Eliza Van Wie was born around 1825 in New York. Her courtship with Daniel Elliot Solis, of Vernon Center, New York, began in 1841, but they did not marry until March 1847. In the interim, she operated a loom at the Empire Mill, in Rock City Falls, New York. Eliza and Daniel Solis had one child, Charles E. Solis, born in 1848. In 1853, the family moved from Waterloo, New York, to Detroit, Michigan, where Daniel opened a store. The next year, they settled in St. Clair, Michigan, where he purchased and ran City Hotel. Daniel Solis died in 1861, but Eliza lived at least until 1880.
In 1864, Charles Solis volunteered for the 15th Michigan Infantry, and served until the conclusion of the Civil War. During the 1870s, he resided in various western locales, including the Black Hills of South Dakota, and Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1875, he and his party of gold miners were arrested for entering Lakota land illegally, but Solis was soon released and charges were dropped. Upon his return to Michigan, he studied law at the University of Michigan, graduating in 1879, and worked as an attorney for the rest of his career.
From the guide to the Solis-Van Wie family papers, 1839-1875, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
