Grave marker for Jared Foster, Opdyke Cemetery, Jefferson Co. IL
Mr. Perrin, above, has a couple of conflations in his piece. John Foster, who may be called Sr., though it isn’t clear he used this himself, was great-great-great-grandfather to the Jonathan who was Jared’s father. In between were Samuel and two Williams. John, born 1618, was the original immigrant, and settled in Salem, Massachusetts, the state in which the Fosters lived for several generations.
Some information on my grandmother’s (Vera Alene Stewart, 1905-2003) antecedents.
While given the reminder in New Zealand this week, of the tragic reach of religious intolerance and hatred, those of us descended from religious refugees can bear the American promise in mind, and strenghten it, when we find it within our power to do so.
The Wilhite group featured here arrived when Virginia was a possession of the British empire, probably from the Baden-Wurttemberg region of Germany.
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Chocolate Chunk Blondies
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup walnuts ground into meal
24 pcs Hershey Nuggets
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
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Mix butter, sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and sugar.
Make walnut meal by coarsely grinding English walnuts in the blender.
Add flour, baking powder, salt and walnut meal.
Pulse Hershey nuggets to various size chunks about 4 or 5 times, processing a handful at a time. Add to batter.
Add white chocolate chips.
Butter and flour a 13 x 9 baking pan and spread batter into it.
Bake at 350 degrees. Because ovens vary, begin checking for doneness at about 20 minutes. When golden brown and when a toothpick comes cleanly out of the center, remove from oven.
Some information on the Barkers, going back through the maternal line to colonial days.
1 ¾ cups confectioner’s sugar
2/3 cups butter, unsalted
Blend these together first, to the consistency of frosting
Add 2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Blend until smoothly incorporated
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup cocoa
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
Blend all until the consistency is sticky, ingredients fully mixed
Add 1 cup walnut pieces
Refrigerate 15 minutes minimum
Roll chilled cookie dough into balls, roll balls in granulated sugar
Space about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet
Bake at 350 degrees, and watch for the tops to turn matte and split open
Remove from oven
Memories of a Midwestern Family 