The Forrester Family

Written and Submitted by Thomas E. Forrester
pelhambatesville@cwix.com

Dedicated to the memory of my grandfather, Cecil Ovid Forrester, who became a believer late in life and then, on Monday, June 6, 1966, passed from this life into the fair country his ancestors had sought for generations.

  1. Henry Gomer Forrester was born in Virginia around 1774. He married Mary Forrester, known as "Polly," who was the same age and who also was born in Virginia. Henry and Mary lived in Orange County, North Carolina in the mid to late 1700's. Orange County is located between the present day cities of Burlington and Durham near the intersection of Interstates 40 and 85, in central North Carolina. Both apparently moved with the family as it migrated west. Henry died inWhite County, Illinois around 1850. Henry and Mary had the following children:

    1. Lucy Forrester b. May 2, 1793 in Wilkes Co., NC d. ca 1870 in White Co., IL
      m. March 28, 1820 John E. Bolerjack
    2. 1. Jacob Forrester b. ca 1795 and d. July 3, 1854 in White Co., IL
      m. Mary "Polly" McMurtry of Sumner Co., TN
    3. Mary Elizabeth Forrester b. ca 1800 in Orange Co., NC d. Sept 10, 1874 Sumner Co, TN
      m. Asa McMurtry
    4. John C. Forrester b. ca 1801/02 d. 1870 White Co., IL
      m 1) Emily Ann Vineyard
      m 2) Mary "Polly" Brill
    5. Rebecca Forrester b. 1806
      m. Oct. 9, 1820 Joel H. Bolerjack

  2. Jacob Forrester was born in North Carlina (presumably Orange County since the rest of his siblings were born there) around 1795. He married Mary "Polly" McMurtry in Sumner County, TN on July 17, 1817. Sumner County is located in north central Tennessee near the Kentucky border. It is near the present city of Nashville, off Interstate 40. Mary was born in Sumner County on June 15, 1796 and was the daughter of John and Mary Margaret "Peggy" (Gomer) McMurtry. Jacob Forrester died in White County, Illinois on July 13, 1854 at the age of 59. Mary died in the Roland community of White County, Illinois on July 27, 1870. Jacob and Mary had the following children, all born to them while they lived in Tennessee:
    1. Margaret "Peggy" Forrester b. 1818
    2. William Franklin Forrester b. 1824
    3. 3. Henry Gomer Forrester b. 1826
    4. Rebecca J. Forrester b. 1828
    5. Charles S. Forrester b. 1831
    6. John W. Forrester b. 1833
    7. Alfred S. Forrester b. 1837
    8. Jacob H. Forrester b. 1839

  3. Henry Gomer Forrester was born in Tennessee (presumably Sumner County) in 1826. He married Sarah Thomason Garrett. No other information is available on either of them except that Henry and Sarah had the following children, whose names are assembled in approximate chronological order based on their ages at the time they were married:

    1. Margaret K. Forrester b. ca 1850
      m. Aug. 8, 1886 Robert Conway of Putnam County, TN, son of Lewis and Frankey A. (Hasgett) Conway. Margaret was 36 and Robert 29 at the time of their marriage.
    2. Sarah C. Forrester b. ca 1853
      m. July 26, 1890 James A. Schneider, son of William Schneider. Sarah and James were both 37 at the time they married. The marriage record from which this was taken omits his mother's first name (the original writings may have been illegible), but her maiden name is given as "Cook."
    3. Louisa I. Forrester b. ca 1863
      m. July 14, 1881 James A. Snyder, son of William and Mary A. (Clark) Snyder. Louis was 18 and James was 28 when they were married. (NOTE FROM SUBMITTER: I note here that the names "Schneider" and "Snyder" in Sarah and Louisa's marriages are too similar to ignore, especially since both James had father named William. Further, the William mentioned in connection with Sarah's marriage was listed as being married to a woman with the maiden name of Cook. The other William of Louisa's marriage, is listed as being married to a Clark. Given record keeping practices, possible misspellings, and noted which may have been illegible, I propose that both Sarah and Louisa married the same man. When Louisa married James, he was 28. Nine years later when Sarah married her James, he was 37. People of the 19th century were not particularly long-lived, and it is not inconceivable that James may have been a widower (or possibly a divorcee) when he married Louisa's sister, Sarah.)
    4. 4. Henry Gomer Forrester b. May 1866 in White County, IL d. Jan. 13, 1937
      m. Aug. 8, 1891 Sarah Hardena "Dena" Welch b. Dec. 24, 1862 d. Nov. 11, 1943, daughter of William Ovid Welch and Samantha C. (Pearce) Welch. NOTE FROM SUBMITTER: William Ovid Welch was a prosperous wheat farmer, civil war veteran, and Justice of the Peace in Indian Creek Township of White County, IL. Samantha C. Pearce was the daughter of Moses J. and Lavinia (Mason) Pearce.
    5. John A. Forrester b. ca 1878
      m. March 8, 1993 Mrs. Huldah Satterfield, daughter of John W. Pool and Ellen Oliver. Both John and Huldah were 25 at the time of their marriage.

  4. The third Henry Gomer Forrester was born May 1866 in Indian Creek Township of White County, Illinois where his family had settled after moving from Tennessee. He married Sarah Hardena Welch, known as "Dena" (some manuscripts spell it "Dina") on August 8, 1891. Sarah was born December 24, 1862. She was the daughter of William Ovid and Samantha C. (Pearce) Welch. Henry died on January 13, 1937 and Sarah on November 11, 1943. Both were buried in the Old Village Cemetery (established in 1819). Henry and Sarah had three children:

    1. Bertha Forrester b. ca 1892. The 1910 census shows her at Henry and Sarah's with her one year old daugter, Beulah, who was b. in 1909 and d. June 13, 1972 in Benton, Franklin County, IL.
    2. Eva Forrester b. ca 1895
      m. William Shrum. Both Eva and William are bur. in the cemetery of the Pleasant Grove Methodist Church, located on State 14 west of McLeansboro. Eva was living with her parents when the 1910 census was taken.
    3. 5. Cecil Ovid Forrester b. March 3, 1903
      m. Cecil May Treece b. Jan., 15, 1903

  5. Cecil Ovid Forrester was born in Indian Creek Township on March 3, 1903. His family lived in the community of Middlepoint in White County, IL. Cecil's second wife, Cecil May Treece was born on January 15, 1903. She was the daughter of Lawrence Edward and Hattie (Dillow) Treece. She had a sister and a younger brother, William, known to our family as "Uncle Bill." Her marriage to Cecil Ovid was her second, also. In the late 1930's, Cecil Ovid moved his family to Chicago, IL. Work had ran out in Southern Illinois due to the Great Depression. Cecil had worked for the Illinois Central Railroad there and went to work for the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad in their Cicero, IL yards after moving north. He retired in the early 1960's, and he and Cecil May moved back south to the McLeansboro area of Hamilton County, IL. He died there on June 6, 1966 and was buried in the cemetery of Pleasant Grove Methodist Church on State Highway 14, west of McLeansboro. Cecil May eventually moved back to Chicago where she lived with her sons, Clifford and Wayne, until she died on March 21, 1979. She was also buried in the Pleasant Grove Cemetery next to my grandfather. The children of Cecil Ovid and Cecil May (Treece) Forrester are:

    1. Cecil Ovid Forrester, Jr. m. Norma Annette Michelle
    2. Cleora (or Cleoria) Griffin (by Cecil May's first marriage) m. James Pitts
    3. Dorothy Forrester m. Otis Mahan
    4. Virginia Forrester m. Donald Ferguson
    5. Thomas Eugene Forrester m. Katherine Louise Miller
    6. Clifford Dee Forrester
    7. Wayne Forrester


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