Welcome to The Briercliffe Society Forum

The following is the story of my ancestors. If anyone can add any more information I would greatrly appreciate it. Please see my Open Questions below. Also if anybody knows the whereabouts of any of the other descendents of the Fosters, I would love to hear from them.

Many thanks to Roger Frost for much of the background information and for telling me about the mill move back to Briercliffe in the war years.

Foster Brothers Mill
Burnley

The Early Years of the Foster Clan (1786 – 1911)

The family as far as my research goes, starts with Jeremiah Foster, a weaver, born about 1786, presumably in Briercliffe. His son John Foster was born about 1815, one of at least 3 children. He became a hand loom weaver and married Ann Burrows (born about 1820) in about 1836. In the 1841 census the family was living at the Hill Factory, Lane Bottom. In the 1851 census they lived in Barker Row, Lane Bottom. They had at least 5 children.

Their son William Foster was born on 10th December 1843. In 1866 he married Sarah Ann Crabtree born 1848 and daughter of the blacksmith, Thomas Crabtree of Haggate. In the census of 1871, William was a cotton weaver and he and Sarah had 2 sons, John (my great grandfather) and Thomas and lived in South View Terrace in Burnley Road, Briercliffe or Harle Syke, near Burnley.

South View is a terrace of 8 houses, although 18 families lived there then, and still in existence although the terrace is no longer named. It is the oldest row in Harle Syke and was built in the 1860s. When first constructed it had an open aspect overlooking farmland. South View has no back street and was built with old fashioned stone gutters. The houses had piped water from the beginning but did not have individual toilets. There were originally communal toilets at the top and bottom of the terrace.

William worked as a cotton mill weaver, probably at Harle Syke Mill as this was the first mill to be built in the area in 1855-56 and is only about 100yards from South View. The other mills in this area were built after this time. It was built by hand loom weavers, mostly from Haggate who decided to set up their own weaving mill to employ both themselves and their families. Could his father,John, have been one of these men?

By the next census in 1881 the Fosters were still living in South View. William now aged 37 had progressed in his career to become the manager of the cotton weaving shed. John was aged 14 and already a cotton weaver. There were already 6 children: John, Thomas, Alice Ann, Arthur, Willie and James.

By the time of the 1891 census William and Sarah and 8 children had moved around the corner to 14 Queen Street. This is a small two up, two down terraced house and 10 people lived in it! William was by now aged 47 and cotton mill manager.

In the census of 1901 they were still living in the same house, William (57) still a cotton mill manager but now only the 5 youngest children were still at home.

The two eldest sons John (my great grandfather) and Thomas had left home before the 1891 census. John was married to Nancy (née Davis) from Garsdale, Yorkshire and their son Harold was a baby. They lived in Burnley Road. Thomas, also a cotton weaver, was married to Margaret and had a daughter Martha aged 1. They lived in South View. Both brothers were cotton weavers.

In the 1901 census I was able to find John Foster aged 34 married to Nancy aged 32 with children Harold aged 10 and Florence (my grandmother) aged 5. They were living at 25 Duke Street an end of terrace house just around the corner from William. John’s occupation was cotton weaver.

In the same street at number 15, I also found some of the other brothers; Thomas, his wife and his son Willie (Martha had died aged 3). Thomas was a cotton cloth looker. At number 21 the family of Arthur also cotton cloth looker and at number 5 his brother Willie and family, a cotton weaver.

All the mentioned addresses in Harle Syke were incredibly close and within a couple of hundred yards of each other.



The Habergham Mill Years (1912-1966)

In 1912 Harbergham Mill, Coal Clough lane in Burnley was built and run by Foster Brothers. Foster Brothers was not a limited company, thus there are no records at Companies House. I would like to access the deeds to find out whether the Fosters owned the mill or leased it.

John Foster, my great grandfather, now lived at 247 Coal Clough Lane and his daughter Florence worked in the mill as a bookkeeper. Here she met Stott Sutcliffe, a cotton cloth overlooker (electrician and ex a.b. seaman) of 30 Godiva Street and they married in June 1919. On their marriage certificate John Foster, father of the bride, was listed as cotton manufacturer.

The following information comes from a list of Cotton Mill Owners by J Howell in Burnley Library.

On February 13th 1920, presumably after retirement of John, his younger brother Thomas formed the company T Foster Ltd. (Companies House have records of this company being incorporated in 1919). Thomas died aged 59 on 9th February, 1929 leaving his wife Amy (this is puzzling as he was married to Margaret in the 1901 census) and son William. Thomas was buried at Hill Lane Baptist Church and had lived in Carlton Road.

Willie carried on the company with himself as managing director until his retirement in 1958. He died on 10th March 1962. His politics were listed as Liberal.

Willie saw the mill through difficult times. According to Barrett’s Directory of Burnley (1914-1953), in 1933 the name had changed to T Foster and Sons. At this time he was joined by Harold (John’s son) as a cotton salesman and by a James Foster (presumably his younger brother). There is no evidence that Tom, Willie’s son, worked in the mill. Willie lived at 274 Coal Clough Lane just in front of the mill.

During the war years T Foster Ltd had to move out of Habergham Mill and I have information that they moved back to Harle Syke. On January 22nd 1946 a party was held at the Arcadian Rooms in Burnley to celebrate the re-opening of T Foster Ltd at Habergham Mill.

In 1945 J Foster Ltd is listed as a cotton manufacturer at Harle Syke Mill (where his grandfather William started in the 1860s) and a warehouse at 11 Elizabeth Street is mentioned. The telephone numbers at this time are the same for both T Foster Ltd and J Foster Ltd indicating that the companies were linked. By 1949 there was again only mention of T Foster Ltd.

In fact J Foster Limited was incorporated in 1924, the company was dissolved over 20 years ago and the records at Companies House destroyed.

T Foster Ltd is listed in a Cotton Trade Directory of the World (date ca. 1955).

On Willie’s death an obituary followed in the Burnley Express on Saturday, March 27th 1962:

‘Ex-head of cotton firm dies
A Burnley man who was associated with the cotton industry for the greater part of his life, Mr Willie Foster, of 1 Westbourne Avenue, died in the General Hospital last Saturday, at the age of 66.
He was a member of the Manchester Royal Exchange for 30 years. As a school-leaver he joined the firm of Foster Brothers of which his father Mr Thomas Foster, was founder. In 1920 he was appointed secretary of the newly formed limited company T Foster Ltd, whose premises were at Habergham Mill.
In 1929 he succeeded his father as managing director and in this capacity he guided the fortunes of the company until his retirement in 1958. The cremation took place at Burnley on Wednesday. Mr Foster leaves a widow and a son.’
The mill finally closed in 1966, but not after placing an advertisement in the Burnley Official Guide for 1966 which possibly indicates the independence of the mill.

The mill finally closed in 1966, but not after placing an advertisement in the Burnley Official Guide for 1966 stating "We weave well alone" which possibly indicates the independence of the mill.


Open Questions and Conclusions

This raises the questions:

·What happened to the other Foster Brothers who according to family legend got out of the mill in the slump and left John and obviously Thomas ‘holding the baby’? My mother remembers meeting Herbert, John and Tom’s youngest brother, as a little girl.

·Why did John give up the mill in 1920 and retire at only 54 years of age?

·Who was running the mill after Willie’s retirement in 1958?

·Was it run by his brother James and was he married with family?

and

·What happened to Tom Foster, Willie’s son? If living he would now be in his 80s. Is he still alive now and did he marry and have children? I have tried to find him with the help of Radio 2’s ‘Where are they now’ but to no avail I am afraid.


Observations

While in the area we also visited the Queen Street Mill, which is a working museum. The noise of the looms was astounding. It is no wonder that people lost their hearing, not to mention the bronchial problems caused through the cotton fibres in the air and the outside air quality which can only be imagined by the blackness of the stone houses compared with those which have today been sand blasted. I can imagine, that due to the concentration of mills in the area by the beginning of the 20th century the air quality, even in the countryside, must have been terrible. Our ancestors were not to be envied and even though mine ran a mill themselves, they still lived very modestly.

_________________
Alison
Plymouth

"What happened to Tom Foster, Willie’s son? If living he would now be in his 80s. Is he still alive now and did he marry and have children? I have tried to find him with the help of Radio 2’s ‘Where are they now’ but to no avail I am afraid"

Alison, this is a good site if you are searching for people, although you would need a town to narrow down the search.

http://www.b4usearch.com/index.cfm?even ... nd:Display

Thanks for the link but that website did not help any further.
Tom Foster was last seen by my mother just prior to WWII. He was visiting the family in Bournemouth and at that time he was still living with his father and mother in Coal Clough Lane, Burnley. I have a photo of him playing darts with my mother in the garden.
In his father's obituary in the Burnley Express which I have quoted above, it states that he left a wife and son. So in 1962 Tom was still alive. But whether he was still living in Burnley I have no idea.
I would love to know if he is still around and whether he had any children.

_________________
Alison
Plymouth

Alison has kindly submitted her Foster and Crabtree gedcoms. They can be found on the family trees page on the main site http://www.briercliffesociety.co.uk/Family%20Trees.htm
Thanks Alison.

_________________
Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

This is an updated version of my Foster Brothers Mill
posting. I would be grateful for any further information anybody might have.

The Early Years of the Foster Clan (1815 – 1911)

William Foster was born on 10th December 1843, son of John Foster (born 1815), a weaver and his wife Ann, née Burrows, of Lane Bottom, Briercliffe. In 1866 he married Sarah Ann Crabtree. In the census of 1871 they had 2 sons John (my great grandfather) and Thomas and lived in South View Terrace in Burnley Road, Briercliffe or Harle Syke, near Burnley. South View is a terrace of 8 houses, although 18 families lived there, and still in existence although the terrace is no longer named. It is the oldest row in Harle Syke and was built in the 1860s. When first constructed it had an open aspect overlooking farmland. South View has no back street and was built with old fashioned stone gutters. The houses had piped water from the beginning but did not have individual toilets. There were originally communal toilets at the top and bottom of the terrace.

William worked as a cotton mill weaver, probably at Harle Syke Mill as this was the first mill to be built in the area in 1855-56 and is only about 100 yards from South View. The other mills in this area were built after this time. It was built by hand loom weavers, mostly from Haggate who decided to set up their own weaving mill to employ both themselves and their families. Could his father John have been one of these men?


By the next census in 1881 the Fosters were still living in South View. William now aged 37 had progressed in his career to become the manager of the cotton weaving shed. John was aged 14 and already a cotton weaver. There were already 6 children: John, Thomas, Alice Ann, Arthur, Willie and James.

By the time of the 1891 census William and Sarah and 8 children (Alice Ann, Arthur, Willie, James, Mary Ellen, Jesse, Elizabeth and Herbert) had moved around the corner to 14 Queen Street. This is a small two up, two down terraced house and 10 people lived in it! William was by now aged 47 and cotton mill manager. They had 10 children in total.

In the census of 1901 they were still living in the same house, William (57) still a cotton mill manager but now only the 5 youngest children were still at home.

The two eldest sons John (my great grandfather) and Thomas had left home before the 1891 census. John was married to Nancy (née Davis) from Garsdale, Yorkshire and their son Harold was a baby. They lived in Burnley Road. Thomas, also a cotton weaver, was married to Margaret Ellen and had a daughter Martha aged 1. They lived in South View. Both brothers were cotton weavers.

In the 1901 census I was able to find John Foster aged 34 married to Nancy aged 32 with children Harold aged 10 and Florence (my grandmother) aged 5. They were living at 25 Duke Street an end of terrace house just around the corner from William. John’s occupation was cotton weaver.

In the same street at number 15, I also found some of the other brothers; Thomas, his wife and his son Willie (Martha had died aged 3). Thomas was a cotton cloth looker. At number 21 the family of Arthur also cotton cloth looker and at number 5 his brother Willie and family, a cotton weaver.

All the mentioned addresses in Harle Syke were incredibly close and within a couple of hundred yards of each other.


The Habergham Mill Years (1912-1966)

In 1912 Harbergham Mill, Coal Clough lane in Burnley was built and run by Foster Brothers. Foster Brothers was not a limited company, thus there were no records at Companies House.

John Foster, my great grandfather, now lived at 247 Coal Clough Lane and his daughter Florence worked in the mill as a bookkeeper. Here she met Stott Sutcliffe, a cotton cloth overlooker (electrician and ex a.b. seaman) of 30 Godiva Street and they married in June 1919. On their marriage certificate John Foster, father of the bride, was listed as cotton manufacturer.

After Florence’s marriage, Doris May Foster the daughter of Thomas Foster and sister of Willie took over the bookkeeping for the mill.

In the cotton slump of the 1920s all the brothers sold out their shares of the mill to Clarkson and Sutcliffe except Thomas. John Clarkson and Fred Sutcliffe were more or less sleeping partners and left Thomas Foster to run the mill. The building was probably then divided in two and shared by Fosters and A Curedale Ltd. The steam engine which ran the looms of both companies was called Susanna Keighly and was situated (looking from the front) on the right hand end of the building. Some of the other brothers used the money they had made, to buy properties on the coast: John to Morecambe and later Bournemouth, Arthur to Southport, William to Blackpool, Jesse also probably went to the coast. James, Herbert and their sister Alice Ann all stayed in Bristol Street just off Coal Clough Lane. It is not known what happened to Mary Ellen and Elizabeth married an Arthur Nuttall.

The following information comes from a list of Cotton Mill Owners by J Howell in Burnley Library:
“On February 13th 1920, Thomas Foster formed the company T Foster Ltd.” (Companies House have records of this company being incorporated in 1919).

Thomas died aged 59 on 6th February, 1929 leaving his wife Margaret Ellen and son William and daughter Doris May. Thomas was buried at Hill Lane Baptist Church and had lived in Carlton Road.

Willie carried on the company with himself as managing director until his retirement in 1957. He then sold his shares to Clarksons who took over the business completely. Willie died on 10th March 1962. His politics were listed as Liberal.

Willie saw the mill through difficult times. Willie’s son Thomas recalls that the mill burnt down one night in the early 1930s and was rebuilt with a proper fire wall between the two companies in the building. The fire had started in A Curedale’s part and spread through the existing partition to Fosters.

According to Barrett’s Directory of Burnley (1914-1953), in 1933 the name had changed to T Foster and Son. Although Thomas does not think that this was the case.

Willie lived at 274 Coal Clough Lane just in front of the mill.

During the war years T Foster Ltd had to move out of Habergham Mill as the site was requisitioned for the war effort and moved to the very old-fashioned Harle Syke Mill. On January 22nd 1946 a party was held at the Arcadian Rooms in Burnley to celebrate the re-opening of T Foster Ltd at Habergham Mill.

T Foster Ltd is listed in a Cotton Trade Directory of the World (date ca. 1955) as below:
“Foster (T) Ltd., Habergham Mill, Coal Clough Lane, Burnley. (Private Company.) Constituted: Feb 13, 1920. R/E Pillar No.: G14. Telephone: Burnley 5682. Pay day: Wed. Directors: John Clarkson (Chairman), Willie Foster (Managing), Fred Sutcliffe, Harry Sutcliffe, Reginald Clarkson. Secretary: Gerge Clarkson. Salesmen: W Foster, Geo. Clarkson. Weaving Manager: W. Stoker. Employees: 120. Bankers: Martin’s Bank Ltd., St. James St., Burnley. Cotton Manufacturers.
Looms: 416. Cloth widths: 30 to 41 in. Make of Machinery: Pemberton’s; Harling & Todd. Fabrics manufactured: Bag cloths, cambrics, haircords, interlinings, limbrics, muslins (low), pillow cottons, pocketings, printers, shirtings (grey), voiles (mock), wigans.
Export: South Africa, French Morocco.
Capital – Authorised: £45,000, £1 shares. Subscribed and paid up: £43,600. Loanholders: Nil. Accounts: To Dec 31”

The Weaving Manager Walter Stoker was the son of Alice Ann Foster, Thomas’s sister and husband Walter Stoker. Alice Ann lived in Bristol Street for all her later life. Walter, her son, also lived at the same address for many years. He married Marjory Lee and had a daughter late in life during his retirement near Ormskirk.

On Willie’s death an obituary followed in the Burnley Express on Saturday, March 27th 1962:

‘Ex-head of cotton firm dies
A Burnley man who was associated with the cotton industry for the greater part of his life, Mr Willie Foster, of 1 Westbourne Avenue, died in the General Hospital last Saturday, at the age of 66.
He was a member of the Manchester Royal Exchange for 30 years. As a school-leaver he joined the firm of Foster Brothers of which his father Mr Thomas Foster, was founder. In 1920 he was appointed secretary of the newly formed limited company T Foster Ltd, whose premises were at Habergham Mill.
In 1929 he succeeded his father as managing director and in this capacity he guided the fortunes of the company until his retirement in 1958. The cremation took place at Burnley on Wednesday. Mr Foster leaves a widow and a son.’

Around 1964 his wife, Eleanor, moved from 1 Westbourne Avenue to 24 Bristol Street (a parallel road). Although most of the Foster family had passed away she still had many friends there. She lived there until her death at Burnley General Hospital in 1977. Willie and Eleanor’s son Thomas of Gerrards Cross registered the death.

The mill finally closed in 1966.

The records for the company were destroyed by Companies House on 27.02.1973.

Conclusion

While in the area we also visited the Queen Street Mill, which is a working museum. The noise of the looms was astounding. It is no wonder that people lost their hearing, not to mention the bronchial problems caused through the cotton fibres in the air and the outside air quality which can only be imagined by the blackness of the stone houses compared with those which have today been sand blasted.

I was pleased to see that both Queen Street and Duke Street were just a few hundred yards from open countryside. Even though the houses were small and cramped with so many people, at least they could escape to the countryside. I can imagine, that due to the concentration of mills in the area by the beginning of the 20th century the air quality, even in the country, must have been terrible. Our ancestors were not to be envied and even though they ran a mill themselves they still lived in very modest houses.

_________________
Alison
Plymouth

Habergham Mill – Recollections from Tom Foster

From the late 1920s until its closure the mill was in two parts. As my life span does not extend to earlier years. I will in part resort to supposition for the years of Foster Brothers. In my time, two separate cotton manufacturing businesses were accommodated namely that of T Foster Ltd and that of Curedales, possibly trading as A Curedale Ltd. Alfred Curedale was the owner. Both businesses had to move out during the War to make way for some kind of engineering production. The weaving sheds which extended a considerable distance in a single storey behind the front, taller part were not used or hardly, so the loom were left in site during this occupation. Both Fosters and Curedales returned to Habergham in 1945, Fosters having carried on their business in Harle Syke Mill during the war. This was a much older mill, less well equipped and difficult to operate.

Post-war the Lancashire cotton trade went into decline as overseas manufacturing, particularly in India, took over Lancashire’s export trade. Curedales diversified for a time into making printed tea cloths aprons and the like, adding value to their woven cotton but this was a short term palliative overtaken by cheap imports.

Throughout the period covered above there was a separate company Habergham Room and Power Co Ltd which was at least partly and possible wholly owned by T Foster Ltd. From the balance sheet of the latter 25 Dec 1957 Fosters held 300 £10 shares in HR&P Co Ltd valued at £6000. This company supplied power through line shafts to all parts of both mills. The source of power was a magnificent horizontal steam engine whose brass name plate called her Susana Keighley. A separate building annexed to Habergham (Foster’s end) housed the engine. One can speculate when HR&P was formed in relation to some of the thoughts expressed later. Possibly it was a means of charging out costs of power generation to two separate businesses. It could conceivably have included ownership of the mill building at some time, considering the company’s name.

The original name of Fosters’ cotton manufacturing business was Foster Brothers and in 1919 it became incorporated as T Foster Ltd, indicating perhaps that apart from Thomas the other brothers had withdrawn, that is, did not work in it. However the time of selling out was reputedly early 1920s when business became difficult. If that really was the sequence of events the possibility arises that Habergham Mill built by the brothers in 1912, was operated as a single entity at the outset and was split into two in 1919, one half of the mill being sold to Alfred Curedale. This would have provided cash for the Fosters and leave a smaller, perhaps more manageable, unit for Thomas to run whilst the others remained as shareholders benefiting from the dividends. It is interesting to note that John, the eldest was 51 and Herbert 30. Early retirement indeed!

Another indication that the mill was possible a single unit originally arises from my recollection that the dividing partition between Fosters and Curedales at the time of the fire , in the early 1930s I think, proved to be too insubstantial to contain the fire in Curedales where it is believed to have started. The whole building was destroyed but not the weaving sheds. A good fire break wall was build into the restored building and it is unlikely that this would have been omitted originally if two businesses were to be housed in the building.

In the 1920s when trade worsened the Foster Brothers, possibly retired from active service, sold their shares to Sutcliffe & Clarkson, another cotton manufacturing firm in Burnley, with at least two other mills in operation. Fred Sutcliffe and John Clarkson were the principals but the latter was the only one who seemed to interest himself in T Foster Ltd. When my grandfather was MD it was only John Clarkson who put in an occasional appearance. Another Clarkson, Fred was employed full time in attendance on Susana Keighly. Social contact between John and Fred did not occur although they were brothers.

This was the way of things until the early post-war years. I never wished to enter the cotton business and my father did not believe that it had a bright future. One of John Clarkson’s two sons, George was brought in to work under my father, not always amicably and eventually to take over. Reggie, the elder brother ran one of the other Sutcliffe and Clarkson mills and, before my father retired, began to take a direct interest in Foster. The Sutcliffes were inactive directors.

Sutcliffe and Clarksons was still in business after the closure of Habergham but I do not know for how long.

_________________
Alison
Plymouth

Sutcliffe & Clarkson was owned by my relatives.

James Sutcliffe
http://www.briercliffesociety.co.uk/paf ... 03.htm#407

Richard Clarkson http://www.briercliffesociety.co.uk/paf ... 03.htm#698

Do you know who Stott Sutcliffe’s father was?

Births September 1892
SUTCLIFFE Stott – Burnley, 8e, 228

Marriages June 1919
SUTCLIFFE Stott married Foster – Burnley, 8e, 699
FOSTER Florence married Sutcliffe – Burnley, 8e, 699

1891 Census - RG13; Piece: 3862; Folio: 154; Page: 43
64 Standish Street, Burnley (St. James)
Stott Sutcliffe, Head, Mar, 47yrs, Power Loom overlooker, b. Bacup
Alice Sutcliffe, Wife, Mar, 48yrs, b. Bacup
Richard Sutcliffe, Son, 20yrs, Cotton Weaver, b. Brooks Homes?
Leonard Sutcliffe, Son, 19yrs, Cotton Weaver, b. Brooks Homes?
Sarah E. Sutcliffe, Daughter, 14yrs, Cotton Weaver, b. Brooks Homes?
Florence Sutcliffe, Daughter, 12yrs, Cotton Weaver Half timer, b. Brooks Homes?
Stott Sutcliffe, Son, 8yrs, b. Burnley

Hi Alison.
Was your John the brother of my Halstead Foster? Halstead was born abt 1818 in Hill Factory. His father's name was Jeremiah (according to my info born June 22, 1783). Halstead had a younger brother, John, born abt.1814. I would be thrilled if this was so because my brothers and I grew up in Canada, and we have few relatives that we know. Of course this would be a rather distant relationship.
Christine M.

Hi Christine M.

John Foster b. 1814 is my Great Great Grandfather, from my findings Halstead was his younger brother.

Below is what I have found out to date.
Jeremiah Foster b. between 1792 and 1796 Married Mary Halstead on Oct 27 1803 at St Peters Church Burnley.

From the Haggate Baptist Church Birth Records they had 8 children.
William b.18Mar 1804,
John b. 02Jun 1806 (he must have died while a baby)
Ellin 06Apr 1808
Peggy b. 17Aug 1810
James b. 02Sept 1812
John b. 22Oct 1814
Halstead b. 15Apr 1818
Jeremiah b. 16Nov 1822
You can see all these names on the Church Records on this Web Site.

I also found that Jeremiah married a second time to Sarah Dearden in Nov 1832 at St Peters Church. She however must have died before 1841 because she is not shown in that Census.
I would suggest that your Jeremiah birth date of 1783 could be 1793.

Hi Alison

After reading your excellent descriptions of the Foster family, of which I am a distant relative. May I be so bold as to suggest that:
I think John Foster (b.abt. 1814) married Ann Halstead in Dec 1834 at St Peters Church Burnley and not Ann Burrows, I do not question any of the other details.

Also in your description of the Fosters living over crowded at South View ie 18 families in 8 houses.
Well, it was not quite as tight as that. The Census included the row of houses between South View Terrace and the Bowling Green to also to be called South View, so the number of houses doubled. This upper row was sheer luxury when compared to the houses in Lane Bottom, which is where most of the residents had come from.

Jack H

Jack, I'm not sure if it matters whether Jeremiah was born in 1783 or 1793. However, Familysearch has an IGI listing of a Jeremy Foster born June 22, 1783 to William Foster and "Susan". This fits in with the info a distant relative sent me several years ago which mentioned Jeremiah, born in 1783, to William Foster, who married Susan Kippax on October 27,1776. (On the marriage records Susan's name is misspelt as Hippax)
Of course, some of Family Search's info may not necessarily be accurate either.
Christine M.

Hi Christine

You are correct Jeremiah Foster’s age would be 1783. I can’t count.
The 1841 Census gives his age as 55, so he could be any age between 55and 59, ie 58.
Thank you for giving me Jeremiah’s parents names. I will add them to my Family Tree. William Foster will be my 4x Great Granddad.
If you have access to Ancestry you will find Jeremiah on my Hirst/West Family Tree.

jackh

Hi Christine,
Sorry for the delay - I have not looked at the site for sometime. Yes, John's youngest brother was called Halstead. I know nothing about him, so if you could fill me in that would be great.

Thanks
Alison

_________________
Alison
Plymouth