He was admitted into the Indiana conference of the Methodist Church as a traveling preacher in 1853 and served eight years.
During the Civil War, Forsythe served in the Union Army as first lieutenant of Company I, Ninety-seventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
He moved to Illinois in 1865 and settled on a farm west of Paris, Edgar County.
He moved to Kansas in 1882 and engaged in agricultural pursuits near Liberty, Montgomery County.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress