Person:Richard Foster (1)

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~fosterfamily/index.html Welcome To The Foster Webpage Dedicated To The Memory Of My Grandparents: DICK AND DENA FOSTER During the Middle Ages, the Foster clan was one of many who lived primarily on the Anglo-Scottish border. The name derived from Forster or Forrster, which itself derived from Forester or Forrester. The first man of that name was Sir Richard Forester (d. 1121), whose sister, Matilda (also called Maud) of Flanders (d. 1083), was married to William the Conqueror (1027 - 1087). Sir Richard was the son of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders (d. 1067). The Baldwins descended from Baldwin I (d. 879), the son of Anarcher, Great Forester of Flanders (d. 837). Baldwin I, called "Iron Man" was the first Count of Flanders and was married to Judith (b. 844), the daughter of Charles the Bald, King of France (823 - 877), who was a descendant of Charlemagne (742 - 814). The accepted Foster coat of arms is a silver colored shield with a green chevron and three hunter's horns. Above the shield is a helmet with an arm, in armor, bent, holding a lance. The lance is broken. The Latin scroll at the bottom reads Si Fractus Fortis, "If broken, still strong." My name is David Foster and my grandfather was Richard Ambrose "Dick" Foster, who was born in Linden, Texas on February 9, 1871 and died in Dallas, Texas on May 4, 1962. On June 30, 1892 he married Mary Eugenia Hague. "Dena", as she was known to most of her friends and family, was born on March 18, 1872 in Tennessee and died in Alex, Oklahoma on August 27, 1953. Dick Foster was a merchant, a farmer, and Post Master. Dena Foster's grandmother was Lillis Louisa Houston, a cousin of the famous General Sam Houston of Texas History. Dick and Dena are buried in the old Kit cemetery in Irving, Texas. Dick Foster was the 21st child of Thomas Jefferson Foster, who married 3 times and had a total of 24 children (yes, 24!). My great grandmother was the third wife of Thomas Jefferson Foster, Sallie Trimble.

foster42@@flash.net

Thanks to Dr. Billy Glen Foster we can now trace our family tree back beyond the ancestral immigrant into England and back even further to the Normon invasion. We are indebted to him for supplying almost all of the information on this page.

We Fosters descended from Sir Richard Forester, who was the brother-in-law of William the Conqueror. This page will start with him and work up, generation by generation, to Richard Foster, our ancestral immigrant.

But before I begin this part of the history, I want to set the record straight about one thing. Family legends abound about our ancestors. Some are true and others are not. Our Forster ancestors were not Celtic and they were not Saxon. They were Norman. One of the legends claims that our ancestors were Scottish and that a later branch of the family settled in Northern Ireland during the time of King James I. This is not true. Although many Forsters did migrate from Scotland to Northern Ireland, our line did not. Our line of the Foster family came to America from England. Although I personally would have no objection to being Scotch-Irish, our ancestors simply were not part of that migration to Northern Ireland. However, it is only fair to point out that they were Anglo-Scottish. They were "Borderers," one of the many clans who lived on the Anglo-Scottish border. Their primary loyalty was to the Forster clan. They were loyal to the crown of Scotland when it was convenient and to the crown of England when it was necessary.

See: Generation #1 Sir Richard Forester (b. 1050)

not finished--http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~fosterfamily/foster1.html