John Irwin Forsyth, the 3rd son of Andrew Forsyth and his wife, Sarah Irwin, was born 27 July 1816 in Whitehaven, Cumberland, England. . . .

. . . March 29, 1841, was a grand occasion! On this day, when he was 24, John Forsyth married Miss Sarah Freeland Barker of Carlisle, Cumberland, England. (She was born 14 Oct 1815 to John and Margaret Freeland Barker during their visit to her mother's family in Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland.)

Sarah's parents were the first ones in Carlisle to open their home to the Mormon missionaries from America. They, with 3 daughters and their only son, John Barker, Jr. were baptized into the LDS Church. On April 4, following, the Forsyth newly-weds were baptized by Amos Fielding, and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Sarah's father, the newly ordained elder, John Barker.

John Forsyth's baptism was against the wishes of his father's family, and John was the only one ever known to have joined the Church.

Young John Forsyth had no formal schooling at all. He said, "If I have to tell the teacher what the words are, I won't go to school. My teacher should tell the words to me." He could not write his name, but was a genius at working mathematical problems in his head yet he knew not how to put them down on paper. In later years he did learn to read the newspaper a little.

John and Sarah had two children born in Carlisle--Jane's birth date was 29 April 1842; Margaret, the First, 2 June 1844.

In February of 1845, John, with his wife and children, bade farewell to friends and relatives. They left for America in the sailing vessel, Susquehanna, filled with Irish emigrants. The Forsyths were the only Mormons on board. Master of the [p. 1] Susquehanna was Captain John Mierchen.

One night a great storm arose, with the thunder, wind and lightning of a mad hurricane! Rain poured down in torrents! Fierce winds, time and again, hurled mighty waves entirely engulfing the hapless vessel! Water spilled down the hatchway into the cabins below. Terrified passengers rushed to the upper deck. Captain Mierchen ordered them below then had the hatches nailed down to keep the water from flooding the steerage, (and also to keep the people down there!) At this, many of the voyagers became more frantic, throwing themselves on the floor, crying loudly, "Save us, Virgin Mary, and all the Saints, Save us from this awful fate!!"

John appeared calm and fearless. He said to Sarah, "Our prayers have gone before us to him who rules and controls our destiny. He is watching over us. If it is our lot at this time, let us go together!" Holding little Jane tightly in his arms while Sarah clasped the baby to her breast, they balanced on the edge of their bunk, holding fast to each other, as the battered ship, creaking and groaning, struggled against the raging powers of that mighty deep!

Suddenly, the eyes of one of the passengers rested on John Forsyth. He screamed, "Down on your knees, man, with the rest of us!" Others angrily tried to pull John down with them. Above the bedlam, John loudly declared, "We are in the hands of the Lord. What is the use of carrying on as you are doing? If the ship is going down, what can we do with the hatches nailed down? We can only trust Him. I believe we will be saved this night and our prayers will be answered." After a terribly rough, miserable night as the ship pitched and rolled, the morning finally came, and, "thank God," the seas had calmed. The ship was damaged but she had outridden the storm!

The Susquehanna reached Philadelphia at night. However, disembarkation was not scheduled until the next day. Sarah had overheard the captain's order to two of his sailors to lower a life-boat so that he could go ashore. Sarah said to John, "Please, please, plead with the captain to let us go with him into the city. I cannot bear to spend so many more hours on this ship." Strange as it may seem, the request was granted. Captain Mierchen's reply was, "Go to your cabin. When all is quiet, come on deck."

When all was quiet and the passengers were supposedly asleep, Sarah took her babe and a little basket of napkins (diapers) and returned to the deck. John followed her with little Jane. In the stillness of the night, Sarah & her babe, were lowered over the side of the ship and into the small waiting boat. John and Jane were safely handed down. Then came the captain's welcome order for the sailors to, "Pull For Shore!"

That was the way John, Sarah and the children set foot on America's shore at 12 o'clock that memorable mid-night! By 3 A.M. they had reached the home of Sarah's sister, Jane, and her husband, James Crooks, the proprietor of a public house (hotel) in Philadelphia.[p. 2]

BIB: Forsyth, John Irwin, History of John Irwin Forsyth, unpublished manuscript, compiled, edited and donated by Grace Meldrum Smith, pp. 1-2.
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