible and "tied down." He gave away many things and told the recipient, "take it and be good to it!"
Solomon is known to have said the only way to deal with a woman who wanted to argue was to "put on your hat, bestride your horse and be gone." So Isabella may have given Solomon the opportunity to do just that - and he did.
On 31 Jan, 1905 the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Lamar
Chapter No. 258 (in Paris, TX), awarded a Certificate of Eligibility for
a Confederate Cross of Honor to Solomon listing his service as a
Private in Company E, 9th Texas Infantry. He was endorsed by fellow
members of the United Confederate Veterans Camp No. 629 in Paris,
namely W. R. Lamberson, H. W. Black and commander of the camp
W. E. Moore.
Solomon died on 9 Jan 1909 in Lamar Co. and is buried in the Knights of Honor Cemetery in Blossom, Lamar County, Texas next to his daughter Nannie Belle Suther.
©Ron Brothers and Lannie Hartman, All Rights Reserved, 2003.
January 11, 2004
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