Tracing my male Foster/Forster/Forrester lineage

[ForresterModern]

Just in case there are any Foster/Forster/Forresters out there who can help in the search, I am tracing my male lineage and have succeeded in tracing 12 generations of males back from my two male children to the original land grant owner in Virginia, and believe that I am close to actually locating the location of the original pair of adjoining land grants from Lord Fairfax of Virginia to my ancestor William Forster in 1725 and 1728, pending getting asurvey map from the Library of Virginia microfilmed archives. My two sons are the last in the male lineage in our family for at least 5 or 6 generations (Carter Evan and Calvin Kendall Foster), me (Jeffrey Linn Foster), my father (Clinton Earl Foster---oldest surviving male Foster), Cecil Earl Foster (gravestone located), Orestus Gilbert Foster (gravestone located), Andrew Jackson Foster (gravestone located), Andrew Anderson Foster (gravestone located), John Alexander Foster (cemetary located but still seeking actual gravestone), Bedford Addison Foster (buried Summers Co, WV, but still seeking gravestone), Robert Foster (buriede Summers Co, WV), George Foster(buried Prince William Co, VA), then the William Forster described in the land grants (buried in Prince William County near the original land grants). I have colpies of the original land grants from Lord Fairfax of Kent, governor of Virginia in the pre-revolutionary period in 1725 and 1728 respectively:






I still have a request out for a formal survey document that is only available from the Library of Virginia on microfilm, which should give me a better idea of precisely where the property is as I hope it includes a map. From tracing what I can from the vague descriptions listed in the grants (so many rods from the white oak at the northwest corner of so and aso's property going southeast to the hanging red oak.....) and doing an internet search of some of the clues I have discovered that the property is in southwest portion of the city of Manassas, VA, along the north side of Winters Branch of the Broad Run of the Occoquan River off of the Potomac. From Satellite photos on Google and Mapquest the Winters Branch creek is still there, and in the overheads there just happens, coincidentally or not , to be a Fosters Drive right about where I expected the acreage to be. Unfortunately we lost the property during the revolution due to financial difficulties due to a collapse of the tobacco trade with Britain, and the family subsequently moved further into the frontier where subsequent homesteads we know of already are located in what is now West Virginia. Still chasing the family name further back to find the original member that actually crossed the Atlantic to find where they landed and originated from. Once I get that I hope tracing the Ulster or Scotland part to be a bit better documented.

By the way, if anybody has accessto or knowledge of a copy of the following manuscript or text, "The Foster Family of Virginia and West Virginia" by Mary Martin Hagan and Emmajean Huffman Allred, it would greatly help my search for the even earlier members of my family. Thanks.

Thus far it has been a blast searching through old documents and bibles and family members remembrances, and finding other parallel branches of the family, and all along the internet has been a wonderfully useful tool. Just when you think you have hit a dead end, another sideways clue gets you going again. And I have not even tried the major geneology sites yet either. Saving them for when things get really tough or I run completely out of other options. I would rather do this on my own as much as possible

jeff

[BoldHighlander]

That's really cool Jeff

For a number of years I too hit dead-ends, etc, and then BOOM! it was like a dam had burst & all this family info almost overwhelmed me!
I agree, genealogy can be a real blast.

Best of luck & continued success!

[ForresterModern]

SCORE!! In my OP I was seeking a copy of a manuscript which lays out a Foster family line that joins mine 6 generations back from my father and has the same previous line back to the Wm Forster of the land grants. On a flyer I did a search for the two authors of the manuscript, and found that one had lived in the same place for virtually all her life, but died 11 years ago. Still, whitepages.com listed her previous address and phone number, and lo and behold it also listed possible relatives who had shared the same number or address at some time----the 67 year old daughter who lives two houses away from where her parents lived and she grew up. Simple search got her name, number and address, and I spoke with her by phone last night for about 30 minutes-----talk about a long lost cousin----at least 14 times removed. Anyway I sent her copies of the land grant documents (she and her daughter were ecstatic) and they are copying her mother's manuscript for me and we are going to collaborate further on all the box full of geneology stuff on our family. This may get me another couple generations and will certainly get me more solid dates and documentation for the loosely strung stuff I got now. Yahoo.

j

[Ozark Ridge Rider]

It's wonderful you were able to find so much. I also have ancestors in that area, surnamed Keeble and possibly Piper. If anything like that turns up I'll be glad to share the meager amount of stuff I have with you.

Regards,
Dan