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William Henry Forsythe, of Sykesville, Md., died October 24, 1921. He was born in Howard County, Md., on June 26, 1842. In 1868 he was married to Arabella Crawford Welling, a noble and devoted wife, who died in 1913. He is survived by one son, William Henry Forsythe, Jr., associate judge of the fifth judicial circuit of Maryland. Mr. Forsythe took an active interest in the affairs of his county and State. He served three terms as county commissioner of his county and was a director for nearly thirty years in the leading national bank of Howard County. He also served for twenty-seven years as a member of the board of managers of Springfield State Hospital, the largest institution of its kind in the State. Gen. Clement A. Evans, Atlanta, Ga., said of him in his Confederate Military History, Vol. II, page 271: "William H. Forsythe, of Sykesville, Md., was one of the devoted young sons of Maryland who made up that brilliant battalion, the 1st Maryland Cavalry. He enlisted in 1862 in Company A, under Capt. Frank A. Bond, and followed that Bayard of the Maryland troops, the chivalrous Ridgley Brown, into many a dashing charge and through many a weary march. From the time of his enlistment his record is that of the Maryland Line. Particularly does he recall the engagements of Brandy Station, Antietam, or Sharpsburg, the campaign of Gettysburg, and the raids and hot encounters of cavalry that preceded and followed the battle, and the gallant bout with Sheridan at Trevillian's. As was the case with the cavalry generally, he did not surrender at Appomattox, and he did not formally lay down his arms until May 10, 1865, after he had crossed the Potomac into Maryland. In the unfortunate affair of Moorefield, W. Va., on the return from the Chambersburg raid in 1864, he escaped the fate of capture which befell so many of the command. After all was over he returned to his home in Maryland and became as good a citizen as he was a soldier, giving his attention to farming, which has ever since been his occupation and in which it is gratifying to know that he has been eminently successful." At the last meeting of the Board of Managers of the Springfield State Hospital on the 23rd inst., resolutions were unanimously adopted that it place on record its earnest appreciation of the sterling qualities of its deceased member, Mr. William Henry Forsythe. For twenty-seven years he served so faithfully and well the interests of its inmates that the State of Maryland has cause for pride in the personal character, honorable career, and faithful performance of every duty and responsibility confided to him; that these resolutions be engrossed for presentation to his only son, Judge William Henry Forsythe, and be spread upon the minutes of the hospital, that all coming after him may know of the esteem in which he was held by every member of this Board. [Albert C. Ritchie, president; Frank H. Gunther, vice president; E. Brooks Lee; C. Wilbur Miller; Wade H. D. Warfield; Humphrey D. Wolfe; Mrs. Frank R. Kent; John M. Dennis.] The Patapsco National Bank, of Ellicott City, of which he was a director for more than thirty years, also passed resolutions expressing high appreciation in the following: "A man of unimpeachable integrity, of rugged honesty, of matured experience, of rare ability, he had proved himself a discriminating, wise counselor, a safe and trustworthy adviser. His sterling traits of character, his high sense of justice, his cordial geniality, endeared him to all enjoying close contact and association with him. He was in every sense a most lovable character, and in his death this bank has sustained an immeasurably loss. "He was an original subscriber to the stock of this bank on June 24, 1886, was elected director on January 6, 1891, and served continually until his death." [John L. Clark, Samuel S. Owings, James Clark, Joshua N. Warfield, Jr., Committee.]
SOURCE: Confederate Veteran Magazine, February, 1922.
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