Person:Solomon Deming (5)

Watchers
m. 1722
  1. Solomon Deming1722 - 1818
  2. Dorothy Deming1726 -
  3. Hezekiah Deming1728 -
  4. Dudley Deming1731 - 1785
  5. Zachariah Deming1735 -
m. 27 Oct 1748
  1. Dorothy DemingAbt 1743 - 1809
  2. Noadiah Deming1749 - 1818
Facts and Events
Name Solomon Deming
Gender Male
Birth[1] 8 Jul 1722 Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States
Alt Birth[2] 1726 Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, United States
Marriage 27 Oct 1748 Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, United Statesto Sarah Kirkham
Death[2] Mar 1818 Pittsfield, Berkshire, Massachusetts, United States

"…by the summer of 1752, which is usually accounted the birth-year of Pittsfield, some of the settlers had log-cabins ready to receive their families. And first came Solomon Deming, from Wethersfield, with his wife Sarah behind him on the pillion. She was a maiden of seventeen when Solomon first essayed to provide them a dwelling-place in the wilderness of the Green Mountains. Now a brave young good-wife of twenty-six, she entered Poontoosuck, the first white woman who ever called it home."
Source: Smith, Joseph Edward A. The History of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, from the year 1734 to the year 1800, Vol. I (Boston, Lee & Shepard, 1869), p 86.

Footnote: "The town of Pittsfield has erected a neat obelisk of marble to the memory of Mrs. Deming {Sarah Kirkham], in the little burial-ground on Honasada Street, near the spot where she fixed her home in 1752. The following inscriptions embody the traditions handed down regarding her:

On the South Side: "This monument is erected by the town of Pittsfield to commemorate the heroism and virtues of its first female settler, and the mother of the first white child born within its limits."

On the North Side: "Surrounded by tribes of hostile Indians, she defended, in more than one instance, unaided, the lives and property of her family, and was distinguished for the courage and fortitude with which she bore the dangers and privations of a pioneer life."

Source: Smith, Joseph Edward A. The History of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, from the year 1734 to the year 1800, Vol. I (Boston, Lee & Shepard, 1869), p 86 [[4]]

"Mr. Deming's farm was on the north side of Honasada Street, in the eastern outskirts of the township, a region much frequented by the Indians, who were accustomed to make themselves a terror and an annoyance to the wives of the settlers, calling it their cabins in the absence of the men, and, with insolent threats, demanding food and drink. It was considered impolite, in the precarious state of public affairs, to offend the red nuisances by well-deserved punishment; and the only recourse--one to which only the bolder dames dared resort--was to shut and bolt the door in their impudent faces: and this was probably the extent of the defence against the savages commemorated by Mrs. Deming's monument; for nothing more serious occurred between the natives and the settlers, except in a single instance." Smith, p 87 [[5]]

Note: A weaver by trade. [Solomon Deming] bought land in Poontoosuck (now Pittsfield) in 1749. In 1815 his widow made a statement that she and her husband came to Stockbridge in 1749 and lived there three years, being afraid to go to Pittsfield on account of the Indians. Solomon Deming is listed in the 1790 Federal census as living in Pittsfield with one free white male over 16 and one free white female in his household. [[6]]

There has been disagreement concerning the parentage of Solomon Deming. Some claim his parents to be Josiah Deming and Prudence Steele. However, the following except from a journal written by Josiah Wright provides a different conclusion: "Before the town of Pittsfield was founded, for six months Josiah Wright from Wethersfield was in charge of Fort Poontoosuck in the French and Indian War (1754-1759), Poontoosuck being the original Indian name of Pittsfield. By courtesy of the Mass. Hist. Society, the memorialist was provided a copy of 'Josiah Wright's Journal att Poontoosuck By order of Coll Isral Wms,' written by Josiah from Apr. 29, 1756 to Feb. 20, 1757. This journal includes the passage that Josiah's wife was returning to Wethersfield to see some of her friends, accompanied by Dudley Deming, the brother-in-law of Sarah Deming, wife of Solomon from Wethersfield." Source: [[7]]

If Dudley Deming is the brother of Solomon, then their parents are not Josiah and Prudence because they had no son by that name. Dudley is a son of Noadiah Deming and Ruth Seymour, so then too is Solomon. Note also that Solomon appears to have a son named Noadiah, named surely for his grandfather.

From Find a Grave site:
According to the Local History section of the Berkshire Athenaeum at Pittsfield, the "widow" Sarah Deming d. March 18, 1818, per the Congregational Church records. However, there is no corresponding death record for husband Solomon. Solomon is shown in the 1790 census of Pittsfield, but not in the August 1800 or August 1810 census of Pittsfield. Solomon Deming, the husband of Sarah Kirkham, was NOT b. in June 1722 as the son of Josiah and Prudence (Steele) Deming as claimed by Stiles. He was the son of Noadiah and Ruth (Seymour) Deming of Wethersfield. A three-page handwritten journal by Josiah Wright at Fort Poontoosuck, written between April 1756 and February 1757 while he was in command of that fort during the French & Indian War (which I have a copy provided by the Mass. Historical Society) definitively proves who Solomon's parents were.

References
  1. Family Search.

    "Connecticut, Births and Christenings, 1649-1906," index, FamilySearch [[1]]
    Probably right date of birth, but wrong parents.

  2. 2.0 2.1 Find A Grave.

    No tombstone shown: [2]
    Place of death is unknown.

  3.   United States Census, 1790.

    FamilySearch: [3]
    Living in Pittsfield, Berkshire, Massachusetts.
    One male over 16, one female over 16.