Forerunner
Forerunner , noun
1.
A messenger sent before to give notice of the approach of others; a harbinger; a sign foreshowing something; a prognostic; as, the forerunner of a fever.
Whither the forerunner in for us entered, even Jesus.
My elder brothers, my forerunners, came.
2.
A predecessor; an ancestor. [Obsolete] — Shakespeare
3.
(Nautical) A piece of rag terminating the log line.