Once again, we are faced with yet another “John Forehand” and mostly “forgotten” Forehand.  Much data residing on the internet at this time incorrectly place this particular “John” as the John Forehand that eventually moved to Tennessee.  However, this assumption is absolutely incorrect.  The following section will outline without doubt this particular “John” was the son of Anthony and Lowis Forehand and was born in Pasquotank County, North Carolina and passed away in Camden County, North Carolina.

Before I begin, it is important to address the most prevalent misconception about this particular John Forehand.  Most sources tend to identify John as the John Forehand that eventually made his way to Tennessee and beyond.  However, if you review the section committed to David Forehand and Lemuel Forehand (sons of Thomas Forehand), you will quickly find such an assumption is absolutely incorrect.  The 1800 Federal Census for Randolph County, North Carolina clearly shows David Forehand’s son, John, to be living with his wife during 1800.  As far as the John Forehand that married Sarah Cullins during 1799, the evidence clearly shows he remained in Hertford County and would have shown a wife during the 1800 Federal census for Camden County.  However, the 1800 Federal census for Camden County clearly shows otherwise.   Finally, with the evidence presented in the previous sections devoted the subject as well as the evidence presented in this section, we can accurately place John Forehand and put the previously false information to rest.

To begin the determination of who the parents of John Forehand were, we have to go back to the 1782 poll tax list for Camden County, North Carolina.  During this tax list, only two Forehand families existed in Camden County.  The two families were those of Anthony Forehand and Boswell Forehand.  We know Boswell Forehand was residing in the northern part of Camden County near modern “South Mills” with the most obvious sign being his close proximity to the Keeter families known to live in the area during that time.  In contrast, Anthony Forehand was living in the central part of the county near Evan Jones (whom he purchased his property).  In fact, Anthony is listed directly before Evan Jones in this particular poll tax listing.

We must look a few lines down the tax list to place Anthony Forehand as well as accurately track his family.    Anthony Forehand and family are listed on page 10 of the poll tax listing along with 28 other families.  Among those families are the families of William Burgess, Demsey Burgess, Daniel Phillips, and Benjamin Phillips.  On page 11 of the poll tax, we see the families of Peter Dauge and Thomas Nickols.

The importance of Peter Dauge and Thomas Nickols rests with their known locations.  We know without a doubt the location of Peter Dauge’s plantation, “Mount Pleasant”, located just south of the intersection of Trotman Road and North River Road in Camden County.  In fact, his grave (figure JF2-1) is located just over one hundred yards from the original location of his home.  In addition, the graves of Thomas Nichols, Deborah Nichols (Thomas’ wife), and George Nichols (Thomas’ son) are located just across the woodland and swamp in an area know in colonial times as “Johnnykin Town”.  Here, Thomas Nichols owned a large plantation and acted as commissioner for the confiscation of Tory property during the Revolution.  I apologize for the short history lesson, but this information helps us place the location of Anthony Forehand’s family and ultimately the family of John Forehand.

Figure JF2-1 – Graves of Peter Dauge, Thomas Nichols, and George Nickols

The next piece of information we need to accurately place John Forehand is a 1781 Camden County land deed (figure JF2-2) and the 1790 Federal census for Camden County, North Carolina (figure JF2-3).  The 1781 land deed lists Lois Forehand as the wife of Anthony Forehand and correctly identifies the ownership of 26 acres from Evan Jones listed in the 1782 poll tax listing.  The land deed also informs us of the fact Anthony and Lois lived on a tract of land which Evan Jones resided at the time thus showing why Anthony Forehand would be listed directly before Evan Jones during the 1782 poll tax listing.

Figure JF2-2 – February 4, 1781 Camden County land deed showing Anthony and Lois Forehand

During the 1790 Federal census for Camden County, only one Forehand family existed, Lowis Forehand.  Since we have correctly identified Lowis Forehand as the wife of Anthony Forehand, we know who she was.  We also see Lowis Forehand living next to Evan Jones at the time.  In addition, Lowis lived physically close to Thomas Nichols and Daniel Phillips and were all listed on page 17 of the 1790 census.  This information also confirms Lowis to be the wife of Anthony Forehand.  The 1790 census also shows Lowis living with two addition female children as well as two male children under sixteen years of age.

Figure JF2-3 – 1790 Federal Census showing Lowis Forehand family.

You are probably wondering when I will get to John Forehand.  Unfortunately, very little information exists concerning this particular John Forehand.  The first piece of evidence with his name is the 1800 Federal Census for Camden County, North Carolina (figure JF2-4). The census lists 1 free white male between the ages of 10 and 15, one free white male between the ages of 16 and 25 (John), and one free white female 45 and over.  The age of the ‘free white female’ suggests a female relative may have been living with him (which was common in this time period) and was probably Lowis Forehand (his mother).  If the case, this information suggests the other ‘free white male’ between the ages of 10 and 15 may be a brother rather than a son.  When we compare the above to the 1790 Federal Census for Camden County, NC (figure JF2-3) showing John Forehand’s mother Lowis, the data perfectly matches the males between the ages of 10 and 15 as John’s brother.  At this time, I have been unable to locate John’s brother listed in the 1800 census.

Figure JF2-4 – 1800 Camden North Carolina Federal Census for John Forehand

Other information is also contained in the 1800 Federal census for Camden County that help us correctly identify John Forehand.  First, we see John Forehand living only a few households away from the families of William Gregory, John Bell, Issac Sawyer, Demsey Sawyer, Daniel Phillips, and Benjamin Phillips.  We even see John Forehand located relatively close to Mary Nichols, the widow of Thomas Nichols.  This information places John Forehand in nearly an identical area as the 1782 poll tax and 1790 census place the family of Anthony and Lowis Forehand.

With this information, we can place John Forehand as living on the 26 acre farm owned by his mother, Lowis Forehand.  In fact, we know William Gregory’s ante bellum home was located in what is now modern-day Shiloh to the left of the intersection of highway 343 and Mill Town Road.  Unfortunately, the original home of William Gregory was burned by Federal sympathizers during the Civil War.  With such a close proximity, it seems reasonable with a relative high degree of certainty to assume John Forehand (and Anthony Forehand) was living in the vicinity of Shiloh, North Carolina.

The next piece of evidence that lists the name of John Forehand is the 1810 Federal Census for Camden County, North Carolina (figure JF2-4).  Though the census only lists “J Forehand” rather than spell out “John”, we can accurately assume this to be John when observing the location and surrounding families. The census lists 2 free white males between the ages of 1 and 10 (John’s sons Anthony and William), 1 free white male between the ages of 26 and 44 (John), 2 free white females between the ages of 1 and 10, 1 free white female between the ages 16 and 25 and 2 slaves.

Figure JF2-4 – 1810 Camden County Federal Census for J. Forehand (John)

Other valuable information is also contained in the 1810 census.  First, we can clearly see John Forehand was living next to William Gregory (as was the case in the 1800 census).  We also see Benjamin Phillips and Daniel Phillips living in the area as well.  When we combine the information from the 1782 tax listing, the 1790 census, the 1800 census, and the 1810 census, we are able to paint a clear picture of who the parents of John Forehand were, where John Forehand lived, and ultimately the children of John Forehand.  In addition, John lived a short distance away from Demsey Grandy whom was known to own land (and later perform a transaction with John’s children) in “JohnnyKin Town” and prior location of the Nichols family.

During the ten years between the 1800 census and 1810 census, John apparently had 4 children (2 males and 2 females).  In a later section, we will see one of John Forehand’s male children was named Anthony after his father and one male child was named William.  According to grave information, we know Anthony Forehand was born in 1804.  Later Camden County, NC land deed transaction documents list William Forehand as a brother to Anthony Forehand and also help us place his age.  William Forehand is likely the second ‘free white male’ listed in this census data. It also appears, contrary to the 1800 census data, John is now married and has a wife.  If John were married between 1800 and 1810, it would account for the number of children produced during those ten years.  The rate of birth would also suggest the 1800 ‘free white male’ between the ages of 16 and 25 was indeed a brother rather than a son. At this point, I am not certain what the names of the female children were.

I have spent many hours in the Camden County, North Carolina Register of Deeds office searching for any evidence of land purchases involving John Forehand directly or as a witness.  To date, I have been unable to locate a document concerning John Forehand though it is obviously clear he lived during the times described.  It is likely John Forehand continued to reside on the 26 acres purchased by his father from Evan Jones in 1781.  However, I have been unable to locate the sale of these 26 acres at this point and can even see during the 1830 Federal census for Camden County that John’s son, Anthony was living along with his brother William on apparently the same land.

While we are not entirely certain of John Forehand’s date of death, we can be certain he passed away between the 1810 census and 1820 census.  While searching the 1820 Camden Federal Census, only one Forehand family was found, Daniel Forehand.  However, Daniel Forehand was located in northern Camden County around the location of modern Keeter Bard Road in South Mills.  Therefore, we can safely assume John passed away before 1820 but after 1810 in Camden County, North Carolina.

I have often wondered what became of John Forehand’s children and his widow during the 1820 census.  I once assumed the Sally Forehand deeds from 1811 and 1813 in Camden County identified her as the widow of John Forehand.  However, the deeds clearly identify Sally Forehand as the widow of James Forehand, not John.  Even with that, I believed John could have gone by the name James.  However, when you examine the evidence, you move away from this “stretch” of an assumption.

My next step was to closely examine the 1820 Federal census for Camden County.  Even though I can clearly locate the households located close to John Forehand’s vicinity in earlier census information, I can not locate a single Forehand household.  Therefore, we can conclude John Forehand’s wife remarried and was living with the children in a different household or John’s wife may have passed away with the children living with a relative.  At this point, we may never know unless we may be able to locate the sale of the 26 acre plot of land they once all lived upon.

Though this section seemed to offer repetitive information, I felt it important to outline in detail the evidence concerning John Forehand.  I do believe the information presented accurately paints a detailed picture of who John Forehand was, where he was located, and where his family resided.  Many of the details that would add more color to our painting are missing and may never be known, however, we now have enough of an accurate picture to remove this John Forehand from the list of forgottens and from the files of inaccuracy.