Biographical History of Pottawattmie Co., IA - Solomon ERNEST
Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa

SOLOMON ERNEST, one of the enterprising and successful citizens of Washington Township, came to Pottawattamie County in 1873, and to his present farm in 1881, where he has since resided and made his home.  He was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, June 15, 1832, the son of William Ernest, who was also a native of Pennsylvania, and was a son of William Ernest, Sr., who were of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.  The mother of our subject was Mary (Wagamon) Ernest, also of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.  Solomon Ernest was seven years of age when, in 1839, his parents removed to Fayette County, Illinois, where they resided until their death, the father dying in 1872, at the age of over sixty years and the mother in 1855.  The father was a farmer all his life; politically he was a Democrat.  Both parents were members of the Christian Church.  They reared three sons and four daughters.

Solomon, the second son and third child, was reared on a farm, and received his education in the Fayette County public schools.  He resided in that county seven years, and then removed to Olmsted County, Minnesota, settling near Rochester.  He resided in that State eleven years, and in 1873 came to Pottawattamie County, first settling in Washington Township, and, afterward removed to Silver Creek Township, where he resided four years.  In 1880 he bought wild land where he now resides, and the next year improved it.   Mr. Ernest now owns 200 acres in Washington Township, which is just across the highway.  He has a comfortable frame residence, 16 x 24 feet and one and a half stories high, situated on a natural building site, and surrounded by a grove and orchard of two acres.

Mr. Ernest was married April 6, 1856, in Fayette County, Illinois, to Miss Isabelle E. Lee, a woman of intelligence and education, who was born in that county April 17, 1839, and was a daughter of Harvey Lee, a native of New York State, and a son of Abijah Lee.  They were of a patriotic family, several members of the family having fought in the Revolutionary war.  The mother of Mrs. Ernest was Elizebeth (Nesbitt) Lee, a native of Dixon County, Tennessee, and a daughter of Joseph and Isabelle (Harper) Nesbitt.  The parents were married in Fayette County, near Vandalia, Illinois, where the mother was reared and educated.  The father died when Mrs. Ernest was nine years of age, and the mother died in 1878, at the age of sixty-six years.  She was a member of the Christian Church.  The father was a carpenter by trade, although he engaged in farming for many years; in politics he was a Whig.  They had a family of eight children, three sons and five daughters.  Mr. and Mrs.   have four children, viz:  Henrietta, wife of George Darrymple, of Washington Township, and they are the parents of four children; Marilla, wife of Simon Finley, of Fillmore County, Minnesota, and they are the parents of five children; Abijah B., at home; Florence, wife of George W. Killion, of Washington Township, and they have two children.  They have lost two by death, -- Abner, a young man of twenty-eight years and Ella, wife of John M. Killion, at the age of nineteen years.  Mr. and Mrs. Ernest are members of the Christian Church; they were reared that way and have not departed from the teachings of their youth.  Two of their daughters have been workers in the Sabbath school.  In politics Mr. Ernest is a Democrat.  He was rocked in a Democratic cradle, and has always stood by that party.  He is well-known in the community where he resides, is honorable in all his dealings, and is numbered among the solid men of the township.

Get more information about Solomon ERNEST!
E-mail the Pottawattamie County, Iowa Genealogy Society

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