Life History

Notes

• Roster of Confederate Soldiers of Georgia 1861-1865
  U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles
  Thomas P Forrester
  Residence: Pickens County, Georgia
  Enlistment Date: 31 Aug 1861, Rank 2nd Sergt
  Enlisted in Company E, Georgia 23rd Infantry Regiment on 31 Aug 1861
  Service Record: Promoted to Full 2nd Lieutenant on 16 Dec 1861
  Promoted to Full 1st Lieutenant
  
  This enlistment record may be for a younger Thomas Forrester.  I have not been able to document another Thomas Forrester in Pickens County, but it seems it was a common name.  Our Thomas, born around 1894 would have been about 64 when he volunteered and was mustered.  But the Confederacy did have many older men under arms.  In the Civil War, everybody fought, though the preference was younger men.  The south was way short of men compared to the populous north.
  
  The 1870 census records Thomas and his wife Mary in Pickens County, Georgia.
  
  1870 Federal Census, Pickens County, Georgia, 25 July, PO Jasper, page 111 (scan 55), Hse/Fam #864
  Forester Thomas 76 M W Farmer born N Carolina [b abt 1794] Cannot read or write
  Forester Mary 73 F W Keeping House born S Carolina [b abt 1797] Cannot read or write
  Forester Joseph N 4 M W born Georgia [b abt 1866]
  
  One or two genealogies report the name of Thomas wife as Mary Tilly.  WIth that in mind I was able to find a marriage record, but it can't be our Thomas and Mary.  The marriage was in 1800, almost twenty years too early for our couple, born in about 1794 and 1797.  This makes it look like the maiden name of Tilley someone reported in their undocumented genealogy is just due to more sloppy patchwork trying to make available names fit the need of filling empty fields in someone’s tree!  Maybe there will be another Mary Tilly/Tilley of the next generation who can marry our Thomas about 1816-1818.
  
  North Carolina Marriage Collection, 1741-2004
  William Forrester
  Spouse: Mary Tilley
  Marriage Date: 11 Feb 1800
  Marriage State: North Carolina
  
  Genealogies report a different person as the wife of Thomas and mother of William.  The Lance Family Tree has Thomas' wife as Sarah (Sally) Harris.  Note that Sarah's date of death on this genealogy is 1853.  This might explain the discrepancy.  Mary could be the second wife, married after the death of Sarah.  But we will see this won't work either.
  
  Sarah Sally Harris
  Birth 1803 in South Carolina
  Death 4 Jul 1853 in Kentucky
  Parents Benjamin Harris 1778-1861
  Elizabeth Weaver 1779-1853
  Marriage to Thomas P. Forrester 14 Mar 1822 in Harlan, Harlan, Kentucky
  --  Lance Family, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/25164897/person/1617414395
  
  An additional problem occurs with this proposed link-up.  Thomas married Sarah in 1822, according to the Lance family genealogy,  but the age of William indicates he was born in about 1819, so it would mean that Thomas had another wife before Sarah.  Another Forrester researcher, Terri Smith Escamillo, found the name of this first wife as J Mary but no last name, as proposed by yet another genealogy.  Later Terri came to think the listing in some genealogies of Sarah Harris as a wife of Thomas was wrong.  It looks like two different Forrester lines or families have been combined here by these genealogies.  (See further notes below.)
  
  Since we know that Thomas was married to someone named Mary in 1870, who had died before 1880 (when Thomas is a widower), the J Mary would have to be the first of three wives for Thomas Forrester.  The Dedman genealogy has the birth date of Mary J as 1803.
  
  J. Mary <Unknown>
  Birth 1803 in South Carolina, Death in Pickens County, Georgia
  Spouse Thomas Forrester b 1803
  Sons:
  William M Forrester 1819-1894
  Ezekiel Forrester b 1828 [This may be the son of Sarah Harris, who was married to a different Thomas Forrester, in Kentucky]
  --  Dedman Family, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/2946109/person/245834062
  
  These discrepancies are best accounted for by the simplest scenario, Thomas had one wife name Mary, and they lived together till she died between 1870 and 1880.  These other marriages are due to mis-matches and combinations of two or more Thomas Forrester families.  In our separate but communicating lines of research, Terri Escamillo also came to the conclusion that Thomas was married to only one wife, Mary, the mother of William.  A problem with the Dedman genealogy and many others is that they do not document where they got their information or document only some.
  
  In 1870, Thomas and his wife Mary are living next door to their son, William.  The 4-year-old Joseph N who was enumerated in Thomas' household is Thomas' grandson, son of William and his wife Zenith Barnes Forrester.
  
  1870 Federal Census, Pickens County, Georgia, 25 July, PO Jasper, page 111 (scan 55), Hse/Fam #863
  Forester William 51 M W Farmer $200 Real Estate $200 Personal born S Carolina [b abt 1839]
  Forester Zenith 43 F W Keeping House born S Carolina [b abt 1827] Cannot read or write
  Forester Nancy M 14 F W Assisting in Keeping House born Georgia [b abt 1856]
  Forester Martha M 8 F W At Home born Georgia [b abt 1862]
  Forester Louisa 3 F W born Georgia [b abt 1867]
  
  Next door to William is a household headed by an Ezekiel Forester, age 42.  This may be William's brother, and is reported so in the Dedman genealogy above.  But that genealogy also reports the same mother for these two children (the only two reported by the genealogy), a Mary J (Unknown>.  Since Thomas Forrester married Sarah Smith in 1822, an earlier wife, Mary J would not be the mother of Ezekiel.  But this genealogy is incomplete, showing no other wives for Thomas, and no other children besides William and Ezekiel.
  
  Further, the census records that have been attached to the tree on Ancestry are from different families, and the death of Thomas is also reported to have been in Kentucky, though he was living in Pickens, Georgia with his son William in 1880.  There is the same problem with his marriage in Kentucky to a Sarah Smith, as well as her birth and death in Harlan, Kentucky.
  
  Wouldn't it make more sense that this Sarah lived in Kentucky, even if she had been born in South Carolina, married in Kentucky and died in Kentucky, married to a different Thomas Forrester, who also lived and died in Kentucky?  Genealogies that have Sarah as the wife of Thomas and mother of William do not tell where they got her information or the marriage date in 1822.  This seems to be the wife of a different Thomas Forrester.
  
  By 1880, Thomas' wife Mary has died and he is living with his son William.
  
  1880 Federal Census, Pickens County, Georgia, 12 June, Jerusalem, District 163, page 19B, Hse/Family #165
  Forrester, William W M 61 Farmer SC NC SC Forrester
  Forrester, Zenith W F 51 Wife Keeping House SC SC SC
  Forrester, Thomas  W M 86 Father Widowed At Home NC NC SC

Sources

• 1. 1880 Federal Census, Pickens County, Georgia
  • 12 June, Jerusalem, District 163, page 19B, Hse/Family #165
• 2. 1870 Federal Census, Pickens County, Georgia
  • 25 July, PO Jasper, page 111 (scan 55), Hse/Fam #864
• 3. Roster of Confederate Soldiers of Georgia 1861-1865
• 4. 1870 Federal Census, Pickens County, Georgia
  • 25 July, PO Jasper, page 111 (scan 55), Hse/Fam #863
• 5. Email Sources
• 6. 1860 Federal Census, Pickens County, Georgia
  • 13 June, Truckwheel District, PO Saunderstown, page 36 (scan 914), Hse #299, Fam #251
• 7. 1850 Federal Census, Gilmer County, Georgia
  • 5 October, Subdivision 33, page 82, Hse/Fam #560