Found another Whitford article in which she states:
- The aforementioned Thomas FORNES (1750-1829) was evidently one of four FORNES brothers who served in the Continental Line during the Revolutionary War, and he was the only one who survived. The other brothers were John, Jonathan, and William.
I've adjusted the language on both generations of Fornes, but just found this article. It doesn't seem quite definitive as to how it is evident that these were all brothers of Thomas Fornes (1750-1829)...
Meanwhile, I've placed FamilySearch shell profiles for the alleged brothers. No magic record matches have appeared, yet (nor on Ancestry)...
Lastly, I'm not sure in which category to place the generation of Thomas who appears to have served the New Bern/Craven County NC militia. On the other hand, it is interesting that the other presumptive brothers appear in the additional Abishai Thomas source that I've added that lists John, Jonathan and William as recipients, but not Thomas: these three Fornes men are in the book giving an "account of pay to NC troops in the Continental Army / Accounts of the NC Line" - so I could perhaps figure out how to categorize them, but Thomas, not so much.