The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
Birth: 15 Jul 1758 Hardwick / Worcester / MA Death: 01 Jun 1833 / Worcester / MA
Qualifying Service Description:
ALSO PVT; CAPTs BILLING, HODGE, CRAWFORD, COLs LEARNED, WHITING, CUSHING
Additional References:
Grave Registry form. National Society Sons of the American Revolution (SAR)
Pension Number: *S38488
Spouse: Mary/Polly Warner Children: Members Who Share This Ancestor
None*
*This means that the NSSAR has no applications for this Patriot on file.
Instead the information provided is best effort, and from volunteers who have either researched grave sites, service records, or something similar. There is no documentation available at NSSAR HQ to order.
Author: VTSSAR
Solomon was the 5th of 10 children (2nd son) born of John Aiken (1723-1768) and his wife Jerusha Atwood (1730-1787). Solomon's siblings were: Hannah (1750-1814), Jerusha (1752-1753), Sarah (b. 1754), John (1755-1810), Israel (b. 1760), Jerusha (b. 1762), Samuel (b. 1764), Bathsheba (1765-1797), and Samuel (b. 1768).
On May 4, 1775, Solomon enlisted as a Private and served 8 months in Captain Samuel Billing's Company, Colonel Ebenezer Learned's Massachusetts Regiment in which he participated in the seige of Boston.
On January 1, 1776, he enlisted for 1 year in Captain Josiah Lyman's Company, Colonel Elisha Porter's Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental Line. In March 1776, he marched with his Company for Quebec, Canada. He remained with his Company and Regiment until the middle of October following when by reason of sickness being afflicted with the fever and ague, he was by a proper writing from Major General Horation Gates permitted to retire to home in Hardwick, Worcester County, Massachusetts.
The next spring, on May 5, 1777, Solomon, enlisted as a Private for 6 weeks in Captain Edmund Hodges's Company, Colonel Josiah Whiting's Regiment for service to Rhode Island. He was discharged in Rhode Island on July 6, 1777 having served 2 months and 9 days. Twenty-one days later, on July 27, 1777, he enlisted for 6 weeks as a Sergeant in Captain Hodge's Company, Colonel Job Cushing's Regiment and went to Bennington, Vermont. Solomon was discharge from this enlistment on August 29, 1777 after serving 1 month and 7 days. He next enlisted on September 7, 1777 for 3 months in Captain John Crawford's Company then under the command of Lieutenant Deaten, Colonel Job Cushing's Massachusetts Regiment. He was at the surrender of British Major General John Burgoyne's Army at Saratoga, New York. After serving in this enlistment 3 months and 3 days, he was discharged on November 29, 1777 and returned home.
After Solomon returned home from the Army, he engaged in literary pursuits. He received a degree at Dartmouth College in 1784. On September 27, 1787, the First Church in Dracut, Middlesex County, Massachusetts voted, subject to the Town's concurrence, to choose Solomon to be its Pastor and Gospel Teacher. The Town concurred the same day. Solomon became the 3rd settled Pastor in 1788 after an appropriation of "one hundred and fifty pounds, lawful money" for his settlement and a salary to be ninety-four pounds in money and twenty cords of wood, "the wood to be cut and corded at his door in said town." He remained over the church for twenty-five years.
After recording their intention to marry in the Town of Dracut on September 25, 1788 and in Hardwick, Worcester County, Massachusetts, on October 12, 1788, Solomom married Polly Warner by whom he had 10 children (4 sons and 6 daughters): Sophia (1789-1849), Solomon (1791-1870), Justus Warner (1793-1866), Polly A. (1795-1797), Alma (1797-1886), Daniel (1799-1890), Mary (Polly) Wright (b. 1801), Samuel Adams (1803-1854), Harriet (b. 1806), and Salina (Selina) Atwood (b. 1811).
Late in 1814 on September 16th, during the War of 1812, Solomon was commissioned one of eleven Regular Army Chaplains. Solomon served in this capacity until honorably discharged on June 15, 1815 as a result of the Regular Army being reduced to a peacetime estabilish with only four chaplains being authorized.
Solomon moved with his family to Hardwick, Caledonia County, Vermont sometime between the filing for a US Pension on May 15, 1818 and the taking of the 1820 US Census in Hardwick, Vermont.
References:
(1) "The Aikens Monograph Being a Record of the Descendants of James Aiken (1693-1775)" by Horatio Gates, 1901, page 10-11
(2) "Vital Records of Hardwick Massachusetts, to the Year 1850." by Thomas W. Baldwin, 1917, pages 9-10, 134 and 275-276
(3) US Federal Military Pension File S.38488
(4) "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War." Vol. 1., by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1896, page 93
(5) "History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men." Vol. II., by D. Hamilton Hurd, 1890, pages 294 and 296
(6) "Vital Records of Dracut, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850." by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1907, pages 10, 134 and 263
(7) "Struggling for Recognition The United States Army Chaplaincy 1791-1865" Vol. II., by Herman A. Norton. 1977, pages 15 and 17
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