Hello,
I'm after some help transcribing a handwritten letter sent to a family member (Henry Helden Forster, Forster-3538) that dates to 1897. I have done my best with it but still have a few gaps and question marks over some of the words. A copy of the letter can be downloaded from my DropBox.
What I have been able to make out is below:
Bermuda 13 Jan ’97 (I think this means 1897)
I reply to your statement of the Forster families which came to me only on the 8th January of this year all that I can say of my grandfather——Forster that he came to Bermuda at the time of the revolutionary war in America that he was a gentleman descended from a high and influential family in England that he married in Bermuda to Frances ——Bold that he died early in one of the west Indian Islands suddenly while at dinner leaving a widow and three young children all girls in Bermuda. The oldest Susan Forster, Ann ——Forster, Mary Frances Forster, Susan Forster married Captain (??) Alan Andis (??) Thompson of the army Hin (??) station and in Bermuda they had one daughter only Laurina Thompson who married ——Rose (??) Dametra (??) Frances a gentleman from Scotland who was for many years collector of customs in the island of Barbados West Indies. Ann —— Forster married Theo B. Cooper about the year 1824, they had eight living children, six boys and two girls, Orville Cooper the eldest son was born 1st June 1828, second son Thomas Forster, Nathaniel Elfronzo, the fourth Ann Susan, fifth John Henry, six Alexander Thompson, seventh Mary Frances, eighth William Edward Cooper, all living, but two Thomas Forster and John Henry, Mary Frances Forster married Benjamin Stuobold (??) a sea Captain, they had four children, Camilla Elinor, Theophilus Daniel, Susan Thompson and Elizabeth Stuobold (??). My grandfather Thomas Forster corresponded with his family in England, he had a sister married who had no children. My mother Ann Norson (??) was the one he proposed to send to England for his sister to adopt, but of course his death put ——to that and all the communication with his family. My grandmother Frances Forster sent a power of attorney to the West Indies by one Captain John Burns to discover any property he might have left but she never got a penny, consequently the family became very poor. I have no doubt about my grandfather Thomas Forster bring cultivatio (??) when he was a lad, I heard many of the old people speak of him as such patient lovely, my fathers father who had —— gun in his employ some years ago (I forget how long). Someone came to Bermuda enquiring if any of the Forster family were hiring —— otherwise no Forster in Bermuda he bring in one end of the island, Saint Georges, we the descendants of Thomas Forster in Southampton parish in the other end he did not —— make proper enquires, but went away in a very short time all that he new of my grandfather Thomas Forster. I was told by my mother Ann —— Cooper I shall be glad to secure any further information from you on the subject and will communicate with you and inform you on any prints I may gather in the future. I never heard of any other Thomas Forster in Bermuda, but my grandfathers only brother who was named (??) . I have the honour to be yours faithfully Orville Cooper
H H Forster
FinnicHill House
Libuton
Midlothian
Scotland
Thanks for the help in advance
Simon