Solomon Nickerson (1765-1814) Harwich, MA//Died in Service War of 1812

Solomon Nickerson of Harwich was born 25 March 1765 to Phineas and Jane (Chase) Nickerson.  He died at Rome, New York on or about 1 October 1814 where he was serving as a private in Captain Marston's Company of the 21st Massachusetts Infantry during the War of 1812.  Researching Solomon Nickerson and his family provides an example of the importance of using caution when consulting online public family trees.  For me using these sites is essential, but one must be vigilant in verifying "facts" especially those with no citations or sources.  As Solomon Nickerson and his wife Hannah Nickerson are ancestors of mine - my four times great grandparents - I attempt here to clarify some facts for my own tree's accuracy.

The images above from Harwich Vital Records identify the children of Phineas Nickerson and two of his wives, Reliance and "Ruth" (Jerusha).  Included at the bottom of the lists is a birthdate of 25 March 1765 for a son Solomon Nickerson.  Records show that Phineas Nickerson of Harwich, Massachusetts married first, Jane Chase, on 3 December 1756.  Jane was born approximately 1735 to Gowell and Jane (Phillips) Chase; Jane (Chase) Nickerson died before 1773 when Phineas married Reliance Taylor on 16 January 1773 (intentions 15 January 1773).  Phineas married third Jerusha (Higgins) Chase in 1792, the widow of Gowell Chase Jr. (probable brother of Jane Chase).  (Phineas Nickerson and related wives and families would all be great subjects of their own blogs.)

Solomon Nickerson's full siblings are sisters Dorcas, Charity, Naomi, and a brother Phineas Jr.  He also has many half siblings through his father's second and third marriages.                                        

In his Last Will and Testament dated 17 March 1812, Solomon's father Phineas Nickerson leaves one third of his personal estate to his wife Jerusha. Jerusha is also appointed guardian to their young children.  His youngest son Jacob receives all buildings. A daughter Deborah receives one bed and all its furnishings.  Phineas bequeaths his real estate to be divided between four sons. To his wife Jerusha, Phineas leaves one third of his personal estate, the remaining two thirds of that personal estate is to be divided between five daughters, son Solomon, and the heirs of his son Phineas (who is noted in the Nickerson Family books as having been lost at sea in 1794). I have relied heavily on the Nickerson Family Book which seemingly confirms available online records.  

Solomon Nickerson married (intentions) Hannah Nickerson 8 May 1784.  Hannah was the daughter of Asa Nickerson and Joanna Rogers.  Solomon and Hannah were cousins - their fathers being brothers.

Solomon and Hannah (Nickerson) Nickerson had the following children:

Asa, born 15 December 1784, m. Anna Dyer/Dier, d. Cumberland, Rhode Island 18 December 1830;

Sally, born 15 December 1785, m. (1) Levi Nickerson, (2) Joshua Rogers, d. 1872;

Jane, born 11 October 1787, m. Crosby Cahoon, d. about 1807;

Mehitable, born, 15 January 1788/89, m. Crosby Cahoon 1808, d. 1881;

Priscilla, born, 18 July 1792, m. Nathaniel Norcross, Jr. 1812, further research required;

Solomon Jr., born 10 September 1794, further research required;

Hannah, born 5 October 1796, m. Martin Slade, d. Pawtucket, Rhode Island 1888;

Betsey, 30 September 1798, m. (1) Jeremiah Chase Jr., m. (2) Lewis Long 1834, d. Sept. 1881;

Luranay, born 15 February 1801, m. Elisha Doane, d. 1883.                                         

                                   

Military Service and Records

Military records identify Solomon Nickerson as a private in the 21st Infantry under the command of Captain Proctor.  He was from Harwich, Massachusetts, approximately 44/45 years of age, 5'6" tall, with gray eyes, dark gray hair with a dark complexion  He enlisted 9 March 1813 for the duration of the War.  It is probable Nickerson was encouraged to enlist by the promise of several Congressional Acts in 1811, 1812, and 1814 which entitled enlisted men serving honorably to receive bounty land equaling 160 acres. The warrant could be passed to heirs through inheritance.   

Solomon died approximately 1 October 1814 at Rome, New York.  Several records mark him as having been in captivity - a prisoner of war - for some time during his enlistment.  Solomon Nickerson, a private in the Infantry of the 21st Regiment, does appear in the index of War of 1812 Prisoner of War Records.  More research needed into these prisoner records. 

 

By Benson J. Lossing - The Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44729819

Additionally the Nickerson Family Book (Entry #849 for Solomon Nickerson) notes a letter from C. Preston of the 21st Regiment (contained in scrapbooks of Obed Brooks) who states that the regiment had seen their first action against the enemy on 29 May 1813 at Sackett Harbor (the 2nd Battle at Sackett Harbor).  He notes that Josiah Ryder was killed in the action, Thomas Covill had fought bravely, and that Solomon Nickerson was either killed or taken prisoner. 

Information gathered from widow pension application files for Hannah Nickerson, note that Solomon was found a paid returned prisoner 31 May 1814.  A Treasury Department letter dated April 1818 states Nickerson appeared on the rolls of Captain Marstons' Company in 31 August 1814 and after that was not shown; he died date unknown at Rome, New York.  Solomon was probably held prisoner at Halifax, eventually released, making his way back to his unit where he appears again on their muster rolls. Another letter from the Treasury Department, dated 31 October 1855, reiterates that Solomon Nickerson was a private in Captain Proctor's company of the 21st Infantry, enlisted on the 9th of March 1813 and had been paid as a paroled prisoner of war to the 31st May 1814 with the rolls showing no evidence of his sickness.  Indeed there is a notation in the file that Solomon Nickerson was a returned prisoner 31 May 1814.  

A statement given by George Thorpe, another soldier serving in the 21st Regiment with Solomon,  claims that he and Solomon Nickerson  had marched together from Hartford, Connecticut to Greenbush, New York.  There they remained for the months of June, July and August of 1814.  At that time, the camp fever (or throat ail) was very prevalent, and Solomon Nickerson sick with the fever was left behind at the hospital with several other infantrymen when the Regiment marched on to Canada.  At Canada, some of those sick men later rejoined the company reporting that Nickerson had died. 

U.S., Register of Enlistments, entry for Solomon Nickerson:

Information included in the Widow Pension Application File accessed on Fold3:

On 6 December 1818, in exchange for half the pay Solomon would have been entitled to at the time of his death (for a term of five years), John Reed, Esq. of Yarmouth, acting as guardian to daughter Lurana, relinquishes all rights and interest in bounty land that would have gone to Solomon had he completed his service.  I am unsure as to why Lurana was identified as sole heir, given Solomon's wife Hannah and other children were living at the time of his death.  Indeed, in 1855 when Hannah Nickerson applied for a pension at a reported 96 years of age, she names all her living children at that time: Sally Nickerson, Mehitable Cahoon, Betsey Long, Lurania Doane, and Hannah Slade - all over 21 years of age - and records at that time state that Solomon's children received five years half pay after Solomon's death.

Hannah Nickerson's pension application was successful and she was paid from approximately September 1855 through 1858.  She died at Pawtucket, Rhode Island 30 August 1859. Note that Hannah's death record in the Vital Record for Pawtucket, Rhode Island give her age at death as 99 years, 10 months and 14 days; she was identified as approximately 96 years of age in several records included in her widow's pension application in 1855.  As her birth date currently has not been found in online vital records, this would provide a birth date for Hannah Nickerson, daughter of Asa and Joanna (Rogers) Nickerson at approximately November 16, 1759.  The Nickerson Family Book gives a birth year for Hannah as approximately 1769, ten years later, however they also list her date of death as 1869. However, Hannah's parents were married in 1764, so in all probability Hannah was born no earlier than 1765. 

Solomon and Hannah Nickerson's daughter Betsey, is my three times great grandmother.  She married first Jeremiah Chase, my three times great grandfather.  She married second Lewis Long.

Sources:

US, The War of 1812, Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Applications Files, compiled circa 1871 - ca. 1900, record group 15, 2011, Solomon Nickerson, Job No. 11-010, Nara Catalog id 564415; accessed online at Fold3.com, July 2025.

The Pittsfield Sun, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Saturday, July 11, 1812, Page 1, accessed 6 July 2025, Newspapers.com.

United States, Revolutionary War Pension Payment Ledgers, 1818-1872", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q24Q-TWQ6 : Fri Apr 25 15:29:03 UTC 2025), Entry for Hannah Nickerson and Solomon, 17 Dec 1833.

The Nickerson Family: the descendants of William Nickerson, 1604-1689, first settler of Chatham, Massachusetts, V. III, Solomon Nickerson #849, page 383, Archive.org.

Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, Harwich,  Ancestry.com.

The U.S. Pension Roll of 1835, Solomon Nickerson, Ancestry.com.

War of 1812, Prisoner of War Records, Solomon Nickerson, Ancestry.com.

Rhode Island, U.S. Vital Extracts, 1636-1899, Hannah Nickerson, Ancestry.com.

Records, of Births, Marriages, Deaths: Pawtucket, Rhode Island, 1748-1852,