Prominent merchant and military officer of Farmington, Connecticut.
| When Burke met | 1801 |
| Where Burke met | Middletown, CT |
| Occupation | Commerce |
| Interaction with Burke | Burke went broke when Cowles’ company failed |
| Identity Status | Possible |
| Genealogy | WikiTree |
| Memoir Pages | 49 |
Notes
Major General Solomon Cowles (1758–1846) was a prominent merchant and military officer of Farmington, Connecticut. The son of Captain Solomon Cowles (1719–1793), he served as a lieutenant in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and later achieved the rank of Major General in the Connecticut Militia. A principal member of the mercantile firm Solomon Cowles and Sons, he expanded family interests into Middletown through the partnership Cowles & Mix, which was active at the turn of the nineteenth century. In 1795, he was a significant investor in the Connecticut Land Company, which purchased the Western Reserve in Ohio. Cowles served several terms in the state legislature between 1805 and 1815 and held numerous civic positions, including director of the Hartford Bank and member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He is distinguished in records from his father and from later relatives of the same name who were farmers and tradesmen in East Hartford and Massachusetts.
Sources
Burke, William. Memoir of William Burke: A Soldier of the Revolution, Reformed from Intemperance, and for Many Years a Consistent and Devoted Christian; Carefully Prepared from a Journal Kept by Himself; to Which Is Added, an Extract from a Sermon Preached at His Funeral, by Rev. Nathaniel Miner. Hartford, CT: Case, Tiffany, 1837.