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South Australian Register, Monday 10 June 1872
MARRIAGES. FORREST-HILL.-On the 7th June, at the Wesleyan Chapel, Gumeracha, by the Rev. S. T. Withington, James Forrest, son of Mr. Alexander Forrest, of Forreston, to Mary Hill, daughter of the late Mr. William Hill, of Forreston.
South Australian Register, Saturday 5 April 1873
FISHER— FORREST.— On the 24th March, by licence, in the Wesleyan Chapel, Gumeracha, by the Rev. .S T. Withington, John, second son of the late Mr. John Fisher, to Sarah, eldest daughter of Mr. Alexander Forrest, blacksmith, Forreston.
The South Australian Advertiser, Friday 29 May 1874
DIED.
FORREST.—On the 21st May, at North Gumeracha, James, son of Mr. Alexander Forrest, jnr., aged seven months.
South Australian Register, Saturday 2 July 1892
FORREST.— On the 20th June, at his residence, Gumeracha, after a short illness (of pneumonia), Charles, the beloved husband of Fanny Forrest, and youngest son of Alexander Forrest, of Forreston, aged 36. Deeply regretted by a large circle of friends.
South Australian Register, Saturday 25 March 1893
FORREST-CARTER.— On the 23rd March, at Salem Church, Gumeracha, by the Rev. J. H. Sexton, David Forrest, son of Mr. Alexander Forrest, Forreston, to Elizabeth Mary Carter, daughter of Mr. Marshall Carter, of Gumeracha.
The Advertiser, Thursday 11 July 1895
DEATHS OF OLD COLONISTS.
FORRESTON, July 2.-Mr. Alexander Forrest, senior, died on June 20 of senile decay at the age of 75 years. He arrived in the colony in 1848 in the ship Thomas Maitland. Being a blacksmith by trade, he commenced business near the Robert Burns for a time, afterwards removing to Forreston, which township he had laid out. He still earned on the same trade, but on a much larger scale. He was a mechanic of the first grade, and was a good judge of implements, in which capacity he acted extensively. He was for many years a member of the Talunga District Council. He also held the office of chairman of that body, for several years. He went to the Victorian goldfields, and did fairly well for a time, afterwards returning to his former occupation. He leaves a widow, five sons, five daughters, and forty-five grandchildren.
South Australian Register, Friday 15 July 1898
MARRIAGES.
COOKE-FORREST.-On the 11th July, at the residence of the mother of the bride, Forreston, by the Rev. E. J. Henderson, Baptist minister, Gumeracha, Sydney, eldest son of Edmund Cooke, of Victoria, late of Mount Pleasant, to Mary, fourth daughter of the late Alexander Forrest, of Forreston. Victorian papers please copy.
The Advertiser, Monday 5 April 1909
SILVER WEDDING.
QUINN-FORREST.-On the 7th April, 1884, at the Wesleyan Parsonage, Gumeracha, by the Rev. M. T. Edmeades, Albert, second son of John Quinn, Esq., to Janet, second daughter of the late Alexander Forrest, Forreston. Present address, Tollcross Farm, North Gumeracha.
The Advertiser, Tuesday 27 November 1917
Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Forrest, sen., celebrated the golden anniversary of their wedding at Forreston on November 15. Mrs. Forrest was the second daughter of the late Mr. Alexander Greig, of Dirleton Green, near Gumeracha, and Mr. Forrest, sen., was the eldest son of the late Mr. Alexander Forrest, ot Forreston. Mr. and Mrs. Forrest have four sons and two daughters living. The eldest son is farming near the Burra, and three sons are in the West. The eldest daughter resides at Cheltenham, and the youngest daughter is at home with her parents.
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The Register, Monday 8 October 1928
Mr Alexander Forrest, who recently celebrated his eighty-sixth birthday, is one of the pioneers who helped to make South Australia. Born in 1842 in Uddingston, in Scotland, Mr. Forrest was five when, he embarked with his parents for Australia. The family landed at Melbourne towards the end of 1847. Twelve months were spent in. Victoria, and then they came to South Australia by the Thomas Fielding. They settled at a place known as Old Bobbie Burns, where the father opened a blacksmith's shop -and made a successful business. After two years the family moved to North Gumeracha to live. Mr. Alexander Forrest helped in the construction of the Forreston School, which, after it was com pleted he attended under the tutorship of Mr. Henry Creed. He completed his education at a boarding school at Angaston, under Mr. E. P. Nesbit. After leaving school Mr. Forrest, with his two brothers, worked land owned by their father. Later he left home and spent 30 years farming on the Black Rock Plain, but owing to dry seasons could not carry on successfully. He moved with his wife and family to North Gumeracha to the house which he still occupies, and which, previously belonged to his father. His family, with the exception of his eldest son, still survive. Two sons are farming in Western Australia, and the third is in Fremantle. A daughter (Mr. Noblett) lives at Woodville. Mr. Forrest has never been seriously ill in his life, and claims that he has not paid 5 pounds for a doctor's billl. The family has been honoured by the calling of the one-time North Gumeracha, Forreston.
The Advertiser, Wednesday 22 May 1935
FORREST.—On the 19th May, at his residence, Forreston, Alexander Forrest, late Black Rock Plains, aged 92 years and 8 months. A colonist of 86 years.
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The Advertiser, Thursday 7 July 1927
AN OLD PIONEER.
HARD WORK AND LONGEVITY.
Hard work and the buffetings of ill-fortune, which have been the lot of Mr. James Forrest, of Richmond-street, Kensington, one of the old pioneers of the State, have failed to keep him within the psalmist's allotted span, and on Sunday he is to celebrate with his family, the attainment of his 80th birtiiday. He is still active, and a slight stoop in his walk is due to bending down horse shoeing, for he followed the trade of black smith. His wife, who is in her 76th year, has been an ideal helpmate, and she still does all her own housework and washing. "I worked terribly hard from 10 years of age to 75," he said when interviewed, "and I have never been out of the State once except for a journey to Broken Hil." That was in 1886, when times were so bad that he took a load of coke from Terowie to the Hill just to get in return the feed for the horses. He was away nine weeks, and never slept in a bed during that time. He has been a teetotaller and non-smoker all his life, and it is principally to temperance that he attributes the strength he has enjoyed all his life. Mr. Forrest is of Scotch parentage. He was bom in Glasgow in 1847, and his father and mother, Alexander and Agnes Forrest, brought him with them to Melbourne a year later in the Thomas Fielding. They stayed a year there, where his father followed his trade of blacksmith, and went to where Forreston now is, named after Mr. Alexander Forrest, near Gumeracha. There the father set up a smithy, and made farming implements, and there their son James was brought up to fojiow his father in the biacksmithing trade. His father also had a farm, and besides blacksmithing he was taught how to plough. He was driving bullocks in the plough at ten years of age, and went into his father's shop at fourteen. Horses were at a premium, so bullocks were used, and when only 13 the boy competed in his first ploughing match at Gumeracha, ploughing with four bullocks which were driven by a man named John Rowe. After that he went to various ploughing matches, and won a large number, becoming a champion ploughman at the age of 19, and continuing to compete until 25. Meanwhile at 22 he had gone to Gume racha and started a forge, where he remained for a large number of years, budding waggons chiefly for the northern areas, which were then just beginning to be opened up. He won numerous matches at ploughing at Adelaide, Lyndoch, Mount Pleasant, Golden Grove, Modbury, and Gumeracha, and then when 25, gave it up as his business had necessitated and increase from one forge to three. Also at the tim he marned Miss Mary Hill, of Forreston. He continued at Gumeracua until 1881, when he took up land on Black Rock Plain, and tilled the soil for seventeen years there. In the end, owing to bad seasons, he was forced to give up his holding, and about 1905 he went to Gawler, and for three years was employed in Messrs James Martin & Co.'s locomotive shop. The firm went into liquidation, and he then got work with Mr. H. Dennis, or Morgan, making iron scoops for levelling ground and dam-smking. There he spent his sixtieth birthday. Later he worked for a Hindley-street firm, and next for Clarence H. Smith, ploughmakers, Ardrossan. So consistently has Mr. Forrest followed the plough both making it and using it, that it has been said of him that he was born with a plough-handle in his hands. He was at Ardrossin over twelve years, and at 74 years the hard work was getting beyond him. He knocked off at Ardrossan and Messrs. David Shearer, Mannum, who heard he was out of work, wrote offering him employment. He was with them for a time, but at the age of 75, under doctor's orders, he had to finish blacksmithing. He came to Kensington, where he bought the cot age in Richmond-street in which he and his wife are now living. They had six children. There are four daughters and a son living—-Mesdames H. R. Coulter (Murray Bridge), G. Stott (Birdwood), T. P. Holmes (Kapunda). S Mahoney (Broken Hill), and Mr. James Albert Forrest (Marryatville). The eldest son, Mr. Alfred Ernest Forrest, died in Western Australia at the age of 27. There are eighteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Longevity seems to run in the family. Mr. Forrest's mother died at 80, his father at 76. He has a brother, Mr. William Forrest, aged 77, living at the Burra, and an elder brother, Mr. Alexander Forrest, living in his father's old house at Gumeracha. Of his sisters, Mrs. Mary Cooke, of the Burra, is about 62: Mrs. J. Crosbie, Gawler, is 64. and Mrs. F. Perry, Walkerville, about 57. Two other brothers died at the ages of 72 and 74, and two other sisters at well over 60.
Mr. J- Forrest
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