July 1808 | SOLOMON NORTHUP, an accomplished violinist and inventor, was born a free man in Minerva, New York. Mr. Northup lived and worked in Saratoga Springs with his family for part of his life. He worked at the landmark Grand Union Hotel as well as other hotels as a cabbie and violinist. Solomon was abducted in 1841, held in a slave pen in Washington, DC, and SOLD INTO SLAVERY in Louisiana for 12 years.