Books › Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883 › scan 227
Scan 227
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
2 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 213. See the scan on archive.org.
1or, rather, the history of the name, back a considerable distance in point of time. At first they were pure Normans, then for several hundreds of years they were purely Scotch, and, finally, they settled in Cumberland. He is, however, unable to intimately associate the violin makers of that name with the distinguished people who bore it in the political arena, but thinks it to be probable that some degree of kinship could be traced in that direction. The first of the fiddle Forsters was, at any rate, John, whose birthplace is undecided, but is supposed to be Brampton, in Cumberland, and the year of his birth to be 1688. He was a spinning-wheel maker or wheelwright, and gunmaker, and was reckoned to be a very ingenious man, who occasionally made fiddles. An instrument which was seen in 1850, and could, with some degree of probability, be traced back to this maker, is described as being of a very high Stainer model, but of rude and unfinished workmanship. It also bore some resemblance to the Amati outline. It was owned by Joseph Rook, a maker in Carlisle, who was intimate with some of the early members of the family. Presuming the identity of this John Forster to be established, William Forster, supposed to have been born in Brampton in 1713-4, is considered to have been his son, and the parish church records indicate that this William was married in 1736; his wife died in the prime of life and left a son, also called William, who became a spinning wheel maker, and also made violins, thus keeping up the traditionary occupation of the original John. Mr. S. A. Forster, the biographer of the family, had an instrument by this maker, which is described as a very ordinary production;
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.