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Forrest Family Mysteries - 18th Century

Privacy Level: Open (White)
Date: 1700 to 1800
Location: Sharon, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colonymap
Surnames/tags: Forrest Morse
Profile manager: Jim Duggan private message [send private message]
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I am working on the Forrest Families of South-East Massachusetts. I want to push back the documented trees of David Forrest (1754-1834) and his wife Abigail (Morse) Forrest (1755-1838).

I have about 30 years of tangled research to work through, and I will be establishing profiles with the proven information that I have collected. I will post the open questions and controversies here.

Here is some of the starting ground mostly from memory. I will detail and document as I proceed.

Forrest is a rare name in New England for the period. In Great Britain, it was associated with the East Coast of Scotland. There are several other hints of Scottish Ancestry and some DNA tests suggest the same. Can the Scottish connection been tested?


I believe all of the Forrest families in the Bristol, Plymouth, and Norfolk records connect to John Forrest who married Mary Briggs in about 1712.

Where did John Forrest come from? Which Mary Briggs was his wife? Is there another Forrest family in the SE or are the families in Bridgewater, Taunton, and Stoughton related?

John has a son, John Jr who married Sarah Wellman. I believe this to be David's family. and will try show my reasoning.

I have a mapping of the Forrest families in the region from 1712 to about 1800. As I put the proven items in Profiles, I'll post questions or controversies here.

Other Forrest Families that seem unrelated:

1. A Forrest Family in Boston died without issue early

2. Forrest officer in Boston who evacuated to Halifax in 1777

3. Forrest Families in New Hampshire.

4. Others: Forrest Families in Maryland - Likely Catholic at that time.

Geographic Issues 1. Stoughton, Mansfield, and Foxboro are on the boundary of the old Plymouth Colony and the original Mass Bay Colony. There was a failed attempt to establish another parish in the area to reduce the difficulty of attending church. Several towns emerged from earlier colonial structures and the records are spread among those and between the three counties: Bristol, Norfolk, and Plymouth.

Iron Works Bog Iron figures in the 18th Century history of the area. Taunton, Bridgewater, and Stoughton figure in the collection and smelting of the Iron and there is at least one court case in which the families figured.

Military Service David Forrest signed up as a Continental for the Town of Mansfield. There is a book documenting that military service was often a family affair with several generations serving and was not a high-status pursuit. John Jr appears to have served in the Louisburg Expedition and another cousin served in the French and Indian War expedition against Ticonderoga in New York. Does the military service connect back to a Forrest who served for Boston in King Phillips War?





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