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Continued: While she always went as Alice, the Forrester family Bible gives her full name as Sarah Alice Forrester.
Alice was born at or near Greensburg in Knox County, Missouri, in 1862, the daughter of John and Martha Elizabeth [Maggard] Forrester. She and her family removed to Napa Valley, California in 1871. Her grandfather, George Washington Forrester had gone to California during the great gold rush of 1849, but returned to Scotland Co., Missouri, which he had previously pioneered. Alice spent her childhood at Oakville on her father's ranch where he raised hay and planted an early commercial vineyards in Napa Valley and supposedly the first vineyard in Pope Valley over the hill from Napa.
Alice married George McCrimmon in December 1887 at the home of George's parents on Third Street Oakland, Alameda Co., California. They had two daughters: Hazel Adele and Eva McCrimmon.
George was a professional painter and died in March 1893. After being widowed, she soon removed to Benicia, Solano Co. and opened a dressmaking business. For several years, her daughter, Hazel, was raised by Kenneth and Mary Jane [Grogan] McCrimmon (paternal grandparents to Hazel) on Third Street in Oakland; her daughter, Eva, lived for a time with John and Martha Elizabeth [Maggard] Forrester (maternal grandparents to Eva) in Oakville, Napa Valley. Alice made dresses for the wives of officers at the Benicia Arsenal and employed several women in the successful business.
Alice married second Malcom Reid in 1898 at the home of her sister, Mrs. Mary Cochet, in Oakville, Napa Co. The couple met in Benicia and lived there for a short time after they were married, then moved to Newark about 1899. Their stepfather accepted Alice's children as his own.
Malcom Reid, Memrenfershire, Scotland, was, for several years, associated with the Benicia Pottery Works, as was his brother, John "Jack" Reid. Malcom had no issue, nor did Uncle Jack and they treated Hazel, Eva and their children as their own family. Uncle Jack Reid owned several gold mines including the Slate Castle and Bingo mines in Downieville, California and the family was close. Alice and Malcom removed to Newark, Washington Twp., Alameda Co., where he became a stove moulder for the James Graham Manufacturing Company, making Wedgewood stoves. They built two or three houses in Newark, the last on Olive Street, which they made their home. Alice was very proper, tall and "stately"; she dressed very well. In religion, she was Presbyterian (as an adult) and her children were raised in that faith. Alice preceded Malcom in death by a year or so. She died in 1925 at her home on Olive Street in Newark. She is buried within one of two Forrester family plots in the pioneer section of Saint Helena Cemetery.
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