 1764 - 1847 (83 years)
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| Name |
Solomon Etting [3] |
| Alt. Birth |
24 Jul 1764 [4] |
| Born |
28 Jul 1764 |
York, York, PA  [5, 6] |
| Gender |
Male |
| Reference Number |
1790 |
| Died |
6 Aug 1847 |
Baltimore, MD [5, 6] |
| Person ID |
I1790 |
aojd |
| Last Modified |
11 Nov 2011 |
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| Notes |
- Solomon Etting was born in York, Pennsylvania, on 28 July 1764, the son of Elijah and Shinah (Solomon) Etting. Solomon Etting married Rachel, daughter of Joseph Simon of Lancaster. There he engaged in business with his wealthy father-in-law as a partner under the name of Simon and Etting. In Lancaster, Etting played an important role in Masonic affairs.
After the death of his wife in 1790, he moved to Philadelphia and finally to Baltimore where he married again. The second wife was Rachel Gratz, daughter of Barnard Gratz. Etting was one of the imcorporators of the Baltimore Water Company and a member of the Committee of Vigilance and Safety organized 23 August 1814. In 1826 he was a member of the City Council with Benjamin I. Cohen. He and Mr. Cohen were the first Jews to hold office in the State of Maryland.
Etting was also one of the founders of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. He had some correspondence with the inventor Robert Fulton, who was also an artist, regarding the construction of steam vessels of war. He died in Baltimore in 1847.
The miniature of Solomon Etting is by an unknown artist, and in 1953 was at the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore. It is a water colour on paper. He is showed wearing a blue suit. His grayish-brown hair is puffed at the top of his head, and he has a ruddy complexion. The neckcloth, how, and pleated ruffle, as well as the frame, are almost identical with another miniature of him by Benjamin Trott, which is in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
The miniature of Solomon's second wife, Rachel (Gratz) Etting, is also by an unknown artist, and in 1953 was also at the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore. She is shown wearing a white dress, loosely frilled along the colar line. Noticeable are her large blue eyes, set far apart, and arched brows. She has a fair complexion, a well-shaped long nose, small mouth and long full chin. Her light brown hair, curling to the shoulders, is fluffed over the middle of her forehead.
Source: Hannah R. London - Miniatures of Early American Jews. 1953
- (Research):AJLLJ Portrait Database 5 Aug 2011
Solomon Etting was the second oldest of eight children born to York, Pennsylvania Indian trader Elijah Etting and Shinah Solomon Etting. When Elijah died in 1778, Shinah was only thirty-four years old, Solomon fourteen, and the youngest Etting child, Joseph, not yet born. In 1780 Shinah moved down to Baltimore with five of her children. Though sixteen-year-old Solomon stayed behind in Pennsylvania, twelve years later he would follow his family to Baltimore, the city that would eventually serve as the arena for his varied and assiduous efforts in politics and business.
At eighteen, under the training of Barnard Gratz, an old friend of his father, Etting became the first American-born shohet. The following year he was married to Reyna (Rachel) Simon, daughter of Joseph Simon, a prominent Lancaster merchant and another associate of Etting's father. The marriage linked Etting and Simon in business and together they ran a general store serving Lancaster and outfitting westward bound pack trains heading for the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys. During these years in Lancaster, Etting rose through the ranks of the Masonic lodge. Then in 1790 Reyna, twenty-six years old and a mother of four, passed away.
A year later Etting remarried, this time to the daughter of Barnard Gratz, again named Rachel. The Gratz-Etting ties would be further strengthened two years later when Etting's brother Reuben would marry Rachel's first cousin Frances. All four would soon settle in Baltimore.
Etting's first business in Baltimore was running a hardware store. This was followed by increasingly vast ventures in shipping and commerce. In 1796 he became head of the Union Bank, and in 1807 helped found the Baltimore East India Company. He would eventually serve as director of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, America's first railroad company.
In the civic realm, Etting was equally active. His signature was one of seven on a resolution of disapproval over the Jay Treaty sent to President Washington, and he served as a member of the Baltimore Republican Society. In 1814 when the British attacked Baltimore, Etting volunteered for the Committee of Vigilance and Safety where he was responsible for finding housing for soldiers and founding a hospital. Etting also served on the Maryland State Colonization Society, an organization concerned with a largely futile effort to resettle freed slaves in Africa.
However, it was in the struggle for Jewish civil liberties that Etting was to be best remembered. Maryland had in their state constitution a provision which stated that in order to hold office one had to make "a declaration of belief in the Christian religion." For thirty years Etting and others were engaged in a fight for the right of Jews to serve in government. As early as 1797, Etting had signed a petition to the House of Delegates, "praying to be placed upon the same footing with other good citizens." Another signatory and surely an influence on these early efforts was Etting's father-in-law Barnard Gratz, who had been involved in similar efforts in Pennsylvania and who had moved to Baltimore several years before. This petition was not successful, nor was the so-called "Jew Bill" of 1818 proposed by state legislator Thomas Kennedy. Indeed, the Jews would have to wait until 1826 for the provision to be struck from the constitution. A few months later, Etting along with Jacob I. Cohen became the first Jews elected to the Baltimore City Council. [7]
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| Sources |
- [S81] .
- [S285] .
- [S4] PG. 87 GRATZ (1) (Reliability: 3).
- [S81] (Reliability: 3).
- [S4] PG. 67 ETTING (1) (Reliability: 3).
- [S71] .
- [S294] ETTING, SOLOMON (Reliability: 3).
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