James Forsyth

No Dates


Biography

James Forsyth and his wife Sarah Maria had four children baptised in St Andrew, Jamaica, 1797-1801. James Forsyth was probably deceased by 1809 when Leighfield in St George was registered to his wife. Sarah Maria was his executrix in 1817.

  1. Their youngest child James Forsyth of Glengorm died at Sorne House, Argyll, Scotland, 24/02/1862. His death certificate gives his parents as James Forsyth of Leighfield in the Island of Jamaica and Sara Maria Forsyth M[aiden] S[urname] MacGuffock. James Forsyth junior (who seems to have had English, not Scottish, legal training) had been in Scotland from late 1832, and in early 1833 he inherited Dunach near Oban from his uncle, Alexander, a Solicitor to the Supreme Court of more than thirty years' standing.

  2. James Forsyth, son of John Forsyth, wheelwright and burgess, and Isabel Strachan, born in Cullen, Banffshire, in 1757, elder brother of Alexander Forsyth, Solicitor to the Supreme Court, and later of Dunach, Argyllshire, (1759 -1833). Little else is known about James Forsyth, though he may have had legal training – he served as Deputy Judge Advocate in the St Mary Regiment of Militia from at least 1787, and was Clerk of the Vestry and Superintendent of the Workhouse in St Mary, posts he retained after his marriage. The nature of his claim, recorded in the marriage record, to be “of this parish” in St Andrew is not known – one possibility may be that he had owned the Richmond Pen there, later in the hands of his son James. James Forsyth and Sarah Maria had four children baptised in St Andrew: Jane (1797), Isabella (1798), Martha Margaret (1800) and James (1801). James Forsyth disappears from the almanacs after 1807; he probably died around this time. Sarah Maria Forsyth of London Place, Hackney, a widow, was listed as an unclaimed beneficiary of Consols Dividends in 1822 (the holding dated from January 1807); the Hackney address is unlikely to have been permanent and is associated with her brother-in-law, the notary William Duff, a London resident who may have been acting on her instructions. Leighfield is registered to "Mrs Forsyth" in the almanac of 1811 (based on the givings-in of 1809). In the slave register of 1817 the enslaved people on Leighfield were registered by Sarah Maria Forsyth as executrix of James Fosyth.


Sources

Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online].

  1. GROS Deaths 1862 544/10 10; Alexander Forsyth's testament, Edinburgh Sheriff Court Inventories SC70/1/49.

  2. GROS OPR Births 150/30 196; Jamaica Almanacs available on http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com; Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online]; The Names and Descriptions of the Proprietors of Unclaimed Dividends on Bank Stock, and on all Government Funds and Securities, transferable at the Bank of England... (London, 1823) p. 83.

We are grateful to James Brennan for his assistance with this entry.


Further Information

Spouse
Sarah Maria Leigh nee McGoffog
Children
Jane (1797-), Isabella (1798-), Martha Margaret (1800-), James (1801-)

Associated Estates (1)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
1817 [EA] - → Previous owner

Relationships (2)

Husband → Wife
Father → Daughter