Again with the Brick Wall Ancestor: Edward Salt(s) (?–1812)

It has been a long time since I looked at or wrote anything about my Salt emigrant ancestor, so I thought it was about time to put it out there again.  In the hopes that somebody who reads this might have new information to provide, I am listing my brick wall ancestor Edward Salt and what I think I know, or want to know, about him.

What I Think I Know about Edward Salt(s):

* in 1781 he was granted land in Berkeley county, Virginia by Thomas, Lord Fairfax, and was named as being “of Berkeley County”.

* in 1790 for the first federal census there was an Edward Salts enumerated in western Pennsylvania (Georges Township, Fayette, Pennsylvania).  I have always assumed (and yes, I should know better!) that this is my ancestor.  Even though the list of individuals in the household is missing one of the females who should have been there, I did not question that this was my guy.  And of course, this first census only counted males by two age groups and all females in one group.   Now, there may be explanations for a missing female in the count, but it is also possible as I have been told since I first wrote my original posting about him, that this is the Other Edward Salts who later moved to southern Ohio but a couple of counties away from my family’s location.

* he was given a certificate acknowledging his having provided goods/services in the American Revolution in Virginia.

*1793-95 – Edward Salt was on tax lists in Bourbon county, Kentucky

* Innocent Salt, one of the daughters, listed her father Edward when she married William Frazier in Bourbon county, Kentucky in 1794. [Was she a minor at that point, and so needed permission to marry?]

* in 1797 daughter Nellie married John Wharton in Mason county, Kentucky

* in 1798 Edward Salt had 4 land transactions listed in Bracken county, Kentucky

* he was listed (as Edward Salts) on a tax list for Bracken county, Kentucky, dated 22 Nov 1799. [Does this mean he owned land in Bracken county on that date?]

* in the July 1813 term of the Clermont county Common Pleas Court Edward Salts was granted a license to keep a ferry for one year

* in 1813 his estate was administered in Clermont county, Ohio. [He died intestate and John and Edward Salt were listed as administrators.  He owned land in Nicholas county, Kentucky which passed to his 5 children.]

* John and Edward Salt were listed on the estate papers of Edward Salt.

What I Still Want To Know:

* who were Edward Salt’s parents and siblings?

* when and where was he born?

* who did he marry, and when and where?  [Was his wife really Irish and that was a problem because he was English?]

* when (and from where) did he migrate to the Colonies (and was he first in Virginia or someplace else)?

* was he related to the Thomas Salts who was in the same part of Virginia about the same time? [Edward’s name has been listed in various places as Edward Salts as has one of his sons, John. One of our cousins called the family Salts. Another cousin’s line took to spelling the name Sault. It seems that most of the family lines have settled on Salt since at least the time of my great grandfather.]

* who were his children and when were they born? [I have a list of 5 children – 2 sons and 3 daughters – with approximated birthdates, and each of them at some point listed Virginia as place of birth on a census. These names were in a manuscript compiled by relatives, probably first in the early 1900s. I am not sure where these names came from originally but they are listed in a number of places now as the children of Edward and Mary Salt(s).]

Family Myths:

* he was born in Birmingham, Yorkshire, England [which cannot be, because Birmingham is in the West Midlands] or in Berkshire, England

* he married an Irish woman and that unappreciated marriage led to his needing to migrate to the Colonies (he was disowned)

* he served in the American Revolution and was awarded land in the Virginia Military District in Ohio as a result [he did, apparently, provide goods/services, and son John bought the rights to land from a soldier]

* he migrated from Suffolk County, Virginia to Crab Orchard or Paris, Kentucky in 1790

* he built the first cabin in Franklin Township [Clermont County, Ohio] about 1796