Foster/Forster/Forester...
I can understand how an untrained, once-every-ten-years, barely paid census taker might have difficulty determining the differences between hastily grunted responses to the question, “What is your family name?” Aside from my paternal grandmother’s Leigey, Liegey, Lergey, Sirgy, Sergey, Sirguey, Serguey, Surguy, Sugey, Seigey and – I’m sure I’ve missed one or more others here – even…Dingey, Furdey and Percey, which I KNEW to be Sirgey (she lived with us!), the second biggest point of confusion belongs to my great grandmother Sarah Celestial (Dopp) (Ogden) (Bowers) third husband…John Foster, or Forster, or Forester. First encountered (this is my original search) in the 1900 U.S. Census (Wayne County, Pennsylvania) as Foster, John appears, with two of his children (they’re both Fosters…Ina and Charles), in the 1910 version (still Wayne County, but minus the children) as Forster and, though John has passed on, Sarah shows up as live-in great grandmother in the Oneida County, New York home of granddaughter Margaret (Ogden) Strain as Forester. Although I could find no grave or headstone, and a Sextant is no longer employed, a cousin with whom my wife and I visited the Stockwell Cemetery has printed cemetery records that Arthur Ogden (her grandfather/my grand uncle) paid for the burial of his mother Sarah. The name entered is Sarah Forester.
Compounding matters, handwriting on the back of a picture I know to be that of Sarah’s first husband, Daniel Ogden, identifies him as “Grama Foster’s Husband” and the son of John’s, identified in the above 1900 Census as Charles Foster, is buried beneath a headstone that reads Forester.
Further probing revealed John to be the probable son of Christian Foster, though an Ancestry.com member has submitted corrections to both the 1860 and 1870 Census Reports (yep…Wayne County, Pennsylvania) specifying that the family name should be Forster. Perhaps this person will respond to my inquiry…perhaps he won’t.
Still cogitating, but another tree member tells me that Forster was the German spelling while Forester was more English sounding. Foster is probably a census taker error..…
The search that led to Christian Foster/Forster as John Foster/Forster/Forester’s father turned up yet another mystery…was my great grandmother, Sarah, John’s second or third wife? And, if there were two earlier partners, how did the children (by this time I’d found a total of four) sort out.
Christian Foster/Forster is found in both the 1860 and 1870 U.S. Censuses as a resident of Honesdale in Pennsylvania’s Wayne County. He is living with wife Hannah and what appears to be a total of eight children…in the 1860 version John is the second eldest. John is found in Honesdale during the 1870 version but by 1880 he has moved (but not far) to Scott Township, still in Wayne County. In 1870, he is a Foster, 24; childless, and living with Mary Foster, 17; and Eliza Wonder, 46. I’m ASSUMING Mary is his wife. The year 1980 finds him a Forster, 34, married to Annie Forster (I’m guessing Anna Rainer), 24; and the father of Elizabeth, 8; and Katie, 4.
Combining the two children here with two that appear in the 1900 U.S. Census with my great grandmother Sarah (see story Foster/Forster/Forester) we have…Elizabeth, 1872; Katie, 1876; Ina, 1885 and Charles, 1887. I SUSPECT (1) Mary is wife #1 and the mother of Elizabeth and Katie, (2) Annie is wife #2 and the mother of Ina and Charles, and…(3) my great grandmother, Sarah Celestial (Dopp) (Ogden) (Bowers) Foster/Forster/Forester, is wife $3.
So be it, until someone out there makes me believe differently…!