Help Wanted! A gift received from a Genea-Angel!

The letter below was found on the internet by Jeff Somers who, just a few days ago, found my story of The Search for Hawksbill Church. And then, wonder of wonders, Jeff actually contacted me!



He was able to obtain a partial transcription of the letter, which seems to be a letter of recommendation for my ancestor, Wilhelm George Forster (aka William Foster) signed by two of Jeff's ancestors!



Here's the transcription that Jeff sent:

The Hawksbill Church

We, the complete evangelical, protestant, lutheran parish hereby state

that we have had Mr. Goster (or Foster, name is not clear) for ten years as a pastor in our parish.

He had asked us for this reference, to be presented to an "Honorable Menisteri" (?)

and we are willing to confirm that he has served faithfully and never missed any of the duties of his office.

Especially he spend much time in the youth ministry and tried to keep the youth with their mothers.

This would be desirable for others to do as well.

He does not accept help for his office duties.

He takes all the time needed, to visit sick people, in oder to be with them and to comfort them

So far, we have been quite happy with him, and he ...

I'd love to have a more complete transcription, so, if anyone out there can make sense of the Old German Script, please contact me!







For printing purposes I split the letter into two images and also enhanced the contrast a little. The original image of the letter that was found by Jeff on this Ancestry.com message board posting. I have contacted the poster of that message but have not received a response from him.



If I hadn't blogged about my little trip to find the Hawksbill Church, I would not (most likley) have found this letter on my own. Thank you, Jeff, for contacting me. It's very nice to end this year on a "high" note!!