Husband William C. DeForrest 1
AKA: William C. DeForeest
Born: 17 Dec 1838 - Brookfield Twp, Trumbull Co, OH 1
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Father: Gershom Vandenburg DeForrest (1787-1882) 2
Mother: Elanor Dunham (1793-1872) 1
Marriage: 16 Feb 1865 3
Wife Mary E. Locke 3
Born: 11 Aug 1847 - New Castle, Lawrence Co, PA 3
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Died: Aft 1909
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Father: John Locke ( -Bef 1909) 3
Mother: Caroline Bennett ( - ) 3
Children
1 M William Meade DeForrest 4
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Died: in infancy
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2 M Myrten V. DeForrest 4
Born:
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Spouse: Anna McCormick ( - ) 4
3 F Eva DeForrest 4
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Spouse: Glenn R. Clark ( - ) 4
General Notes: Husband - William C. DeForrest
He was educated at the common schools and spent his youthful days on the farm. In 1868 he engaged in the music business at Sharon, PA, and also conducted the old family farm. In 1874 he moved to Sharon and established himself in the business which he thereafter pursued: music. In 1898 his son, M. V. De Foreest, became a partner with his father and they had the largest stock of musical instruments of any house in western Pennsylvania. They occupied five large rooms in the rear of the main store fronts, which were used for showing goods; also large storage rooms, and their business was conducted on highly creditable and profitable plans. They had fifty thousand square feet of floor space in their retail stores at 106 West State Street. The rear portion of their building was three stories high, while the front was but two. They had, on the ground floor, five large show rooms for pianos, carrying from one hundred to one hundred and thirty instruments constantly, and they also had testing and finishing rooms. Large amounts of phonograph records-the Edison, the Columbia and the Disc records were handled. Their wholesale department and warerooms, located on South Main Street, had seven thousand five hundred square feet of floor space, and was two stories high and thirty by sixty feet in size. In the matter of records they were among the largest dealers in America, having on hand one hundred thousand Edison records, and they frequently received thirty-three thousand records at one shipment. Their trade extended over western Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia. Prodigious is the only befitting word when describing their immense establishment.
In his religious life Mr. De Foreest was a consistent member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Sharon and was a faithful class leader, steward and other official of his church for many years. He united with this denomination in 1854. In September, 1907, he was elected as a lay-delegate at the Erie conference to the General Conference of the church held at Baltimore, Maryland, in June, 1908. He was elected by a vote of 107 out of 152. Of his political position it may be recorded that he cast his first and second vote for President Abraham Lincoln, his next for General Grant. Afterward, he has cast his vote with the Prohibition Party. [HMC 1909, 642]