Forrest Nathan Forrest Tull. Illinois copperhead

[Sons of Liberty]

"I have heard a lot about the Forrests. In one of the histories of Shelby Co., Ill. it tells that General Nathan Bedford Forrest of the Confederate army was a playmate of the Tull children when they all lived on Duck river in Bedford Co., Tenn. My grandfather was named for his mother's people and he liked the Forrests so much that he named three of his children Forrest, my father, Nathan Forrest Tull, his brother William Forrest Tull, and a sister Nancy Forrest."

"The Forrests went to Duck river in Bedford Co., Tenn. about 1808 with my grandfather, Daniel Forrest Tull. I heard about William Forrest who was with them and was a brother of Mary Margaret Forrest who married Jonathan N. Tull, the younger. Also in the group there was a Nathan Forrest who married Nancy Baugh, sister of Sarah who married my grandfather. Nathan and Nancy Forrest were the grandparents of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. There were a lot of families on Sand Creek in Shelby Co., Ill. who came from Tenn. who were related to the Forrests. Some of them were the Ledbetters, Lovins, and Turrentines. Ties with the Forrests were so strong that during the Civil War money was collected in Shelby to send south to Gen. Nathan B. Forrest. There was a lot of copperhead activity in Illinois and it was very strong in Shelby Co., particularly on Sand Creek. People didn't favor slavery but many had families in the south, and economically Shelby was closer to the south than to the north. They shipped their grain by way of the Okaw (Kaskaskia) river to the Mississippi and on south because freight rates by railroad were too costly."

(Nathan Forrest Tull is a direct descendent of my wife's and this information comes from the research of Gladys Forbes Richey available at her website www.juch.net/gfrichey) Nathan was born in 1817 and passed away 1n 1898.

 

[12th Missouri Yankee]

Great job ! Really enjoyed reading all your information too.

 

[diane]

Thanks for this extra information! Shadrack Forrest married Elizabeth Ledbetter - Shadrack was a land speculator, apparently, at that time, and the great-grandfather of Nathan Bedford Forrest. After Nancy Baugh, the grandmother died, the Lovins and some Ledbetters disputed the inheritances of her children and grandchildren...don't know when or if the thing was ever resolved but every male Forrest was sued over it soon as he turned 21! This ongoing family dispute directly resulted in the Matlock affair - a Forrest and a Matlock married and had three children, then died. The kids stood to inherit some disputed land... That's going on four generations. I guess maybe it was finally resolved by the CW!

 

[Sons of Liberty]

Nathan Forrest Tull headstone.