Forney attended the public schools and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He engaged in agricultural pursuits and served as a major in the War of 1812. He held several local offices. He was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Congresses and served from March 4, 1815, until his resignation in 1818. He was appointed by President James Monroe as a commissioner to treat with the Creek Indians in 1820. He served as a member of the North Carolina State senate, 1823–1826. He moved to Alabama in 1834 and settled in Lowndes County where he resumed agricultural pursuits and became interested in various business enterprises.
Forney died in Lowndes County on October 15, 1847, and was interred in the family burying ground there. He was the uncle of William Henry Forney.
