Solomon's biography and photo was included in the Murphey Family websi te:
"Solomon Pruitt, born in the Smokey Mountains in 1790, youngest of 10c hildren born to Martin Pruitt and his wife. Solomon's fathertraveled w ith Daniel Boone and subsequently fought in theRevolutionary War at th e Battle of King's Mountain.
In 1806, when Solomon was 16, Martin Pruitt brought his family to SandR idge Prairie, some three miles east of Alton. Although Martin's wifedi ed in 1807, Martin lived well into his 90's, spending most of histime h unting.
At the age of 21, Solomon was elected captain of a militia company; hes pent 1813 and 1814 as an Illinois Ranger, protecting localresidents. A s it happened, Solomon was one of the few men not outwith the Rangers p atrolling on Sunday, July 10, 1814. That day Mrs.Reason Reagan and six c hildren were killed by a band of renegadeIndians in what came to be kn own as the Wood River Massacre. It wasSolomon who loaded the bodies o nto a little one-horse sled and tookthem for burial in Vaughn Cemetery , south of Bethalto.
Preuitt (whose name appears variously as "Prewitt" or "Pruitt")partici pated as a captain the first campaign of the Black Hawk War in1831. Up on his return home he was elected a major in the MadisonCounty Militia ; he held this post for many years afterward.
Solomon made his residence in Fort Russell Township. He was noted ason ce having raised a crop of 42 bushels of wheat to the acre at atime wh en the average was 10-15 bushels per acre. in 1820, heplanted some 40 y ellow apple trees, grown from seed brought up fromFrench settlements t o the south; "six or eight of these treesproduced very good fruit."
In addition to being a farmer, Pruitt was civic-minded. He served as a" gentleman freeholder" on the second grand jury in Madison County, in18 13. In 1817 he helped supervise the building of a road from IndianCre ek to Smeltzer's Ferry, "via Moore's bridge across Wood River."
Solomon married Rebecca Higgins and they had ten children; Rebeccadied i n the fall of 1855 and he remarried - to Elizabeth Higgins,Rebecca's s ister. The second marriage was childless.
Very suddenly, on January 9, 1875, Solomon Pruitt died, aged 85. Hewa s one of Madison County's true pioneers, having helped to developthis a rea for over 60 of its most dramatic years."
Residences & events:
Janelle Holmes posted at RootsWeb:
For those researching Solomon Pruitt, I found the following referencet o him in my notes on John Hopton and Willilam Johnson of BondCounty, I llinois:
"The Register of Applications and Permissions of the Land Office ofth e United States at Kaskaskia, IL. reflect that on 28 Aug 1807,James S tockton under No. 155 applied for 320 acres of land situateunder the B luff near the South Fork of Wood River joining AbrahamPruit on the So uth and William Stubblefield on the North. SolomonPrewitt is also men tioned in an application by John Hopton, son inlaw of William Stubble field, in 1813.
Register of Applications and Permissions recorded by the Land Officeo f the United States at Kaskaskia, IL. relect under application No.59 t hat John Hopton on 17 Apr 1815 asked for the SE 1/4 of Section32 TSN R 3W prior to 5 Feb 1813 and continued to reside thereon andin the rese rve tract "ever since." It also appears he wanted 1/4section in Secti on 31. The name of Solomon Prewitt was indicated. Itis not known whet her he had purchased this land claim from Prewitt,adjoined him or sol d to him."
Debbie Geer's response was:
The "Solomon Pruitt" that is referenced in the previous communicationf rom Janelle Holmes is the son of Martin Pruitt who moved his familyfro m VA to TN to IL, arriving in IL in 1806. This Solomon was born1790 Ab ingdon, Washington, VA and died 1875 Madison Co IL nearBethalto. He wa s highly respected in Madison County IL and wasinterviewed a few times b efore his death about the Pruitt family. Oneof the interviews was in t he 1880's history of Madison County ILbook."
From Stephenson researchers:
"These man served in companies under the command of local men, Pruitta nd Wheeler. They were part of the mounted Volunteers of the State ofIl linois commanded by Maj. Samuel Whiteside. Semple, Buckmaster andThoma s served in the Company of Captain Solomon Pruitt, OddBattallion of Sp ies. "
1818 Bond Co, IL. In the state's first census were Solomon andFields l iving in Bond Co. Solomon's family consisted of 2 whitemales over 21 a nd 8 other whites.
