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Continued: Her daughter, Effie, wrote that Martha died at Rutherford, Napa Valley.
I had been informed that Martha died 30 May 1906, but her gravestone reads 30 April 1906, and the interment record at St. Helena Pioneer cemetery shows that her body was buried 2 May 1906, and so the 30 April death date would be correct.
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Napa Daily Journal
May 1, 1906
CALLED BY DEATH
Mrs. Martha Forrester Passed Away at Residence.
Mrs. Martha Forrester, wife of the late John Forrester, and a well known pioneer of Napa County, passed away at her home in Rutherford at 7 O'clock Monday morning. Death was due to heart trouble, with which she had been afflicted for several months. Mrs. Forrester was a native of Randolph County, Missouri, and was 68 years 1 month of age. She had resided at the home place in Rutherford for the past thirty-five years. She had been a member of the Baptist Church for the past fifty-three years. She leaves to mourn her sorrowful demise three daughters and two sons, Mrs. Mary Cochet, of Oakville, Mrs. I. Mayfield, of Napa, Mrs. Alice Reid, of Newark, Cal., Mr. Chas. Forrester, of Oakville, A.A. Forrester, of Rutherford. The family have the sympathy of many friends in Napa county in their bereavement. The funeral will be held Wednesday morning at 11 O'clock, from the family residence in Rutherford, The remains will be interred in the St. Helena cemetery.
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One photograph of "Grandma Forrester - 1906" was in the possession of her great-granddaughter, Betty Jane (Steinhoff) Sheedy.
Family stories passed down on different lines indicate that Martha was a quarter Cherokee. Her great-grandmother (wife of Henry Maggard) was supposedly Cherokee. Some researchers also believe her other great-grandmother (wife of Thomas Bright) was also Cherokee. No documentation has been found to suggest that either of these ancestors were Cherokee, and known descendants doe not seem to carry any Native American DNA from the Maggard or Bright lines.
However, Betty (Steinhoff) Sheedy and some other Maggard and Bright ancestors do cary a small amount of Sub-Saharah African DNA, which strongly suggests that either the wife of Henry Maggard, or the wife of Thomas Bright (or both of them) may have been African in origin.
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