Person:Solomon Van Bunschoten (8)

From Source:Van Benschoten, William Henry. Concerning the Van Bunschoten or Van Benschoten Family in America : A Genealogy and Brief History:

SOLOMON V.B. seems never to have married, at least, he left no children and no record of marriage. His first recorded act was the signing the "Roll of Honor" on Apr. 29, 1775. And he followed that up bravely; for in "a return of Capt. Elias Hasbrouck's Company, belonging to the regiment whereof James Clinton, Esq., is Col., Aug. 10, 1775," we find Solomon's name. He "enlisted July 19th, was 21 years of age, born at Esopus, stature 6 feet 1 inch, complexion fair, hair brown and eyes brown." He marches to Canada, is at Chambly, Montreal and Quebec, and in spite of bullets and small-pox finds his way home again — living "to fight another day." How long he continued in the Third Regiment of the Line is not to be discovered. Later he is found on the rolls of the First Regiment of Ulster County Militia under Col. Snyder and certainly saw service on the frontier and in the Highlands. Again later he is found among the Levies on the western frontier, under Col. Pawling and Major Van Bunschoten, where a party of fifteen men including Solomon himself, besides a Lieut. and a Sergeant, subsist themselves at a cost of £9. 1s. per man "from June 8th to Dec. 8th, 1781, both days included." May it not be possible that through thus "subsisting himself" in the army he formed a cooking habit that made for bachelorhood?

In 1788 Solomon is present at two town-meetings at Woodstock which would indicate that he was then domiciled thereabouts. On May 1st, 1807, he purchased a small farmstead in that town but died on the 29th of Oct. following. The inventory of his effects strength ens the impression that he was unmarried, and the citations served on relatives but confirm it. His brother John and brother-in-law Matthew Lewis were administrators.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 4279, in Van Benschoten, William Henry. Concerning the Van Bunschoten or Van Benschoten family in America: A Genealogy and Brief History. (Poughkeepsie, NY: A. V. Haight Co. Printers, 1907)
   p. 777.