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Information about the life of Thomas Forsyth is sparse and occasionally contradictory. The earliest record available is a transcription of the Illinois Territorial Census of 1818, which states that Thomas Forsyth resided in White County, located in the southeast part of the Illinois Territory, in June 1818.[1] The age range for Thomas Forsyth in this census is 21 years and upwards, which gives a birth year of 1797 or earlier. Thomas Forsyth also appears in the 1820 Illinois State Census for White County.[2] This census lists him as 21 years and older, which gives him a birth year of 1799 or earlier. The 1820 U.S. census for the Thomas Forsyth household lists one free white male, age 16 to 26 years. [3] This census record corresponds to a birth year range of 1794 to 1804. Combining these values from the various census records gives Thomas Forsyth a birth year range of 1794 to 1797.
The birth location of Thomas Forsyth is not available from the early census records. However, birth location information can be obtained from the census records for the Forsyth children (whose identities are given below). Of these census records, four report that Thomas Forsyth was born in North Carolina.[4][5][6][7] The other census records for the children of Thomas Forsyth report a variety of birth locations for him, including: South Carolina,[8] Maine,[9] Lousiana,[10] Scotland,[11] Illinois,[12] Pennsylvania,[13] and France.[14]
According to a newspaper account, Thomas Forsyth's wife was Rachel Estes.[15] This is in agreement with Thomas Forsyth’s will, which states that Rachel Forsyth was his wife.[16] The names of Thomas and Rachel’s children are not available from the early census records. However, their identities can be obtained from other sources, as listed below. These sources indicate that the five children of Thomas and Rachel (at least those who survived to adulthood) were Philip Forsyth, Emily Ann Forsyth, John Milton Forsyth, Charles Forsyth, and Mary Hester Forsyth. If the couple had other children, their identities are not apparent at this time.
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Transcribed will of Thomas Forsyth. |
The documentation regarding the children of Thomas and Rachel Forsyth is as follows. (1). A newspaper account states that Mary Hester Forsyth was a daughter of Thomas and Rachel (Estes) Forsyth.[15] (2). Among the relatives of Mary Hester Forsyth attending her 60th wedding anniversary were three daughters and a granddaughter of Charles Forsyth and a daughter of John Milton Forsyth.[17] (3). A planning document for the Riolo Vineyard Specific Plan, which is a planned community in California, indicates that John Milton Forsyth and Philip Forsyth were brothers.[18] (4). A labeled photograph of Emily Ann Forsyth states that she was a sister of Philip Forsyth.[19] (5). A letter from Emily Ann Forsyth to Mary Hester Forsyth, a copy of which was sent to Mary Elizabeth (Forsyth) Driver, indicates that Thomas and Rachel Forsyth were the father and mother, respectively, of Emily Ann and Mary Hester, and that John Milton Forsyth was Mary Elizabeth’s uncle.[20] (6). Subgroups of these five Forsyth siblings tended to collocate, consistent with a close family relationship. For example, in 1850, Philip Forsyth and his family, Charles Forsyth and his family, and John Milton Forsyth were all living near each other in Cass County, Illinois (dwellings 276, 282, and 283, respectively).[21][22][23] In 1860, Mary Hester Forsyth and her family, Emily Ann Forsyth and her family, and Charles Forsyth and his family had residences near each other in Dillon Township, Tazewell County, Illinois (dwellings 1549, 1551, and 1552, respectively).[24][25][26]
Definitive information about the death and interment of Thomas Forsyth is lacking. However, the available evidence indicates that his death occurred in 1830, sometime between March 3, the date of Thomas’ will (in which he states that he is “weak in body”),[16] and June 1, the date on which the United States census was taken.[27] On that census, Rachel, not Thomas, was listed as head of household, indicating that Thomas was deceased by that date.[28] Moreover, Rachel is described as a widow in a land sale to Thomas Shannon on July 15, 1830.[29] It is not apparent whether Thomas was alive to see the birth of his daughter Mary Hester, who was born on April 19, 1830, in Vandalia, Illinois.[30]
Of the various reported birth locations for Thomas Forsyth, the evidence appears to favor North Carolina. In addition to the four U.S. census records mentioned above that list North Carolina as Thomas' birthplace, there are several California voter registration forms for Philip Forsyth, oldest son of Thomas Forsyth, that give Philip's birth location as North Carolina.[31] Furthermore, genetic genealogy results are most consistent with a North Carolina birth location. Specifically, a GEDmatch.com multikit analysis of individuals related to members of the R-BY39913 Y-DNA haplogroup shows a large number of autosomal DNA matches between descendants of Charles and Philip Forsyth and descendants of the brothers James Epperson Forsythe and William Barnett Forsyth, Sr., both residing in North Carolina. Among this group of matches is a triangulated group consisting of RV (a 4th great grandson of James Epperson Forsyth), Kenneth R. Alexander (a 3rd great grandson of Charles Forsyth), and Lyn Sara Gulbransen (a 2nd great granddaughter of Philip Forsyth), who share a 19.1 cM segment on chromosome 3. The triangulation was identified using the GEDmatch triangulation utility and was confirmed by One-to-One Compare tests. Although these genetic genealogy results imply a familial relationship between the Forsyths of North Carolina and the descendants of Thomas and Rachel Forsyth, the identity of the common ancestors among these groups is uncertain.
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Categories: Forsyth Name Study