Happy St. Patrick’s Day – Robert’s Roots

In honour of St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I would write a post about Irish heritage.  While I haven’t found any on my side (yet), I know my husband Robert has some Irish.  His Irish roots go back to Robert St. Clair Stoddart born about 1769 in Longford, Ireland. His line is Robert St. Clair Stoddart-James St. Clair Stoddart-Robert Stoddart-Milford Clayton Stoddart-Maurice Randall Stoddart-Robert’s Mom-Robert Foster.

This is one of the lines that is on the list of projects to work on together, when Robert has more time. We have found some information on Robert Stoddart on our visit to the O’Dell Museum when we were last in Nova Scotia.

From a list of soldiers discharged in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.  They were from the 98^th (Late 99^th) Regiment of Foot. (1803-1818) (disbanded)

The introduction to the list states that the Regiment of Foot was raised in Ireland in 1803. From 1806 to 1818, they were stationed at Halifax,Nova Scotia; Fredricton, New Brunswick; and St. John’s, Newfoundland. They were renumbered as the 98^th in 1815.  They were disbanded in 1818.

Robert Stoddors/Studdors [Stoddart] enlisted September 30, 1804 at the age of 35 in Longford, Ireland.  He was discharged June 25, 1818 at Fredriction.  He was listed as a carpenter. 

We have found Robert Stoddart in the book “History of the County of Annapolis Nova Scotia” by W.A. Calnek. The book can be looked at on Our Roots, page 280.  His is listed in Falkland as Sergeant Robert Stoddart who was an original grantee.  

We have some information about this line from a relative who did up a book on Robert Stoddart’s descendants.  While this is a great starting point, we still need to find more sources. But that's half the fun.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Surname Saturday-Robert’s Roots-FOSTER

This is my husband’s surname, and the surname I adopted when we were married (20 years ago).  What puzzled Robert was who were the Fosters and where did they come from?  He was more interested in genealogy at this time than I was.  So when we were in Nova Scotia visiting the in-laws in 2003, he just had to look to at the genealogy room in the Kings County Museum.  With a bit of help from the friendly volunteers, he was able to find his Foster line.  So who were they and where did they come from?  The Fosters are very Canadian.  Benjamin Foster, his wife Sarah Woodward, and their children came to Granville, Nova Scotia from Massachusetts, USA in 1760.  Benjamin is a descendant of Reginald Foster of Ipswich, Massachusetts, originally from England. 

The Kings County Museum in Kentville, Nova Scotia is a great place to find family histories of the area. It’s filled with interesting exhibits and friendly, helpful volunteers.  Although we’ve only had the chance to go a couple of time, we have found great information each time.  We look forward to a visit next time we visit the in-laws.  One of those treasures you can’t find online.

“History of the County of Annapolis, Nova Scotia: Including Old Port Royal & Acadia” by W.A. Calnek has a write up about the Fosters in Annapolis.  You can see the whole book on our roots, as well as other histories in Canada.

“Foster Genealogy”, an amazing book by Frederick Clifton Pierce in 1899.  The book is 1089 pages complied at a time when there were no computers.  You can see the whole book on Internet Archive.