In modern times Forsythe is a Scotch name, but according to some it has a history that stretches back to France and to Scandinavia. For more information on the family, see the Clan Forsyth(e) Page
The Forsythes were one of the families that emigrated from Scotland to Northern Ireland in the 1600's to avoid war and hunger in their native land. After about a hundred years, many Scotsmen became dissatisfied with Northern Ireland and emigrated to America where they came to be known as the "Scots-Irish."
One of those emigrants to American was David Forsythe who came to American with his brother William at the same time another brother moved to France. David was born about 1735 at Kiliscovan According to the Ulster Names Project, Kiliscovan is probably a townland named Skillyscolban in parish Dromore in County Down. Until 1830 it was known as Killyscolban, which means "wood of the thatching pegs". A townland is the smallest administrative division in Ireland and is very ancient. Parishes are divided into townlands, baronies into parishes, and counties into baronies.
David eloped with and married an Irish lass named Margaret McGibbon, who was said to be a native of Dublin, Ireland who was visiting relatives near Kiliscovan. Shortly after their marriage they sailed for America.
On the ocean voyage to America, Margaret nearly died, and David nursed her back to health after their arrival.
David and Margaret initially settled in Virginia, in what is now West Virginia before moving to Kentucky.
David and Margaret Forsythe settled at Floyd's Fork, Kentucky where they raised a family consisting of the following children:
After David's death in 1808 at Floyd's Fork, Margaret moved to Franklin, Indiana where she died.
One of David and Margaret's sons, John Forsythe, left Kentucky in search of his fortune in the Mississippi frontier town of Natchez. Eventually he became a prosperous man and was elected sheriff of Adams County. He lived at Washington, which was a retreat from the chaos of Natchez.
John's son Thomas H. W. Forsythe was recruited in New Orleans to fight for Texas independence. Thomas participated in the Battle of Bexar in which the Texians captured San Antonio and the Alamo the September preceding its recapture by Santa Anna in the Battle of the Alamo. Thomas missed that fateful fight, and there is no further information about his participation in the Revolution. Thomas received a land grant as a result of his service.
Thomas lived briefly in Sabine County, and then in Angelina County where he married Syrena White, the daughter of Martin D. and Sarah Dollarhide White, who had previously been married to Umphries Chappell. Thomas and Syrena settled permanently at Alabama Creek in eastern Trinity County where he served as a Hard Shell Baptist minister. Both Thomas and Syrena the died in an epidemic about 1865 and are said to have been buried in the yard of their home at Alabama Creek.
Thomas' son William Earl Forsythe served in the Confederate Army in Hood's Texas Brigade and fought in the Virginia Theater. He is known to have participated in the Battle of Gettysburg. After the War William Earl married Rachel Richardson, the daughter of David Felder Richardson, whose family had fled the Civil War chaos of Southwest Missouri. David also served as a minister also a minister in Trinity County but died a young man only a decade after the war, some speculate from wounds he received in the Civil War.
William Earl's son William David Forsythe moved across the Neches River to the Burke area and worked in the new sawmill at Diboll. He married Sarah Alice Darenda Landrum, the daughter of Maston Lee and Mary Jane Johnson Landrum and lived near the Ryan's Chapel Church. Will eventually became a Congregationalist Methodist, and the family moved to a farm just south of Lufkin near the community of Boles. Will died there in 1925 at age 48.
Several of Will and Ren's children were ministers, including their daughter Lola Forsythe Lane.
Will and Ren's daughter Hester Ann Laura married Samuel Virgil Murrah and lived most of her life at Burke, Texas.
Please report any Forsythe information by e-mail to Lee. Please mention this web page in your message.
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