Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Forefather \Fore"fa`ther\ (?; 277), n.
   One who precedes another in the line of genealogy in any
   degree, but usually in a remote degree; an ancestor.

         Respecting your forefathers, you would have been taught
         to respect yourselves.                   --Burke.

   {Forefathers' Day}, the anniversary of the day (December 21)
      on which the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth,
      Massachusetts (1620). On account of a mistake in reckoning
      the change from Old Style to New Style, it has generally
      been celebrated on the 22d.