William Forrester's family lived in Frederick county for twenty five years.  Shortly before the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the family moved to Augusta County, Virginia.  There they were living when the war began and it was from this county that two of William Forrester's sons, William Jr. and Thomas, served in the war in the Continental line with the American forces.

     Mary Forrester died sometime after 1763 in Frederick county, Virginia and later he married Margaret, surname unknown.  After the war William Forrester and his wife Margaret moved from Augusta County to Botetourt County, Virginia where they settled on a nice plantation on the Catawba branch of the James River.  Here on the fifth day of January 1796 William Forrester Senior made his will and it is probable that he died soon after.

     The children of William Forrester and his wife Mary are:  (this generation changed the spelling from Forrester to Forster).

1    Jane (Jean) Forster b. April 13, 1746 in Ireland m. John Burton.  They moved to Buncombe County, N.C. where John Burton founded the town of Morristown (now Asheville).  She died on January 28, 1824;

2     William Forster Jr. b. March 31, 1748 in Ireland;

3     Thomas Forster b. January 22, 1751 in Lancaster county, Penn. m. Mary Rafferty and died without issue on September 12, 1839 in Buncombe county, N.C.

4     Mary Forster b. July 23, 1753;

5     Margaret Forster b. October 19, 1755 m. James Barnes and 2ndly Henry Stevens Sr. ancestor of Buncombe county, N.C. Stevens;

6     Ann Forster b. March 2, 1858;

7     Dorcas Forster b. September 16, 1760;

8     David Forster b. March 17, 1763;

9     William Forrester and his 2nd wife, Margaret were the parents of Mary Forster; John Forster; Samuel Forster.

     He married in Frederick county, Virginia in 1771 to Elizabeth Heath, of Scotch ancestry, who was born May 10, 1753.

     William sold his lands in Augusta County, Virginia in 1786 and moved his family to Buncombe County, N.C. with the pioneer settlers of this new county. He was the first man to live in what is now the city of Asheville.  His plantation being at the mouth of the Swannanoa river and his old omeplace was located about 1/4 mile west of Biltmore Avenue and on the bank of the Swannanoa river.

     William Forster, Junior became a prominent prosperous and outstanding leader in the new community.  He gave to his son, William Forster III, the lands and buildings for the first school and church, known as Union Hill Academy (now Newton School).  He was also one of the first owners of lots in the city of Morristown (now Asheville) which he purchased from his brother-in-law John Burton.  His original farm of 640 acres, is now the Biltmore section of Asheville.

     He died April 2, 1830 and his wife Elizabeth (Heath) Forster died December 8, 1827.  They are buried in the cemetery of old Newton Academy on Biltmore Avenue in Asheville.  Their descendents are numerous among the Alexanders, Davidsons, Stevens, Wilsons, and other related families.

     The children of William and Elizabeth (Heath) Forster are:

1 Mary Forster b. August 27, 1772 d. May 2, 1826;

2 Colonel Thomas Forster b. October 14, 1774 d. December 24, 1858 m. in 1796 Orra Sams, she died August 27, 1853.  They are buried at Newton Academy, Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, N.C.;

3 William Forster III b. October 27, 1776 d. May 2, 1826 m. Frances (Fanny) Ballew b. 1786.
Both are buried at Newton Academy;

4 Rebecca Forster b. December 20, 1779 in Augusta County, Virginia d. March 20, 1847 m. in 1794 my ancestor Absalom Dillingham;

5 Elizabeth Forster b. June 9, 1782 m. June 9, 1872  [sic] m. John Wilson.
 

 Col. Thomas Foster b. 1774  d. 1858 married Orra Sams d. 1853 Lived: Buncombe Co., NC

  Sarah H. Foster b. 1812  d. 1890 married James Cruser Davidson b. 1806 d. 1891 Lived: Buncombe Co., NC

   Rachel Rebecca Davidson b. 1839 d. 1910 married Thomas Catlett Roberts  b. 1831 d. 1899 Lived: Buncombe Co., NC

    Robert Jackson Roberts b. 1858 d. 1933 married Lura Emma West b. 1861 d. 1939 Lived, Buncombe Co., NC

     John Harvey Roberts b. 1886 d. 1949 married Myrtle Lillian Spain b. 1895 d. 1986  Lived, Buncombe County, NC

      Dorothy Roberts b. 1920 married Arnold James Hyde b. 1914 Living in Buncombe County.

Thomas Foster b. 1774 d. 1858 married Orra Sams b.c. 1780 d. 1857
 Lived: Asheville, NC

Nancy Foster b. 1797 d. 1862 married James Mitchel Alexander b. 1793 d. 1858  Lived: Asheville, NC

Orra Ann Alexander  b. 1824  d. 1859 married John Baxter b. 1819 d. 1886
 Lived in Buncombe, NC and Knox Co., TN

Lewis Thompson Baxter b. 1852, Asheville, NC; d. 1927 married Joanna Evans b. 1863 d. 1933 Lived in Tennessee

Thomas Evans Baxter b. 1891 d. 1966 married Janet Russell Penman b. 1891; d. 1981. Lived in Asheville, NC

Joanna Evans Baxter b. 1926 married Norton Shattuck Curtis b. 1921
Lived in Asheville, NC. Now, San Jose, Calif.