Legislator Details
Portrait of Alexander Forsyth scanned from Men of Progress p.490.
Vital Records Information:
Marital Information:
married Miss Henrietta Brooks, dau. of Wm. Brooks, of Lambton, ON in 1882; children: 3, Jennie, Annie and William.
Number of Children: 3
Background
Education:
high school at Petrolia and later at Sarnia, ON
Biographical Sketch:
Of Irish ancestry. Son of Alexander and Anne (Moore) Forsyth. Began teaching school at age 16 and continued in that field for several years, in Ontario and then North Branch, Lapeer County, MI starting in 1882. While there he engaged in the drug business, in which he invested all his savings, but the venture was a losing one, and in 1888 the business was closed out. He resumed the profession of teaching and when his obligations had been discharged he opened an insurance office at North Branch. In 1890, he sold out the business and removed to Standish where he opened another Insurance company, the first in the county. In 1894 a foreign insurance company insuring farm property withdrew from Arenac County and Mr. Forsyth organized the Home Mutual Insurance Co., being a farmer's company and was elected secretary and treasurer of the company. In 1897, he took up banking and reorganized the Arenac County Bank, which had previously failed, and after getting it on a sound basis, sold out his interest. He was an independent up to 1892, since which time he was a Populist and a Free Silver Democrat. Member of the Masons, including the Auxiliary Eastern Star.
Notable Facts:
He was a delegate to the National Populist Convention at St. Louis, Mo., in 1896.
Birth month varies by source: Men of Progress says May; Find-a-Grave says July; Seeking Michigan death record says August, but all are the 16th in 1860.