and here briefly is the FOSTER/PARKER/PLEDGER/CAIRNS LAWSON research that I am pursuing at the moment.
LUKE FOSTER m Martha Bell 1790
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LUKE FOSTER born 1794 m Ann Short 1817
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LUKE FOSTER born 1823 m 1st Agnes M Taylor 1845, 2nd Alice Marnes 1854
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CATHERINE FOSTER born 1847 m CHARLES WILLIAM PARKER 1868
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HENRIETTA PARKER born 1872 m JAMES PLEDGER 1893
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ALICE EMMA PLEDGER born 1896 m WILLIAM CAIRNS LAWSON 1921
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OLIVE LAWSON born 1924 m Eddie Berkon 1944
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Janice Berkon born 1949 (me)
Again this is the briefest of summaries, I will be expanding this as I go on.
I will start again with a brief summery of the info I have to date on my BIRKAHN/BERKON/BERKAN/WASSERMAN/WATERMAN research. A lot of the earlier info was very kindly given to me by my cousin Harold Waterman who was tragically taken from us this year and is very sadly missed, we remain in contact with his dear wife Therese.
Friedrichstadt (now Jaunjelgava) Latvia early 1800’s:
ABRAHAM BIRKHAN married ???
their children:
YANKEL (Jacob)
Itskha (Isaac)
Shomer
Shimon
YANKEL BIRKHAN married GLIKA GRASSFELD.
They had 13 children (8 sons & 5 daughters) born Latvia including:
BIRCHIK BIRKAHN ( BARNETT BERKON) *See below.
Rosa BIRKAHN, she married Soloman Wasserman who came to England with her in 1907. They had 7 children, 3 daughters, Clara, Annie, Miriam who all died in early infancy and 4 sons inc Leibe (Lewis Waterman) who married Anne Berkan, grand daughter of Shomer Birkhan in 1937.
They had 2 children:
Harold Waterman, who married Therese Stokes in Ireland in 1992, he very sadly died April 10th 2007.
Raymond Wasserman (Waterman) who also sadly died June 24th 2006
Motel (Max Berkan) his 1st marriage was to Bessie Bass in England in 1909, she died 1950 and he married Annie Donn in 1952. He became a Naturalised British Subject and served in the British Army during the 1914-18 war.
* BERCHIK ( BARNETT BERKON ) married DORA KRAITZBURG in England in 1906.
Their children:
Klare Birkahn (Claire Berkon)
Simon Birkahn (Simon Berkon)
Rebecca Birkahn (Berkon)
Annie Berkon
EDDIE BERKON married OLIVE LAWSON 1944
They had 8 children, (1 baby girl stillborn and a boy, Simon Keith who died soon after birth), including JANICE BERKON ( that’s me ).
This is just the briefest of outlines as I have vast amounts of info on this family and their descendants. I have kept it to a minimum in order not to upset or offend anyone who may not want this info published, although most of it is freely available to any member of the general public under the freedom of information act at the National Archives and FRC.
If anyone has any queries or any information to add please feel free to contact me.
