The death date for Boston’s wife has been identified by the date the local courts took the youngest children into custody. Two children, Margaret and John, were bound out to relatives and friends. It is thought that their mother must have died a few days before.

1740/41 - From the records, [tax lists, military data, etc,] Boston’s birth year has been calculated around 1740-41. It is possible that he is the baby that was born while his parents were crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The dates for him match the old Salts letter, and if that is so, then Bastian’s father would have been Henrick Solt. That is what’s stated in the old family letter.

1761 - He first appears in the same tax lists with Anthony Salt, (Michael Brown's list in 1761 and Jno Brandon's in 1768) in the South area of Rowan County, south of Salisbury where the town of Granite Quarry is today.

1765-66 - Henry Solt / Salts born in Rowan Co., N.C.

1768 - Rowan tax list. Antone Solte. Boston Solte. Jno Brandon's list.

1770 - Child Margaret born (calculated by court action in 1785)

1772 - Child John born (calculated by court action in 1785)

1777, April 19 - Bostin Salt is the name found on a petition dated 19 April 1777. It was sent to the Senate, etc., from the “inhabitants of the Upper End of the County of Anson” asking that the county be divided since the county has “grown populous”....

1780, July 21st - Killed in battle at the junction of Rocky and Peedee Rivers in Rowan Co. He is Capt., commander of Tory forces [1832 document: pension application of William Boyd who lived in Rowan and joined militia in 1777 discharged in 1782. He gives account of the battle.] Is this the Battle of Ramseur's Mill? Boyd lists a Ramseur as one who can testify to his service. His account says 73 Tories were killed in the battle, which must have been, as he said, "a considerable engagement."

1785, 3 August - John Brown, Constable, is ordered to bring in all of the orphans of Boston Salts, deceased to be dealt with as the Law directs.1219

1785, 4 August - Margaret Salts and John Salts, given to guardians [Margaret bound for 3 1/2 years to Henry Agender, John bound to Fredrick Miller for 8 years]. Author's note - Henry Agender is the father of Anthony Salts' wife, Eva. And Fredrick Miller is the neighbor of Henry Agender.1219

Henry Solt/Salts would have been around the age of 19 years old when his brother and sister were bound out.

1792 - 17 May 1792, Henry Salts married Mary Brown in Rowan County, North Carolina

1793 - Son John ordered to be brought to court to be "dealt with according to law," very likely when he was released from bond at 21. Court minutes do not record it.

From Dixie’s research (email date 10th of June 2004):

1. Boston Salts is apparently his name; not a nickname. I noticed the name Boston used as a man's first name in three other instances and as a last name in one.
2. He was in Rowan County in 1761 (on tax lists) and 1768. He appears in the same tax lists as Anthony Salt, (Michael Brown's list in 1761 and Jno Brandon's in 1768) in the S area of Rowan County, south of Salisbury where the town of Granite Quarry is today.
3. The court minutes of 1785 which say he is 'deceased' order Jn Brown to bring to court 'ALL (emphasis mine) the orphans of Boston Salts to be dealt with According to Law.' There is no indication of how many.
4. The next day's court minutes say that 'Margaret Salts is bound to Henry Agender for 3 1/2 years and John Salts is bound to Fredk Miller for 8 years to be taught the Business of Farmer.'
5. If the 9 Feb 1793 order that 'Peter Fight [sic] bring to next court the Son and orphan of Boston Salts to be dealt with according to Law' refers to his being released from bond, the next court shows no such action, either the next day's or the next term's. But no such action for any other person who was bound is shown, either. There was no court action for Margaret in 1788, when she would have been released. Apparently, it was not included in court minutes. Orphans being bound out is recorded over and over but no record of release.
6. In other court actions like that, girls are bound until the age of 18 and boys until the age of 21. which would mean that John was born in 1772 and Margaret about 1770.

These are the only records I could find of Boston Salts. In one tax list (1768) it is spelled Solte and in one Bostian. In all these records, I saw no Solt, Sold, Sult or such name.

Speculations (email from Dixie dated 21 November 2007, Subject Boston Salts):
1. Being a Tory, he might have come from England, maybe parents from VA. He had been in Rowan since at least 1761. Could also have been German, a Solt with the German settlement at Salisbury, including Antony.
2. Being a Captain in the local militia, [Search British pay records] must have been fairly prominent in Rowan Co. Landowner, probably. [Search deeds]
3. Sentiment against the widow and children in Rowan Co after the war may have been strong. Many Tories had their property confiscated or destroyed.
4. Wife may have died after his death, making the children "orphans." The court may have been dealing with a well-known family. There could have been older daughters married with whom the two orphans stayed from 1781- 1785.
5. A Tory's children could have been "farmed out" among other Tory families.
6. Anthony Salt's will is probated in 1778. Maybe he was also a Tory and died.

Update from Dixie - 22 January 2008
Boston Salts was a Tory Captain in the British militia unit in Rowan County in the Revolutionary War. He was killed in a skirmish at the junction of the Rocky River with the PeeDee River in southeast Rowan County sometime before 1781. (Source: Revolutionary War Pension application of William Boyd, Rowan Co, NC, pg 4&5. Available online at www.footnote.com.) There must have been a surviving wife since it was some four or five years later when the children were termed "orphans" and bound out by the courts to families in the area. One family was the brother or father of Eva Aegender Salt, widow of Anthony Salt who died in 1776-78. Dixie Dellinger 1/16/2008