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Forst, George Washington

Birth Name Forst, George Washington
Gramps ID I0037
Gender male
Age at Death 80 years, 2 months, 21 days

Events

Event Date Place Description
Sources Notes
Birth 1830-07-22 Greentown, Lake Twp, Stark Cty, Ohio, USA  
1a
Census 1830 Canton Twp, Stark Cty, Ohio, USA  
2a
Census 1840 Lake Twp, Stark Cty, Ohio, USA  
3a
Census 1850 Huntington, Huntington Twp, Huntington Cty, Indiana, USA  
4a
Census 1860 Warren Twp, Huntington Cty, Indiana, USA  
5a
Military Service 1864   Drafted or volunteered in September 1864, but discharged a few months later with a back injury suffered during training; did not see active service.
1a 6a
Census 1870 Jackson Twp, Huntington Cty, Indiana, USA  
7a
Census 1880 Huntington, Huntington Twp, Huntington Cty, Indiana, USA  
8a
Census 1900 Bluffton, Wells Cty, Indiana, USA  
9a
Census 1910 Center Twp, Grant Cty, Indiana, USA  
10a
Death 1910-10-12 Marion, Grant Cty, Indiana, USA  
1a 11a
Burial   Fairview Cemetery, Bluffton, Wells Cty, Indiana, USA  
 

Parents

Relation to main person Name Birth date Death date Relation within this family (if not by birth)
Father Forst, David [I0195]17951884-04-19
Mother Schlosser, Mary [I0196]17901855-11-19
    Brother     Forst, Samuel [I0866] 1824-11-17 1888-08-17
    Sister     Forst, Sarah Jane [I0865] 1827-11-25 1901-01-09
         Forst, George Washington [I0037] 1830-07-22 1910-10-12

Families

    Family of Forst, George Washington and Miller, Henrietta [F0018]
Married Wife Miller, Henrietta [I0038] ( * 1827-04-28 + 1900-10-18 )
   
Event Date Place Description
Sources Notes
Marriage 1850-06-30 Crawford Cty, Ohio, USA  
12a 13a 6a
Event Note

Both Franklin Harry Bayha and Jane Anne Thomas give the marriage date for George Washington Forst and Henrietta Miller as 22 May 1850; the available records from Ohio give the recorded date on the license as 30 May 1850.

  Children
Name Birth Date Death Date
Forst, Melissa [I0030]1851-07-041874-06-18
Forst, Sophia Elizabeth [I0862]1853-01-301872-01-29
Forst, Benjamin Franklin [I0863]1856-01-301918-11-17
Forst, Salome May [I0867]1857-05-011914-03-27
Forst, Emery Rolando [I0861]1860-06-131916-04-12
Forst, Edwin Alphius [I0868]1862-11-171863-04-03
Forst, Albert Michael [I0860]1867-04-161939-06-26

Media

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Narrative

[Article "George Forst Family" from Wells County, Indiana Family History 1837-1992, p342.]

George Washington Forst, wife Henrietta, and son Alfred, moved to Bluffton in 1888. George was born in 1830 in Greentown, Ohio. He moved, with his parents, to Warren Township, Indiana, sometime before 1850. In 1850, he married Henrietta Miller, who was born in 1827 in Bavaria, Germany, and had come with her parents to America at age ten.

They lived with his parents until George acquired farm land near them. In September 1864, he was drafted for service in the Civil War, but was discharged a few months later with a back injury. They moved to Roanoke, then Huntington, and finally, to Bluffton.

Alfrieda (Effie) Stuver, a granddaughter, was married in their home, November 1891, to Frank Bayha. Effie's mother Melissa had died in childbirth when Effie was five. She spent most of her childhood living with her grandparents. Henrietta died in October, 1900, and George moved to 918 West Wabash, next door to Effie and her family.

George worked as a janitor at Columbian School until shortly before he entered the Soldier's Home at Marion, Indiana, where he died in 1910. My mother Mary Bayah [sic] Thomas, daughter of Effie and Frank, remembered visiting George in Marion with her mother or one of his sons. Sometimes they went by interurban or train, and sometimes by horse and buggy. Mother remembered George as white haired, clean shaven, medium height, and gentle nature. A few pieces of his hand-carved furniture are still in our possession.

Their oldest daughter Melissa married Alfred Stuver in 1869, parents of Effie. Sophia married James Wilson and had one child, Iva Hurtle.

Franklin Forst, oldest son, was born in 1855. He became a baker in Huntington, then moved to Bluffton to pursue this trade. Then he entered the grocery business with his brothers as partners. In 1900 the Forst Grocery was on Market Street across from the Court House.

He married Margaret Woodard in 1883. They had no children. Mother remembered Frank as a reserved man, quiet, good with children, progressive, a good business man. He owned a beautiful carriage with a matched team, and later a car. Mother spent many happy hours with them.

Emory was born in 1860, moved to Bluffton soon after Frank, married Flora Daub in 1883. They had two children, Dessie Wiltse and Earl. Emory was in business with Frank for eight to ten years. Mother remembered riding in his buggy to Huntington, with Emory on buying trips for the store. He would visit his Aunt Salomie and cousin Iva Hurtle. His son Earl, a delivery boy for Forst Grocery, often took mother with him on deliveries in the buggy or, in winter, on the bob-sled.

Albert became a partner with his brothers in the early 1900's. He was born in 1867, married Lizzie Thomas; then, after her early death, married Myrtle Justus in 1900.

All of the Forst family were church members, quiet people, and good citizens. All are buried in Fairview Cemetery.

Narrative

[Obituary for George Forst, from the Huntington Herald, 13 Oct 1910, p8.]

[headline] GEORGE FORST AT THE MARION HOME
[2nd headline] Former Huntington Resident Passes Away from Pneumonia at Age of Eighty

George Forst, a former resident of this city, passed away Wednesday at the Marion Soldiers' Home. He was eighty years of age and his death was due to an attack of pneumonia and an asthmatic affliction with which he had been a sufferer for some years. In fact his health has been so poor ever since he was confined in the home that he has been in the hospital ward most of the time.

Mr. Forst lived in this city up to about twenty years ago and he is remembered by many of the older residents. While here he was a contractor making many of the big cuts and fills which were necessary in the early roadbuilding of the country. He also did some day labor. At Bluffton he continued in similar lines until his health forbid outdoor work. He then became a janitor of one of the city schools which position he held till he entered the soldiers' home at Marion. He leaves three sons, Frank, Emery and Alfred Forst of Bluffton, and one daughter, Mrs. Warren Wilson, who lives just south of Huntington. Every Forst is a stockholder in the Huntington Grocery company and travels on the road for the firm, and is therefore well known in the city.

John and Frank Minnich and B.F. Miller are nephews and will probably attend the funeral, which will be held Friday afternoon at two at Bluffton.

Narrative

Note: The Grandchildren of George Washington Forst

George W. Forst and his wife, Henrietta (Miller) Forst, had at least eight children; of those, six are known for certain to have lived to adulthood (Edwin died at about six months of age, and Ann Eliza is only documented through age eleven with no knowledge of her life after that point). These six adult children - three sons and three daughters - all married, but only three of them had children of their own, and none of them had large families:

Melissa married at seventeen, had one daughter (Elfrieda Beatrice Stuver) in 1869, and died in childbirth with her second child.

Sophia married at sixteen, and died in childbirth with her first child.

Benjamin Franklin ("Frank") married at twenty-seven; he and his wife had no children.

Salome May married at eighteen, had one daughter (Iva May Wilson), and had no other children.

Emery Rolando married at twenty-three, had one daughter (Dessie Forst) and one son (Earl Hamilton Forst).

Albert Michael married at twenty, and then married again at thirty-two after the death of his first wife; he does not appear to have had children in either marriage.

Out of six known adult children, George W. Forst had only four grandchildren. Elfrieda "Effie" Stuver appears to have been the first grandchild born (1869) by several years; I had always attributed her close ties to her maternal grandparents to the death of her mother combined with the troubled relationship she seems to have had with her father (an injured Civil War veteran who suffered from chronic pain and erratic behavior) and step-mother (with whom she did not get along). After further review of the Forst family, though, it seems that Effie was the sole grandchild upon whom George and Henrietta could dote for many years, and this would help explain the close relationship Effie and George had. (In her teen years, Effie lived with her grandparents instead of with her father and step-mother, and she was married in her grandparents' home.) After the birth of her own children (George's first great-grandchildren), Effie would take them to visit him at his home and, later, at the Veterans' home in Grant Cty, Indiana until his death in 1910.

Iva May Wilson was the second grandchild born in 1875, followed by Dessie in 1883. Dessie's younger brother Earl Hamilton was born in 1888, and was both the last grandchild born and George's only grandson. (Earl's sons Fred and William are George's only great-grandchildren to bear the Forst surname.) I don't have any information or anecdotes about George's relationships with his other grandchildren, but it seems likely that with only four grandchildren, and born over a span of nearly twenty years, George would have had plenty of attention and care to lavish upon each of his grandchildren in turn.

Pedigree

  1. Forst, David [I0195]
    1. Schlosser, Mary [I0196]
      1. Forst, Samuel [I0866]
      2. Forst, Sarah Jane [I0865]
      3. Forst, George Washington
        1. Miller, Henrietta [I0038]
          1. Forst, Melissa [I0030]
          2. Forst, Sophia Elizabeth [I0862]
          3. Forst, Benjamin Franklin [I0863]
          4. Forst, Salome May [I0867]
          5. Forst, Emery Rolando [I0861]
          6. Forst, Edwin Alphius [I0868]
          7. Forst, Albert Michael [I0860]

Ancestors

Source References

  1. Wells County, Indiana Family History 1837-1992 [S0034]
      • Page: p342
  2. US Census of 1830 [S0354]
      • Date: 1830
      • Citation:

        "United States Census, 1830," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH5X-9KM : 9 September 2017), David Frnst, Canton, Stark, Ohio, United States; citing 286, NARA microfilm publication M19, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 140; FHL microfilm 337,951.

        M0-5 1 [George W., age 0]
        M5-10 1 [Samuel, age 5]
        M10-15 1 [?]
        M15-20 1 [?]
        M30-40 1 [David, age 35]
        F0-5 1 [Sarah Jane, age 2]
        F10-15 1 [?]
        F15-20 1 [?]
        F30-40 1 [Mary, age 40]

        [It should be noted that David and Mary are believed to have married in 1822, suggesting that any member of their household in 1830 over the age of seven years would likely not be a child of theirs, but is more likely of a different relationship.]

  3. US Census of 1840 [S0353]
      • Citation:

        "United States Census, 1840," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHTT-XTY : 16 August 2017), David Furst, Lake Township, Stark, Ohio, United States; citing p. 169, NARA microfilm publication M704, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 427; FHL microfilm 20,177.

        Event Date 1840
        Event Place Lake Township, Stark, Ohio, United States
        David Furst
        M10-15 1 [George W., age ten]
        M15-20 2 [Samuel, age 16, and unknown teenaged male]
        M30-40 1 [David, age forty-five?]
        F10-15 1 [Sarah Jane, age thirteen]
        F50-60 1 [Mary, age fifty]

  4. US Census of 1850 [S0046]
      • Date: 1850-08-16
      • Citation:

        "United States Census, 1850," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MHJV-YXR : accessed 16 Nov 2014), George First in household of David First, Huntington county, Huntington, Indiana, United States; citing family 273, NARA microfilm publication M432, NARA microfilm publication M432, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

        Event Year: 1850
        Event Place: Huntington county, Huntington, Indiana, United States
        David First M 55 Pennsylvania
        Mary First F 62 Pennsylvania
        George First M 20 Ohio
        Harriet First F 22 Germany
        Ann Eliza First F 1 Indiana
        Malinda Henry F 9 Ohio

  5. US Census of 1860 [S0044]
      • Date: 1860
      • Citation:

        "United States Census, 1860," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M4FV-V3K : accessed 16 Nov 2014), George Forst, Township Of Huntington, Huntington, Indiana, United States; from "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," Fold3.com; p. 41, household ID 283, NARA microfilm publication M653; NARA microfilm publication M653. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.; FHL microfilm 803267.

        Event Year: 1860
        Event Place: Township Of Huntington, Huntington, Indiana, United States
        George Forst M 29 Ohio
        Henriette Forst F 33 Ohio
        Melissa Forst F 8 Indiana
        Sophia Forst F 7 Indiana
        Franklin Forst M 5 Indiana
        Silome Forst F 3 Indiana
        Sarah Shaffer F 20 Ohio

  6. Huntington County, Indiana History & Families 1834-1993 [S0079]
      • Page: pp252-253
  7. US Census of 1870 [S0020]
      • Date: 1870-06-23
      • Citation:

        "United States Census, 1870," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MXXB-K1P : accessed 16 Nov 2014), George Forst, Indiana, United States; citing p. 32, family 238, NARA microfilm publication M593, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.; FHL microfilm 000545824.

        Event Year: 1870
        Event Place: Jackson, Huntington, Indiana, United States
        George Forst M 40 Ohio
        Harriet Forst F 43 Beirne
        Franklin Forst M 15 Indiana
        Soloma Forst F 13 Indiana
        Emery Forst M 10 Indiana
        Albert Forst M 3 Indiana
        David Forst M 72 Pennsylvania

  8. US Census of 1880 [S0045]
      • Date: 1880
      • Citation:

        "United States Census, 1880," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MH9C-C6M : accessed 16 Nov 2014), George First, Huntington, Huntington, Indiana, United States; citing sheet 724C, NARA microfilm publication T9, NARA microfilm publication T9, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.; FHL microfilm 1254285.

        Event Year: 1880
        Event Place: Huntington, Huntington, Indiana, United States
        George First Self M 50 Ohio, United States
        Albert First Son M 13 Indiana, United States
        Arleatha Smith Other M 44 Georgia, United States
        Emery First Son M 20 Indiana, United States
        Harriet First Wife F 53 Germany

  9. US Census of 1900 [S0039]
      • Date: 1900
      • Citation:

        "United States Census, 1900," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M99L-TVJ : accessed 16 Nov 2014), George Forst, Harrison Township Bluffton town Ward 1-2, Wells, Indiana, United States; citing sheet 7A, family 146, NARA microfilm publication T623, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.; FHL microfilm 1240413.

        Event Year: 1900
        Event Place: Harrison Township Bluffton town Ward 1-2, Wells, Indiana, United States
        George Forst Head M 70 Ohio
        Hariet M Forst Wife F 73 Germany
        Lena Boyer Domestic F 21 Indiana

  10. US Census of 1910 [S0040]
      • Date: 1910
      • Citation:

        "United States Census, 1910," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MKRX-47D : accessed 8 January 2015), George Forst, Center, Grant, Indiana, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 47, sheet 16B, family , NARA microfilm publication T624, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.; FHL microfilm 1,374,364.

        Event Year: 1910
        Event Place: Center, Grant, Indiana, United States
        George Forst Head M 79 Ohio

  11. Huntington Herald (Indiana) [S0014]
      • Date: 1910-10-13
      • Page: p8
      • Confidence: High
  12. Ohio, Marriages, 1789-1997 [S0110]
      • Confidence: High
      • Citation:

        "Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1997," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XZDY-LXX : accessed 10 January 2015), George Forst and Harriet Miller, 30 May 1850; citing Crawford, Ohio, United States, reference vol 4 n 356; county courthouses, Ohio; FHL microfilm 388,676.

  13. Ohio, Marriages, 1800-1958 [S0095]
      • Confidence: High
      • Citation:

        "Ohio, Marriages, 1800-1958," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XDFN-P21 : accessed 10 January 2015), George Forst and Harriet Miller, 30 May 1850; citing Crawford,Ohio, reference ; FHL microfilm 0388676 V. 3-4.