Peripety – Another Planter’s Demise, 1797 (pages 171 thru 178)
(page 171, par. 1, line 2) David Forman collapsed “Apoplexy” is the description of David Forman’s presumed cerebro-vascular infarction, hemi-paresis, and residual impairment, comes from The Forman genealogy by Dandridge. I have added conjectural details as to how the afflicted man would have appeared, based on similar modern cases. During the 18th and 19th centuries there were no efficacious treatment or rehabilitation options for stroke victims. Recognition of risk factors and medications to prevent stroke were far in the future. Health practitioners of all kinds – European, American, Native, and enslaved – were scarce in the often sparsely populated province, and would have been wholly ineffective for preventing or ameliorating David Forman’s condition.
(page 172, par. 1) Ezekiel Forman’s creditors grew anxious They justified their pleading before the Spanish court on the grounds that that had “nothing to expect from the justice of the said Executor” Records of the Spanish Administration, Natchez: Adams County Court House, Chancery archive. Transcript of proceedings for April 17 and 19, 1797. Also, MDAH microfilm Reel 17798. For claims against Ezekiel Forman’s estate James Moore represented the estate of Alexander Moore; George Cochran for partnership of Robert & George Cochran; Peter Walker; Messrs. Ferguson & Murdoch, on behalf of for themselves and Reed & Ford; and James Moore for the Estate of Robert Scott. Governor Gayoso’s reply reassuring the creditors was entered into the court records and formally served on Osman on April 19, 1797. Creditor and debtor factions figured into the June 1797 Natchez revolt against Spanish rule, which occurred coincident with Ezekiel Forman’s estate litigation. In general, creditors favored the Spanish, who upheld business obligations contracted under their administration. Debtors tended to favor prompt assertion of American sovereignty, many hoping that the Americans would suspend prior debt obligations.
(page 173, par. 2) David Forman gathered his strength during this season of rebirth and growth According to David Forman’s children, the general’s thoughts, during his partial recovery’ of “family appeared to give supernatural strength both to mind and body.” Daughter Melvina Forman’s (born July 30, 1788, died July 22, 1876 in Fauquier County, VA) recollections in: Dandridge, Anne Spotswood. The Forman Genealogy. Melvina would have been nine years old and 2,400 miles from Natchez at the time of her father’s stroke and partial recovery. I suspect that the family tradition she created or amplified concerning her imposing father, of whom she would have had few direct recollections and none concerning his sojourn in Natchez, were suffused by speculation and filiopietism. She characterized General David Forman’s death at sea once he “abandoned the hope of again meeting his family.”
Malvina may have been the source of the demonstrably false assertion that her cousin William Gordon Forman had been murdered by Negros in Lexington, Kentucky in 1812. Melvina Forman’s recollections in: Dandridge, Forman Genealogy, Op. cit., p. 102-114. The official Princeton University alumni listing for William Gordon Forman inadvertently perpetuates the falsehood of his murderous demise.
As an aside, Princeton University maintains an interesting website on its involvement with slavery. It is one of the earlier of the Ivy League universities to collect and propagate such information. See their encapsulation of the Samuel S. Forman travel narrative and Princetonians associated with Spanish colonial West Florida: Henningson, Trip “Princeton and Mississippi” https://slavery.princeton.edu/stories/princeton-and-mississippi Last accessed June 6, 2021.
(page 174, par. 3, lines 2-3) “a certain number of Negro slaves” The settlement of Ezekiel Forman’s estate, mostly in favor of General David Forman, can be found in: Records of the Spanish Administration, Natchez: Op. cit. Proceedings for June 28, 1797. The general’s sister-in-law Mrs. Margaret Forman, signed over dower rights to the estate for $100 per year and gained title to several named enslaved African Americans.
(page 174, par. 4, line 1) “Don Estavan Minor made the final decree” Records of the Spanish Administration, Natchez, Ibid, Transcript of proceedings for August 11, 1797. Also, MDAH microfilm Reel 17798.
(page 177, par 3, line 1) The general’s passing was noted in an obituary Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser, October 20, 1797; Gazette of the United States, Oct 20, 1797; Philadelphia Gazette, Oct 23, 1797; Massachusetts Mercury, Oct 31, 1797; and Salem Gazette, Nov 3, 1797. These obituaries appear to be variations of the first ones appearing in Philadelphia, including laudatory bromides without specific examples, i.e. “his patriotism was truly Spartan.” That manner of writing about the dead was typical of the era. The first obituary to appear may have been written by a relative penning a mini-hagiography. Son-in-law and nephew William Gordon Forman comes to mind as a candidate for authorship as someone knowing David Forman well and heavily vested in the deceased’s legacy.
(page 177, par. 3, lines 3-5) The New Jersey chapter of the Society of the Cincinnati…did not so much as mention David Forman’s passing in their minutes General David Forman’s participation in the organization is documented in Proceedings 1784-1873 and Account Book of the Treasurer (manuscript), In: Holdings of the New Jersey Society of the Cincinnati, Washington, DC: Society of the Cincinnati, American Revolution Institute. A motion at the July 4, 1791 meeting, at which David Forman was in attendance, specified “mourning consisting of a crepe or Ribband be worn [by all members] on the left arm for 30 days from this Time as Testimony of affection for the memory Gen Ogden and Col. Brearley…” No such recognition was afforded to General David Forman at his passing.