Foerster History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Germany

The ancestral home of the Foerster family is in the German state of Bavaria. The name Foerster is an occupational hereditary surname, a type of surname that was taken from a word describing or common to the profession of the original bearer. It is a name for a person whose occupation is forestry, or a person who lives near a forest.

Early Origins of the Foerster family

The surname Foerster was first found in Bavaria, where the name emerged in mediaeval times as one of the notable families of the region. From the 13th century the surname was identified with the great social and economic evolution which made this territory a landmark contributor to the development of the nation.

Early History of the Foerster family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Foerster research. Another 137 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1508, 1616, 1673, 1729, 1791, 1798, 1823, 1868 and 1869 are included under the topic Early Foerster History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Foerster Spelling Variations

One can encounter great variation in the spelling of surnames: in early times, spelling in general, and thus the spelling of names was not yet standardized; and later, spellings would change with branching and movement of families. Variations of the name Foerster include Forster, Foerster, Forstern, Forstner and others.

Early Notables of the Foerster family

Prominent among members of the name Foerster in this period include

Kaspar Förster (also Caspar Foerster) (1616-1673), a German singer and composer
Friedrich Foerster (1791-1868), a historian and poet

Foerster Ranking

In the United States, the name Foerster is the 18,227^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1

Foerster migration to the United States +

Between the mid-17th and mid-20th centuries, German settlers arrived in North America by the thousands. Persecution based on religion and poverty were great motivators in this large-scale migration. So too was the opportunity for tenant farmers to own their own land. Ample land and opportunity awaited the settlers who went to such states as Pennsylvania, Texas, New York, Illinois, and California, as well as Ontario and the prairie provinces of Canada. Research into the origins of individual families in North America revealed records of the immigration of a number of people bearing the name Foerster or a variant listed above:

Foerster Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Cath Foerster, aged 24, who landed in New Orleans, La in 1845 2
Margrethe Foerster, aged 29, who arrived in New Orleans La in 1845 2
Mr. Edward Foerster, aged 37, German who arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1846 aboard the ship "Dyle Soomes"
Mrs. Emilie S. Foerster, aged 35, German who arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1846 aboard the ship "Dyle Soomes"
Child Foerster, German who arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1846 aboard the ship "Dyle Soomes", male child of Edward
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Contemporary Notables of the name Foerster (post 1700) +

Heinz von Foerster (1911-2002), Austrian American scientist
Thomas J. Foerster, American Democratic Party politician, Member of Pennsylvania State House of Representatives; Elected 1960, 1964 3
Thomas Foerster (d. 2000), American Democratic Party politician, Member of Pennsylvania State Legislature; Candidate for Mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1978; Presidential Elector for Pennsylvania, 1992 3
Patricia Ann Foerster, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Maryland, 1996, 2000, 2004 3
August Förster, founder of the August Förster Piano Manufacturing Company in 1859
Karlheinz Helmut Förster (b. 1958), retired German footballer
Wilhelm Julius Foerster (1832-1921), German astronomer
Josef Bohuslav Foerster (1859-1951), Czech composer of classical music

Citations +

"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 3) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html