John Forster and Margaret [Unk]

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Husband John Forster ¹

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            AKA: John Foster 1
           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 20 Sep 1783 2
         Buried: 21 Sep 1783 - Lewis Cemetery, near Mifflinburg, Union Co, PA 3

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         Father: David Forster (      -1754) 1
         Mother: Mary [Unk] (      -Aft 1754) 1

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       Marriage: 

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Wife Margaret [Unk] ²

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 8 Jan 1792 2
         Buried: 10 Jan 1792 - Lewis Cemetery, near Mifflinburg, Union Co, PA 2

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Children

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1 M Thomas Forster ²

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Nov 1810 - Buffalo Valley, Union Co, PA 3
         Buried:  - Lewis Cemetery, near Mifflinburg, Union Co, PA

         Spouse: Jane Young (      -      ) 2
           Marr: 4 Nov 1777 2 4

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2 M Andrew Forster ²

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            AKA: Andrew Foster 5
           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Susanna Gray (1772-Abt 1810) 2 5

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3 M John Forster, Jr. ²

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 16 May 1780 3
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Did Not Marry

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4 M Robert Forster ²

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Esther Renick (      -      ) 2
           Marr: 14 Dec 1784 2

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5 F Christena Forster ²

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: John Montgomery (      -      ) 2

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6 F Jane Forster ^{2 6}

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           Born: Abt 1740
     Christened: 
           Died: 1824 6
         Buried:  - Lewis Cemetery, near Mifflinburg, Union Co, PA

         Spouse: Capt. William Irvine (      -1795) 6 7 8

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7 F Elizabeth Forster ^{9 10}

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           Born: 1744 10
     Christened: 
           Died: 18 Apr 1816 10
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Joseph Gray (1734-1794) 2 9 10
           Marr: 11 Nov 1779 10

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8 F Rebecca Forster ²

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: William McFarlane (      -      ) 2

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General Notes: Husband - John Forster

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He became the owner, by purchase, of 271 acres of land situated in Hanover (then Lancaster) County, Pennsylvania, which had been surveyed to John Young under a warrant granted to him in 1740. This tract of land was confirmed to John Foster by a patent deed from Thomas and William Penn, bearing date the 17th day of November, 1752, and he resided on the tract until about 1773 or 1774, when for some reason, probably with a view of bettering his condition and that of his family, he disposed of it by sale and became one of the pioneer settlers of Buffalo Valley. That delightful and charming Valley, then an almost untraversed forest of stately oak, hickory, walnut and pine, was within that part of Pennsylvania known as the last purchase made from the Indians by the Proprietary Government of the Colony in 1768.
The first surveys in the Valley were made in 1769, and from that year sturdy, adventurous and self-reliant settlers, among whom was John Forster, began to occupy, clear and cultivate its beautiful virgin acres, even then rich and inviting with the promise of future fertility and productiveness. Among the first surveys made in 1769, after the land office had been opened on the 3d of April of that year to receive applications for land within the Purchase of 1768, a number of tracts, aggregating eight thousand acres through the heart of the Valley, were returned for certain officers of the 1st and 2d battalions of the Pennsylvania regiment that served under Col. Henry Boquet in the expedition that marched under his command in 1764 to the relief of Fort Pitt, the site of the present city of Pittsburgh, then beleaguered by the Indians. In the allotment of these surveys to the officers who were to receive them, were two that fell respectively to Lieut. Charles Stewart and Lieut. James McCallister. These tracts were at the western part of the survey, lying about two miles west of the later town of Mifflinburg. The first tract, that of Lieut. Stewart, was called in the patent "Joyful Cabin," and contained 340 acres and 63 perches. The other, that of Lieut. McCallister, was called "Chatham," and contained 340 acres and 60 perches. Before removing from Hanover to Buffalo, John Forster had become the owner of these two tracts. On the western tract near Buffalo creek, he built his cabin, literally the beginning of a new home in the wilderness for himself, wife and children, and there he lived until his death.
In the tax list of Buffalo township, Northumberland County, for the year 1775-the list for the previous years not being in existence-the name of John Forster appears; on this list his property returned for taxes consists of twenty acres of cleared land, two horses, three cows and three sheep, probably for that time a substantial return.
His life seems to have been quiet, unobtrusive and moderately successful, though no knowledge of his personality or traits of character have come down to his descendants. Among some old family papers in the possession of a friend at Paxtang, Dauphin County, is a letter written from Buffalo to Paxtang announcing his death, from which the following extract is taken: "John Forster was taken sick of a fever on the 10th of September, 1783, died on the 20th, and was buried on Sunday, September 21, 1783."
By his will, on record at Sunbury, after providing for the support of his widow, he directed that his real estate, consisting of the two tracts of the land already mentioned, and containing together 680 acres, should be divided into three equal parts to be given to his three sons then living, a third to each, and that his daughters should receive certain bonds, which he described as "Bonds I received from the sale of my plantation in Hanover." [CBRCP-CCJC, 154]

1 Editor, Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania, Including the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion. (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1898), Pg 153.

2 Editor, Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania, Including the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion. (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1898), Pg 154.

3 Editor, Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania, Including the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion. (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1898), Pg 155.

4 William Henry Egle, Historical Register: Notes and Queries, Historical and Genealogical (Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg Publishing Company, 1894), Pg 163.

5 William Henry Egle, M.D., M.A., Pennsylvania Genealogies; Chiefly Scotch-Irish and German (Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg Publishing Co., 1896), Pg 770.

6 Editor, History of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valleys (Philadelphia, PA: Everts, Peck & Richards, 1886), Pg 1295.

7 Editor, Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania, Including the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion. (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1898), Pg 51, 154.

8 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915), Pg 114.

9 Editor, Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania (Chambersburg, PA: J. M. Runk & Company, Publishers, 1896), Pg 1002.

10 William Henry Egle, M.D., M.A., Pennsylvania Genealogies; Chiefly Scotch-Irish and German (Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg Publishing Co., 1896), Pg 769.