Ancestors

Solomon D. Secrist

Solomon D. Secrist was born on 17 August 1854, the son of Solomon and Ruhama Secrist. His father died in Bedford County in November 1856, when Solomon was two, and he grew up there; in 1870 he was at Thaxton, in Bedford County. His family and his stone spell the name Secrest as often as Secrist. His middle name was Daniel.

On 9 December 1875, at 21, he married Mary Frances St. Clair in Botetourt County. Over the next twenty years they had twelve children, and six of them died young: Nicholas, called Burkie, at two in 1879, Bobie in 1881, Johnie as an infant in 1883, Charlie in 1885, and George as a baby in 1893, besides Dovie and Griffen. James Daniel, Lee Roy, Huey Basil, Cephas Alfred and the youngest, Mae Amanda, grew up. A tintype shows Solomon as a young man in a broad brimmed hat and a bow tie, his first surviving son, James Daniel, a small boy, at his knee.

In 1900 he was farming in the Amsterdam district of Botetourt County, near Troutville, with Mary and their younger children. They lived near Laymantown, in the hills between Troutville and Blue Ridge, among Mary's St. Clair kin. A later portrait shows him gray, with a beard and moustache, in a vest and jacket.

Solomon Secrest died at home near Laymantown on 20 April 1929, at 74, after several years of bad health. The funeral was held at the house on the Sunday afternoon by the Rev. G. H. Broyles, and he was buried in the St. Clair cemetery. His wife survived him, with their children C. A. Secrest of Roanoke, Mrs. G. H. Adams, and H. B., L. R. and J. D. Secrest, all near Laymantown, and thirteen grandchildren. Four St. Clairs, Jake, Hudson, Joe and Hampton, carried him.

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Cite: Heirology, "Solomon D. Secrist (1854-1929)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/solomon-d-secrist-1854-1929-b1751a.