Stephen Forsdick (b. 1835): Biographical Entry

242a FORSDICK, Stephen, Untitled, TS, pp.67 (c.47,000 words). Brunel University Library.

Born 8 Oct 1835 at Long Spring Lodge, in the parish of Watford, Hertfordshire. Youngest of 7 children (5 boys, 2 girls) of a gamekeeper. Educated at a school provided by the Earl of Essex; National School (aged 8-13); Sunday School. Twice married, 1856 and 1897, with 8 children by his first wife alive in 1878. Emigrated to American in 1856. Returned to England in 1865 and worked for a short time in Birmingham before emigrating for a second time in the same year.

Employed in the counting-house of a silk mill (1849 – 52); worked in various trades when in America including as a hauler of wood, cook, railway worker and farmer; employed as a railway clerk during his brief return to England (1865).

A convert to the Mormon Church, becoming a teacher and preacher; naturalised citizen of the United States of America; achieved several public appointments.

Written when aged about 75, Forsdick tells chiefly of his experiences in immigration; overland travel to Salt Lake City; life, work and arguments within the Mormon century. Only a small section of the narrative concerns his life in England though containing useful comments on ancestry; school; dress; wages.