Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 8.djvu/278

This page needs to be proofread.

252

��Forsyth Family in Nczv Fngland.

��daughter of George Phyn, Lord of the Corse of Monelly. She was a sister of Mr?. Alexander EUice, mother of Rgt. Honorable Edward EUice, M. P. From William and Eiipet Gerard Forsyth, are descended : Rgt. Honorable William Forsyth of the First, Mortimer, Berks., sometime M. P. for the University of Cambridge ; his brother, Sir Thomas Douglas Forsyth, C. B., K. C. S. I. of British India; Major Sir John Gerard Forsyth, formerly of the Fifty-first Reg- iment of Foot, who received the cross of the Legion of Honor, the Sardinian War Medal, and the Victoria Medal of two clasps for gallantry in the Crimea ; and the Forsyths of Ecclesgeeig Tow- ars Kincordineshire, Scotland.

Robert Forsyth, the son of David, Lord of Dykes, who settled in County Down in 1618, had as descendant in the third generation :

Matthew Forsyth, who Avas born near Hillsborough Church, County Down, in T699. He married Esther, daughter of Robert Graham of Countv Ferman- agh, and came to Chester, New Hamp- shire, in 1735. Chase, in his History of Chester, persists in spelling the name Forsaith, notwithstanding that in the New Hampshire Historical Collection, it is spelled Forsyth. Some of his sons, for reasons of their own spelled the name Forsaith, and others have adhered to the old method. He was President of the Chester Committee of Safety during the Revolution, was owner of the grist and saw mill, and Deacon of the Church, officiating dur- ing the absence of the minister. Chase says his name appears very often on the records of the towns, and that he was one of the most influential business men of that time and place. Among his children were :

I. Matthew Forsyth, M. D., born in Ireland, went from Chester, as Surgeon

��in the Royal Navy. His son, Roben Forsyth, settled in Fredericksburg, Vir- ginia, before the war of '76, was Cap- tain in Lee's Cavalry, then Major, and then Deputy Quartermaster General of the SoiUhern Army, friend and A.D.C to General Washington, and appointed by him First United States Marshal of Georgia where he was killed in perfor- mance of duty in 1 794 in the fortieth year of his life. He was buried by the Society of the Cincinnati at Augusta, Georgia (being a member). He mar- ried Mrs. Fanny (Johnston) Houston of Fredericksburg, Virginia, relative of Judge Peter Johnston, and had, John Forsyth, born in Fredericksburg, Octo- ber 10, 1780; died October 22, 1841. He was Governor of Georgia, First Attor- ney General of Georgia, Representative to United States Congress, and United States Senator from Georgia, Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordi- nary to Spain, and Secretary of State from 1834-41. He married Clara, daughter of Josiah Meigs, LL.D., who was first President of the University of Georgia at Athens, and had John Forsyth, Jr. born Augusta, Georgia, 181 2 ; Adjutant First Georgia Regiment in Mexican War, United States Minister to Mexico 1856, Mayor of Mobile i860. Confederate Commissioner Plenipoten- tiary to W^ashington 1 86 1, Chief of staff of Confederate Army of Tennessee, 1863, Editor of Mobile Register until 1878, when he died.

IL David Forsyth, Ensign in Captain Blodgett's Company of Chester in '76, killed at Ticonderoga 1777.

IIL Jonathan Forsyth, soldier in the Chester Company, killed 1777.

IV. William Forsyth, born 1740. Ensign in French and Indian War of 1765, one of the founders of the Derry Public Librar\ , married Jane, daughter of Coloiiel Robert ^Vilso.l,

�� �