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I have spent some considerable time
researching the Sunderland Forsters but have been frustrated
by the lack of information. I have to assume that there are
a lot of Forster family descendents out there, as my paternal
grandfather came fom a large family, but the male line seems
have been rather limited, with a preponderance of females!
Anyway, in case anyone is interested, or can provide additional
information::
My grandfather was Charles Forster. He was born on 3 January
1899 and died in October 1978. He had 3 brothers, WILLIAM,
ANTHONY (Tony), and WALTER. William married ? and had 3 daughters,
Sandra, Sylvia and Sheila. Anthony married Dora and had a
daughter, Dora. Walter married Katie and had 2 sons, Walter
and Ronald, and a daughter, Lilian, and possibly a daughter
called Kathy?
I think my grandfather also had 5 sisters, LILY, LOUISE,
FLORENCE, EMMA and ANNIE, about whom I know very little. I
have no dates of birth other than for my grandfather, but
the parents (see below) were married in December 1889.
Going back a generation -
Grandfather's father was ANTHONY FORSTER, born 28 Dec 1867
(birth certificate) and married 28 Dec 1889 to LOUISA PALMER
(marriage certificate). For some reason they do not seem to
appear on the 1901 census. Louisa died around the mid to late
1930's we think (my dad has memories of viewing the body when
very young!), but I don't know about Anthony. He had a brother,
CHRISTOPHER - also not obviously on the census - who married
ANNIE, who died around 1932. There was also a sister, Molly
(Mary?), who married WILLIAM COCKBURN. Any information relating
to the families of Christopher and Molly would be welcome.
Going back further -
The father of Anthony, Christopher and Molly was WILLIAM
SURTEES FORSTER, as confirmed on Anthony's birth certificate,
and mother was ISABELLA MURRAY. I estimate that they were
married sometime in the 1860's.
On the 1901 census there was an ANTHONY FORSTER married to
SUSAN - his date of birth was 5 Apr 1848 (birth certificate).
His parents were ANTHONY FORSTER and ELIZABETH SURTEES,
so it is likely (though I could be wrong!) that he was brother
to Williams Surtees Forster, as above. Again, any information
would be welcome - particularly relating to Anthony and Susan,
for whom I have one daughter, Eliza(beth) Mary, aged 26 on
the 1901 census - but there may have been other children who
had by then left home.
As far as I know, these Forsters all lived in the Sunderland
area, and many of the male members of the family worked on
the railways. My dad was a BR traffic controller at Newcastle,
his dad was a train driver and so was his dad. Anthony (husband
of Susan) is described as a loco foreman. I believe my grandfathers'
brothers also worked on the railways.
Family tree will appear here in due course, and will link
to the LAWSONS (my paternal grandmother's family), and the
ROBSONS and WILSONS (on my mum's side).
Page
last updated 27Oct 2002
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