Theodore Solomons
Encyclopedia
Theodore Seixas Solomons (1870–1947) was an explorer and early member of the Sierra Club
. From 1892 to 1897 he explored and named the Mount Goddard
, Evolution Valley and Evolution Basin region in what is now northern Kings Canyon National Park
in eastern California. He was instrumental in envisioning, exploring, and establishing the route of what became the John Muir Trail
from Yosemite Valley
along the crest of the Sierra Nevada to Mount Whitney
on July 20, 1870,
the second son and the fifth of seven childrenSelina (b. 1862) became a writer and advocate for woman suffrage; Lucius Levy (b. 1863) became a lawyer and public speaker; Gertrude Marks (b. 1866) died at a young age; Adele Rosa (b. 1868) became a doctor; Leon Mendes (b. 1873) became a scholar; Frank Benjamin (b. 1875) died as an infant. of Hannah Marks, an influential San Francisco educator and civic worker and Gershom Mendes Seixas Solomons.His cousin was the poet Emma Lazarus
(1849-1887), known for her verses inscribed on the Statue of Liberty
. He was also related to Benjamin N. Cardozo
, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court. He had relocated to San Francisco from New York City during the Gold Rush, and founded Congregation Emanu-El in 1854. He was also the first president of any West Coast lodge of B'nai B'rith
. His great-grandfather was Gershom Mendes Seixas
(1745–1816), the "Patriot Rabbi", the first native-born Rabbi in the United States.He was one of the fourteen recognized ministers in New York in 1789, participating in George Washington
's first inauguration. He was also one of the incorporators of Columbia University
and served as a member of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York.
Solomons later recalled that the idea that resulted in the John Muir Trail originated in his adolescence. "The idea of a crest-parallel trail came to me one day while herding my uncle's cattle in an immense unfenced alfalfa field near Fresno. It was 1884 and I was 14."
, Canada
, Rozella M. Gould of Dawson Creek. They were later divorced. There were no children from this marriage. He married on January 8, 1909, in New York City
, as his second wife, Katherine Gray Church, born on May 6, 1881 in New York City the only daughter of Henry Seymour Church and Margaretta Josephine Gray. She died on February 7, 1971 in Cherryland
, Alameda County, California
.Katherine's stepfather was Albert J. Bothwell, a wealthy cattle baron and founder of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association
and considered, by some, to be the main instigator of the infamous Wyoming Johnson County War
. Her mother, a published writer and singer, was born into a family with deep New England roots that trace back to the Rev. Mr. Blackleach Burritt
, and Governor Thomas Welles
. After his second wife was committed to a mental institution, he married Yvonne Robinson who died in 1965. They had no children.
Theodore and Katherine were the parents of three children: Eleanor Susan Brownell Anthony "Toni" Solomons
(1911–2006) An unusually gifted student, Toni scored so high on intelligence tests that she was selected for a lifelong research project known as the Terman Genetic Studies of Genius
. The study was started by Lewis Terman
at Stanford University
. After marrying and divorcing Benjamin O. Jackson, she began a relationship with Ed Ricketts
in 1940 and became his common-law wife. Toni, who had attended the University of California, Los Angeles
, later worked as a personal assistant for Pulitzer Prize
winning writer John Steinbeck
and was the editor of The Log from the Sea of Cortez
. Beside Steinbeck, their circle of friends also included the writer and painter, Henry Miller
and the mythologist, writer, and lecturer Joseph Campbell
. She left Ricketts after the death of her daughter (by her first husband) Katherine Adele Jackson. She died on October 5, 1947 at the age of 12 of a brain tumor and only five months after the death of her father. She later married Benjamin Elazari Volcani
., David Seixas Solomons (1913–1961), and Leon Henry Solomons (1915–1988).
They lived at a house he named the Flying Spur, which he build on 20 acres (80,937.2 m²) of land that juts out over the Merced River
Canyon. It is located at 4600 feet (1,402.1 m) in the Stanislaus National Forest
adjacent to Yosemite National Park
.
. In 1892, accompanied by Joseph Nisbet LeConte
and Sidney I. Peixotto, he crossed from Mount Lyell by way of Rush Creek to the base of Mount Ritter
and ascended the peak. In 1895, Solomons took his most notable trip, accompanied by Ernest C. Bonner. Ascending the South Fork of the San Joaquin they came to the group of mountains now designated the Evolution Group, named by Solomons. The highest of these he called Mount Darwin
(after the evolutionist Charles Darwin
), and the others he named Haeckel
, Wallace
, Fiske
, Spencer
, and Huxley, after famous evolutionists of the day. Continuing their explorations, Solomons and Bonner ascended Mount Goddard
, then made their way down to Simpson Meadow via North Goddard Creek, and were the first to make this section known.
Solomons’ excursions in the next two years added details to the knowledge of Sierra topography, but his principal contribution was an accurate map which he drafted and presented to the Sierra Club in 1896.
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
. From 1892 to 1897 he explored and named the Mount Goddard
Mount Goddard
Mount Goddard is a mountain of California's Sierra Nevada, in the north section of Kings Canyon National Park. Goddard forms the southwest boundary of the Evolution Basin....
, Evolution Valley and Evolution Basin region in what is now northern Kings Canyon National Park
Kings Canyon National Park
Kings Canyon National Park is a National Park in the southern Sierra Nevada, east of Fresno, California. The park was established in 1940 and covers...
in eastern California. He was instrumental in envisioning, exploring, and establishing the route of what became the John Muir Trail
John Muir Trail
The John Muir Trail is a long-distance trail in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, running between the northern terminus at Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley and the southern terminus located on the summit of Mount Whitney . For almost all of its length, the trail is in the High Sierra...
from Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of California, carved out by the Merced River. The valley is about long and up to a mile deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Half Dome and El Capitan, and densely forested with pines...
along the crest of the Sierra Nevada to Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States with an elevation of . It is on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties, west-northwest of the lowest point in North America at Badwater in Death Valley National Park...
Early life and ancestors
He was born in San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
on July 20, 1870,
the second son and the fifth of seven childrenSelina (b. 1862) became a writer and advocate for woman suffrage; Lucius Levy (b. 1863) became a lawyer and public speaker; Gertrude Marks (b. 1866) died at a young age; Adele Rosa (b. 1868) became a doctor; Leon Mendes (b. 1873) became a scholar; Frank Benjamin (b. 1875) died as an infant. of Hannah Marks, an influential San Francisco educator and civic worker and Gershom Mendes Seixas Solomons.His cousin was the poet Emma Lazarus
Emma Lazarus
Lazarus began to be more interested in her Jewish ancestry after reading the George Eliot novel, Daniel Deronda, and as she heard of the Russian pogroms in the early 1880s. This led Lazarus to write articles on the subject. She also began translating the works of Jewish poets into English...
(1849-1887), known for her verses inscribed on the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
. He was also related to Benjamin N. Cardozo
Benjamin N. Cardozo
Benjamin Nathan Cardozo was a well-known American lawyer and associate Supreme Court Justice. Cardozo is remembered for his significant influence on the development of American common law in the 20th century, in addition to his modesty, philosophy, and vivid prose style...
, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court. He had relocated to San Francisco from New York City during the Gold Rush, and founded Congregation Emanu-El in 1854. He was also the first president of any West Coast lodge of B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith International |Covenant]]" is the oldest continually operating Jewish service organization in the world. It was initially founded as the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith in New York City, on , 1843, by Henry Jones and 11 others....
. His great-grandfather was Gershom Mendes Seixas
Gershom Mendes Seixas
Gershom Mendes Seixas was the first native-born Jewish minister in the United States. He was the minister of Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of New York from 1768 to 1776 and again from 1784 to 1816...
(1745–1816), the "Patriot Rabbi", the first native-born Rabbi in the United States.He was one of the fourteen recognized ministers in New York in 1789, participating in George Washington
First inauguration of George Washington
The first inauguration of George Washington as the first President of the United States took place on April 30, 1789.The inauguration marked the commencement of the first four-year term of George Washington as President and John Adams as Vice President...
's first inauguration. He was also one of the incorporators of Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and served as a member of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York.
Solomons later recalled that the idea that resulted in the John Muir Trail originated in his adolescence. "The idea of a crest-parallel trail came to me one day while herding my uncle's cattle in an immense unfenced alfalfa field near Fresno. It was 1884 and I was 14."
Marriage and family
Solomons married three times. He married as his first wife, on March 29, 1901, at Dawson Creek, British ColumbiaBritish Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Rozella M. Gould of Dawson Creek. They were later divorced. There were no children from this marriage. He married on January 8, 1909, in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, as his second wife, Katherine Gray Church, born on May 6, 1881 in New York City the only daughter of Henry Seymour Church and Margaretta Josephine Gray. She died on February 7, 1971 in Cherryland
Cherryland, California
Cherryland is a census-designated place in Alameda County, California, United States.The unincorporated community is located between the cities of San Leandro to the north and Hayward to the south...
, Alameda County, California
Alameda County, California
Alameda County is a county in the U.S. state of California. It occupies most of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,510,271, making it the 7th most populous county in the state...
.Katherine's stepfather was Albert J. Bothwell, a wealthy cattle baron and founder of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association
Wyoming Stock Growers Association
The Wyoming Stock Growers Association is a historic American cattle organization created in 1873. The Association was started among Wyoming cattle ranchers to standardize and organize the cattle industry, but quickly grew into a political force that has been called "the de facto territorial...
and considered, by some, to be the main instigator of the infamous Wyoming Johnson County War
Johnson County War
The Johnson County War, also known as the War on Powder River, was a range war which took place in April 1892 in Johnson County, Natrona County and Converse County in the U.S. state of Wyoming...
. Her mother, a published writer and singer, was born into a family with deep New England roots that trace back to the Rev. Mr. Blackleach Burritt
Blackleach Burritt
Blackleach Burritt was a preacher during the American Revolutionary War. During the American War of Independence, he was incarcerated in the Sugar House Prison-Early life and ancestors:...
, and Governor Thomas Welles
Thomas Welles
Thomas Welles is the only man in Connecticut's history to hold all four top offices: governor, deputy governor, treasurer, and secretary. In 1639, he was elected as the first treasurer of the Colony of Connecticut, and from 1640–1649 served as the colony's secretary...
. After his second wife was committed to a mental institution, he married Yvonne Robinson who died in 1965. They had no children.
Theodore and Katherine were the parents of three children: Eleanor Susan Brownell Anthony "Toni" Solomons
Benjamin Elazari Volcani
Benjamin Elazari Volcani discovered life in the Dead Sea and pioneered biological silicon research at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.-Biography:...
(1911–2006) An unusually gifted student, Toni scored so high on intelligence tests that she was selected for a lifelong research project known as the Terman Genetic Studies of Genius
Genetic Studies of Genius
The Genetic Studies of Genius, today known as the Terman Study of the Gifted, is a still-running longitudinal study begun in 1921 to examine the development and characteristics of gifted children into adulthood...
. The study was started by Lewis Terman
Lewis Terman
Lewis Madison Terman was an American psychologist, noted as a pioneer in educational psychology in the early 20th century at the Stanford University School of Education. He is best known as the inventor of the Stanford-Binet IQ test...
at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. After marrying and divorcing Benjamin O. Jackson, she began a relationship with Ed Ricketts
Ed Ricketts
Edward Flanders Robb Ricketts commonly known as Ed Ricketts, was an American marine biologist, ecologist, and philosopher...
in 1940 and became his common-law wife. Toni, who had attended the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
, later worked as a personal assistant for Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winning writer John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
and was the editor of The Log from the Sea of Cortez
The Log from the Sea of Cortez
The Log from the Sea of Cortez is an English language book written by American author John Steinbeck and published in 1951. It details a six-week marine specimen-collecting boat expedition he made in 1940 at various sites in the Gulf of California , with his friend, the marine biologist Ed Ricketts...
. Beside Steinbeck, their circle of friends also included the writer and painter, Henry Miller
Henry Miller
Henry Valentine Miller was an American novelist and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of 'novel' that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is...
and the mythologist, writer, and lecturer Joseph Campbell
Joseph Campbell
Joseph John Campbell was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience...
. She left Ricketts after the death of her daughter (by her first husband) Katherine Adele Jackson. She died on October 5, 1947 at the age of 12 of a brain tumor and only five months after the death of her father. She later married Benjamin Elazari Volcani
Benjamin Elazari Volcani
Benjamin Elazari Volcani discovered life in the Dead Sea and pioneered biological silicon research at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.-Biography:...
., David Seixas Solomons (1913–1961), and Leon Henry Solomons (1915–1988).
They lived at a house he named the Flying Spur, which he build on 20 acres (80,937.2 m²) of land that juts out over the Merced River
Merced River
The Merced River , in the central part of the U.S. state of California, is a -long tributary of the San Joaquin River flowing from the Sierra Nevada into the Central Valley. It is most well known for its swift and steep course through the southern part of Yosemite National Park, and the...
Canyon. It is located at 4600 feet (1,402.1 m) in the Stanislaus National Forest
Stanislaus National Forest
Stanislaus National Forest contains in four counties in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California. It was established on February 22, 1897, making it one of the oldest national forests...
adjacent to Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
.
Explorations
In his explorations, Solomons correctly determined the courses of the upper branches of the San Joaquin RiverSan Joaquin River
The San Joaquin River is the largest river of Central California in the United States. At over long, the river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through a rich agricultural region known as the San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suisun Bay, San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean...
. In 1892, accompanied by Joseph Nisbet LeConte
Joseph Nisbet LeConte
Joseph Nisbet LeConte was a noted explorer of the Sierra Nevada. He was also a cartographer, a photographer and a professor of mechanical engineering. He often went by J. N. LeConte in photographs and articles...
and Sidney I. Peixotto, he crossed from Mount Lyell by way of Rush Creek to the base of Mount Ritter
Mount Ritter
Mount Ritter is located in the Sierra Nevada, in Madera County of California, in the Western United States. It is in the Ansel Adams Wilderness of the Inyo and Sierra National Forests. Mount Ritter is the 16th highest mountain peak of California.-Geography:...
and ascended the peak. In 1895, Solomons took his most notable trip, accompanied by Ernest C. Bonner. Ascending the South Fork of the San Joaquin they came to the group of mountains now designated the Evolution Group, named by Solomons. The highest of these he called Mount Darwin
Mount Darwin (California)
Mount Darwin is a flat-topped mountain in the Sierra Nevada, on the border of between Fresno and Inyo counties in the Kings Canyon National Park and the Inyo National Forest of California. Two Australian geologists, Ernest Clayton Andrews and Willard D. Johnson, made the first recorded ascent on...
(after the evolutionist Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
), and the others he named Haeckel
Ernst Haeckel
The "European War" became known as "The Great War", and it was not until 1920, in the book "The First World War 1914-1918" by Charles à Court Repington, that the term "First World War" was used as the official name for the conflict.-Research:...
, Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace, OM, FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist...
, Fiske
Thomas Fiske
Thomas Scott Fiske was an American mathematician. He was born in New York City and graduated in 1885 from Columbia University, where he was a fellow, assistant, tutor, instructor, and adjunct professor until 1897, when he became professor of mathematics. In 1899 he was acting dean of Barnard...
, Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
, and Huxley, after famous evolutionists of the day. Continuing their explorations, Solomons and Bonner ascended Mount Goddard
Mount Goddard
Mount Goddard is a mountain of California's Sierra Nevada, in the north section of Kings Canyon National Park. Goddard forms the southwest boundary of the Evolution Basin....
, then made their way down to Simpson Meadow via North Goddard Creek, and were the first to make this section known.
Solomons’ excursions in the next two years added details to the knowledge of Sierra topography, but his principal contribution was an accurate map which he drafted and presented to the Sierra Club in 1896.
Death and memorials
He died in Los Angeles, California on May 27, 1947. Mount Solomons (13016') is named after him.Works cited
- Dexter, Franklin Bowditch.Biographical sketches of the graduates of Yale college with annals of the college history ... Volume 3 of Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of the College History Publisher: Holt & Company, 1903.
- Jordan, John W. Genealogical and personal history of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania. New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Company 1913.
- Raymond, Marcius Denison. Gray genealogy : being a genealogical record and history of the descendants of John Gray, of Beverly, Mass., and also including sketches of other Gray families. New York: Higginson Book Company, 1887.
- Raymond, Marcius D.Marcius D. RaymondMarcius D. Raymond was an American publisher, writer, genealogist, editor and historian.-Early life and ancestors:...
Sketch of Rev. Blackleach Burritt and related Stratford families : a paper read before the Fairfield County Historical Society, at Bridgeport, Conn., Friday evening, Feb. 19, 1892. Bridgeport : Fairfield County Historical Society 1892. - Sargent, Shirley. Solomons of the Sierra: The Pioneer of the John Muir Trail Yosemite, California. Publisher: Flying Spur Press ISBN 1-878345-21-4, 1990.
- Siemiatkoski, Donna Holt.The Descendants of Governor Thomas Welles of Connecticut, 1590–1658, and His Wife, Alice Tomes Baltimore: Publisher Gateway Press, 1990.
- Wineapple, Brenda.Sister Brother: Gertrude and Leo Stein Publisher: Lincoln, Nebraska. University of Nebraska Press, 2008 ISBN 0803217536
Further reading
- Sierra Club Bulletin, 1894, I, 3, pp. 61–84, 1895, I, 6, pp. 221–237.
- Appalachia, January 1896, pp. 41–57
- Overland Monthly, May, June, August, November, 1896, and July, August, 1897.