James was the brother of my great-great-great-great grandmother, Mary Forster, who married Jonathan Ostle, and thus William was first cousin to my great-great-great grandfather, John Thompson.

His son, Thomas F. Thompson passed down family tradition that his cousin William Forster was a telegraph operator captured by Confederate forces while cutting telegraph lines behind enemy lines. He was imprisoned at Andersonville where he died.

There is an obituary in an old Methodist hymnal belonging to John Thompson which states: "In the Confederate Hospital at Andersonville, GA. June 28,1864, William Forster, aged 23 and nine months, a native of Richibuctou,Kent County."

There is also this notation in Warren Lee Goss' book "The Soldier's Story of His Captivity at Andersonville, Belle Isle and Other Rebel Prisons": 2332 Foster, W. Tel. Operator Died of Dysentery June 22,1864.

I was at Andersonville about two years ago while on a trip to Atlanta. The cemetery is a very sobering sight.