Ezekiel Solomon and “Search out the Land”
In February I received a note from a reader about the book Search out the Land: The Jews and the Growth of Equality in British Colonial America, 1740-1867 by Shedon and Judith Godfrey. Anne says the book has information about Ezekiel Solomon. When I began my research a couple years ago I had read bits of this book online too.
The Godfrey’s suggest that Solomon was illiterate, a devout Jew, likeable, and a very good businessman. Solomon was good with numbers and ledgers even if he was unable to read or write English.
Anne also wrote in her note to me that although Solomon is known to be the first Jewish settler in Michigan, he may have retained his Canadian citizenship. From the research I have done, it was clear that Solomon stayed connected to Canada. He regularly visited the Temple in Montreal. Anne added that her research showed that Ezekiel Solomon also visited the New York Shearith Israel Temple in 1804, a few years before his death. Solomon is thought to be buried in Montreal but neither of us have determined his burial site.
In times like these I wish I had a grant to cover the cost of downloading and/or ordering this book. It looks like a great resource.
3 Comments
Jessica Outram
PS: I took the picture in this post last summer at Fort Michilimackinac. It was a life size statue of him. I’ll post some more pics throughout the summer. So sorry for my delay in getting this up! Cheers!
linda ricotta
HI we just found out that this is relation to my husband it would be his 6th great grandpa i am interested in learning more about him. This is an amazing find as we linked them last night on ancestry. Also my husband is related to ambrose davenport from mackinac island too and the indian cheifs who lived there
Jessica Outram
It’s so exciting to find these connections and I love that we can all connect generations later online. Such poetry in that!