Will-Cook County IL Archives Biographies.....Sollitt, Charles W 1854 - 
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Author: Portrait & Biographical Album, 1890

CHARLES W. SOLLITT. 

The Sollitt homestead, now occupied by this gentleman, comprises one hundred 
and sixty acres on section 30, Washington Township, which is well adapted for 
general farming and the feeding of stock. For the past nine years Mr. Sollitt 
has been much interested in the Hereford breed of cattle and has made a 
specialty of raising them. At present he has a herd of thirty, at the head of 
which is the noble animal, Justice, whose registered number is 16240.

For some thirteen years Mr. Sollitt has had the personal control of the 
homestead, of which he has lived since 1861, at which time the parents came 
here on account of the failing health of the wife and mother. He was born in 
Chicago, July 18, 1854, but grew to manhood in the township he now calls home. 
His education was finished at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, 
Ind., and he chose as his vocation in life the peaceful pursuit of a farmer. 
In this work he has been fairly successful, and by hard work and earnest zeal 
for his pursuit has attained a good rank among the agriculturists of the 
vicinity.

The father of our subject is an old resident of Chicago, where he has many 
friends, and is held in excellent repute as a former builder, of integrity and 
reliability. He has become well-to-do, owning much real estate in the city, 
and now lives a retired life at No. 519, Jackson Boulevard. He was born in 
Yorkshire, England, and is the son of a mechanic, who died there in the prime 
of life. The ancestors for several generations had been born in the mother 
country, but the remote progenitors were natives of France, whence they went 
to England during the Huguenot troubles prior to the date of the American 
Revolution.

John Sollitt was taught the trade of a wheelwright, and followed the same in 
the land of his birth until about 1836. He had married Miss Mary Truitt, of 
his own shire, and to them had been born two children prior to their removal 
to America. They settled in Kingston, Canada, where Mr. Sollitt engaged as a 
builder, leaving that city for the United States after a sojourn of two years. 
He located in what was then a small village, but has now grown to be the 
second city in the United States and a power in commercial circles.

It is worthy of note that Mr. Sollitt was a poor man with a wife and three 
children to support and but $5 he could call his own when he reached Chicago. 
The first work he obtained was the construction of a stage curtain roller for 
the first theatre built in the city, and this job, although a small and simple 
one, secured him further work by its good execution. After he had gotten a 
start as a builder, Mr. Sollitt became a partner of Peck & Updike, and ere 
long was prominently recognized in his business. He built the first court 
house in Cook County.

The wife of Mr. Sollitt died of the cholera, July 18, 1850, in the prime of 
life, leaving a family of small children without a mother's care. The husband 
contracted a second matrimonial alliance in Racine, Wis., choosing Mrs. Annie 
Wilson, nee Rountree, as his companion. This lady was born in County Durham, 
England, and was there married to Samuel Wilson, an Englishman. They came to 
the United States, locating in Buffalo, where Mr. Wilson died of the cholera. 
His widow afterward came West to Wisconsin, and after her marriage to Mr. 
Sollitt resided in Chicago until her health failed and they bought property 
for a country home in Will County. This farm, now owned and operated by our 
subject, was the parental home until the death of the mother in 1871, when she 
was about fifty years old. She had borne her last husband two children—our 
subject and a sister, Blanche, now Mrs. Board, who resides in Oak Park, a part 
of Chicago.

John Sollitt was again married, the ceremony taking place in Racine County, 
Wis. The bride was Miss Ann Blackburn, also a native of England. She had come 
to this country when a youug lady, and since her marriage, with the exception 
of the first two years, has lived in Chicago. Mr. Sollitt is a member of the 
Old Settlers' Society of that city.

Charles W. Sollitt won as his companion in life Miss Clara Marsh, an educated 
and refined woman who was born in Crete, January 13, 1858. She was reared and 
educated in this and Cook Counties, and was engaged in teaching for some time 
prior to her marriage. The wedding rites were celebrated at the bride's home 
in Matteson, Cook County, March 23, 1877. Her parents, Edwin and Mary (Frank) 
Marsh, are now living in Chicago rather retired, although they still own an 
interest in a ranch in Russell County, Ivan.

Mr. and Mrs. Sollitt, of this notice, have had three children—Anna died at the 
age of three years; Leslie and John still live to gladden their parents hearts 
by their intelligence and affection. Mr. Sollitt is a Republican, and stanch 
in the faith. He and his good wife attend the Congregational Church at 
Beecher. They are respected and esteemed by their fellow-citizens as their 
merits demand.


Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890

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