Sol Star

One of the characters in the popular HBO series “Deadwood” is based on Solomon Star of South Dakota. Once a name known only to a few, remembered as one of several Jewish mayors of Western towns, he has now become a popular figure of the wild west of the late 1870s and 1880s.

Solomon Star was born in Bavaria in 1840, the fifth of ten children, to Marcus and Minnie (Friedlander) Star. In 1850 he came with his uncle, Joseph Friedlander, first to Cincinnati and then to Circleville, Ohio. He went to school until 1857 when he began work as a clerk in a general store. During the Civil War, in 1862, he went to Missouri and engaged in “mercantile pursuits.” At War’s end, he moved with his stock of merchandise to Virginia City, Montana and was in business there from 1865 to 1872 when he was appointed by President Grant to be Receiver of the Land Office at Helena, Montana.

He was active in the Masonic Lodge and became a thirty-second degree Mason and Grand Master for Montana. It was not rare for Jews to belong to the Masons in those times. In Montana he met Seth Bullock who became his life long friend and partner in many ventures and adventures.

This interesting picture of Sol Star and Seth Bullock is from DigitalDeadwood.com Sol Star is on the left. I find it interesting because the heads are about level, but if you examine the feet, Star is standing on the six-inch or so board elevation at the side edge of the bridge. This implies to me that he was short, bothered by it, and clever.

Gold was discovered in the Black Hills in 1874. An expeditionary force of one thousand men were led by George Armstrong Custer into the Black Hills area, a 1000 square mile region held sacred by the Sioux, who still claim that their ancestors were in this area since the beginning of time. This is in spite of documented evidence that the Sioux lived in the area now called Minnesota until pushed West in the 18th century by the Chippewa. This “invasion” sowed the seeds for the Custer Battle on the Little Big Horn River in 1876. A few months after the group’s arrival, gold was discovered along French Creek in the central Black Hills. A major gold rush inevitably followed. The city of Deadwood grew out of this Wild West era of prospectors, saloons, and legendary figures. Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are both buried in Deadwood’s Mount Moriah Cemetery, not far from Sol Star who is in an area of the cemetery called “Hebrew Hill” for its many Jews.1 In August 1876, only one month after the Custer massacre, Sol and Seth Bullock dared to move their goods by ox team, across the Sioux territory to Deadwood. They arrived two days before the famous murder of “Wild Bill” Hickok.

They immediately engaged in the crockery business, and soon after in hardware and furniture. The story goes—they had a shipment of 200 chamber pots that Seth Bullock auctioned off in one evening.

Sol Star remained in Deadwood the rest of his life and never married. During those years he and Bullock expanded their economic activities. Along with Harris Franklin, nee Finkelstein, they formed the Deadwood Flouring Mill Company and in 1880 Star became manager of the flour mill they built. It is said he gave flour for bread to the needy without charge.

In 1879 Star and Bullock created the SB (Star and Bullock) Ranch in nearby Belle Fourche by buying up individual homesteads as they were “proved” under the Homestead Act. The SB ranch became well known throughout the west for the production of thoroughbred trotting horses and for the first crop of alfalfa planted in the Dakota Territory in the spring of 1881. They engaged in the livestock business and also invested in the gold mining that caused the Black Hills to flourish in the first place.

Sol Star was only one of many Jews in Deadwood. Although the town had no Rabbi, the congregation had a lay leader, Nathan Colman, who conducted services. Fully one-third of all downtown business establishments in Deadwood’s early history were either owned, operated or occupied by Jewish merchants, most of those businesses related to clothing and dry goods.

Star and Bullock were involved in the political life of Deadwood from their arrival. Bullock had been in law enforcement in Montana and became the first Sheriff of Deadwood and subsequently a United States Marshal there. Sol Star was appointed postmaster in 1878 and served three years.

Sol Star became a member of the city council in 1883, and was elected Mayor of Deadwood in 1884. He served as Mayor for several two year terms until 1893. In addition, he was active in the push for statehood and in 1889-1890, was a member of the State Assembly. He was chosen president of the first Republican state convention held in South Dakota to nominate its state officers. In 1893-4, he was elected State Senator from Deadwood and served as President Pro Tempore of the State Senate as well. In 1896, he was again elected Mayor of Deadwood. By 1899, he was elected Clerk of the Courts for Lawrence County and continued to hold that office until his death in 1917. It is said that his funeral was suitable for a President.

Endnotes

1. http://www.goldoutlet.com/history.html
2. I was at the Family History Library doing research and thought to look for Mr. Star in the 1880 Census. At first I looked for the Soundex film under S for South Dakota. After not finding it, it dawned on me that the Dakotas were not states until 1889. I searched under D for Dakota Territory and found the correct Soundex, and then the Census record itself. I missed him on my first run through Lawrence County residents because the name Star is hard to read, but found him by concentrating on people born in Germany. The first name reads as Sol as stated above. Occupation: Postmaster. It confirms he is not married. He was living at a boarding house or hotel at the time of the Census. The two other residents listed just below Sol Star were Clerks in the Post Office. Interestingly, in the online 1880 Census at http://www.familysearch.org, his first name is Solomon and a search using Sol alone does not find him.

Bibliography

1. Rochlin, Harriet, Rochlin, Fred. Pioneer Jews: A New Life in the Far West. New York: Houghton-Mifflin,1984.
2. Memorial and Biographical Record—Black Hills Region. 1898.
3. History of Dakota Territory. 1915. (South Dakota deluxe supplement)
4. Personal communication to the author from the Adams Memorial Hall Museum, Deadwood. 1992
5. Stanton, Ann. Jews of the Hinterlands: The Story Continues Part II (from a former website)
6. Deadwood Magazine, Black Hills, South Dakota. http://www.deadwoodmagazine.com/
   Archives/TwoTowns.htm
7. South Dakota Legislature Legislator—Historical Listing for Solomon Star http://legis.state.sd.us/historical/index.aspx