Fonds - Rev. John Forrestall fonds

John Forrestall (1812-1850), Catholic priest, was born in the parish of Montecoign (Mooncoin), County Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1812. He was a brother of Archdeacon William Forrestall. After completing his education in the national school system of Ireland, Forestall studied for the priesthood at St. John's Seminary College, Waterford, Ireland. In the spring of 1838, he arrived in St. John's, Newfoundland, where he was ordained a priest by Michael A. Fleming, Bishop of Newfoundland, in September 1838.

Following a devastating fire in St. John's in 1846, a committee was appointed and organized under the acting Governor of Newfoundland, and later directed by Governor Gaspard LeMarchant, to supervise the work of relieving the distressed and adjudicating their complaints and grievances. Rev. Forrestall was appointed to the committee with the observation: "No one knows better than your Reverence the hardships, the diseases, and the deaths entailed on the unhappy inmates by such exposure to the severities of this inclement climate."

Rev. Forrestall was also a member of the Roman Catholic School Board for St. John's in 1849. He died 11 November 1850 from tuberculosis, which he contracted while ministering to the sick.