Lake County IN Archives Biographies.....Foster, Albert 1856 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 24, 2006, 10:35 pm Author: T. H. Ball (1904) ALBERT FOSTER. Albert Foster, ex-trustee of West Creek township, for many years actively engaged in agricultural affairs and now a resident of Lowell, belongs to the well-known Foster family which for two-thirds of a century have been conspicuous in the development of the county's material resources. The landed possessions in the Foster name are among the largest single estates in the county. Besides being accumulators of property, they have been producers of wealth, and from the time of the father who located here during the pioneer days the influence and works of the family members have always been on the side of progress in social, intellectual and institutional affairs. What has been accomplished by this family will always remain as a test and mark of their merit and worth as citizens, and Mr. Albert Foster has not been one of the least of the name in conferring great good upon the county of his nativity. Mr. Foster was born in West Creek township on Christmas day of 1856. His parents were George L. and Lucy Jane (Hathaway) Foster, and he was the fifth of their ten children, five sons and five daughters, nine of whom are still living, as follows: Edwin L., who is married and engaged in the oil business at Jacksonville, Illinois; Volney, married and a farmer in prosperous circumstances in Wrest Creek township; Edson, married and a resident of Chicago Heights, Illinois; Albert; Eliza, wife of Arthur Farley, a farmer of Lowell; Emeline, wife of F. E. Nelson, the banker at Lowell; Martha, wife of Frank L. Smart, who is principal of the Dubuque, Iowa, high school, and who was educated at Valparaiso and in Harvard College; Marillia, wife of S. A. Richards, of Valparaiso; and Julia, wife of George Bailey. George L. Foster was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, April 10, 1821, and died in Kansas, May 12, 1877. He was a farmer and stockman and for some time was a cattle drover. He was a self-educated man, gifted with a retentive memory, and had great individuality and force of character. His active career began at the early age of fifteen, when he left his father's home and went to work on the Erie canal. He came home at the end of nine months and gave his parents, in addition to his regular wages, twenty dollars that he had picked up as extras. His father returned to him this twenty dollars, and thus capitalized he started out on foot for the distant destination of Lake county, Indiana. When he arrived in this county, in 1836 or '37, he had eleven dollars in cash, so that he began at the foot of life's ladder. For ten years he was a wage earner. About 1841 he entered a tract of eighty acres in section 7, West Creek township, consisting of pure virgin soil, and his first domicilium was a log cabin, the material for which was cut from the Kankakee swamp trees. Not to enter into details, he prospered to the extent that he owned over one thousand acres of land in this county, all in one body, besides eleven hundred acres in Kansas. This land has never passed from the family, and the descendants instead of selling any of it have added much more to it. Mr. George L. Foster was a very remarkable man in many ways, and he was uniformly successful in all his undertakings. During the California gold excitement he started for the Eldorado, but got only as far as Pike's Peak. Later, however, he went on to the coast, returning by way of the Isthmus. Politically he was an old-line Whig and then joined the Republican party at its birth, being a warm admirer of Abe Lincoln. In official capacities he served as county commissioner of Lake county during the war, 1861-65, and was a strong supporter of the Union. He had a decision of character and a firmness that elevated him above the rank and file and gave a distinctive stamp to both word and action. He and his wife were both members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he assisted in the erection of both houses of worship of that denomination in West Creek township, the last one being built in 1867. His wife, Lucy (Hathaway) Foster, was born in the Hudson river valley of New York, April 20, 1828, and she died November 30, 1876. Both the Foster and Hathaway families were of pure English stock, and grandfather Elijah Dwight Foster was one of the famous minute-men of the Revolution. Albert Foster was reared in western Lake county, and his early education stopped with the common schools, after which he trained himself mainly by personal application. He was only twelve years old when he left the parent nest and tried his young wings in independent flight. He was imbued with the desire that comes to all vigorous-minded boys, to travel and see the world. As he says, when he should have been at home under his mother's care, he was far in the west in New Mexico and Arizona, and spending two years in the silver mines of Colorado. He later returned and had already got quite a start in life by the time he reached his majority and was in the mind of settling down in life. On December 30, 1877, just after he had passed his twenty-first birthday, he was married to Miss Mary E. Sponslor. They have been happily wedded for more than twenty-five years, and six children, three sons and three daughters, have been born to them. Clyde D., the eldest, graduated in the class of 1896 from the Lowell high school, secured his teacher's certificate, taught in his home township two years, was principal at Shelby one year, principal of the Franklin school at Hammond two years, and then entered the literary department of Northwestern University and is still carrying on his studies: he is a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and is a member of the Masonic lodge at Lowell; during the present scholastic year of the university he was unanimously elected president of the class, which honor conferred on him was graciously yet modestly received. Emma Stella graduated in 1901 from the Lowell high school and is now taking the teacher's course at the Ypsilanti (Michigan) Normal, being especially interested in elocution. Hattie L., a graduate from the high school in 1903, is also at Ypsilanti. Arthur Lyman graduated from the Lowell high school in 1904 and pursuing normal studies at the Valparaiso College is now a teacher in Lake county. Mr. and Mrs. Foster have not spared means or effort in giving their children the best of training and educational advantages, and they should be congratulated on the excellent results already apparent. Mrs. Foster was born in Hardin county, Ohio, December 29, 1852, and was reared in that state and educated in the ladies' seminary at West Geneva. She was a teacher for a number of years in her native state and also in Kansas. Her parents, both now deceased, were Jacob and Margaret (Slonacker) Sponslor, and she has five brothers living. For twenty-one years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Foster resided upon their homestead in West Creek township, where they have a fine estate of three hundred and ten acres, besides some property that Mrs. Foster owns in Ohio. In 1898 they moved into Lowell, where they erected one of the most pretentious homes of the town, and have been citizens there ever since. Their home is finished in hardwood and Georgia pine, is heated by furnace, is prettily furnished, and, best of all and its chief charm, is the abode of hospitality and a place of welcome for their many friends. Mr. Foster has been prominent in civic affairs in his township, and is one of the leaders in matters pertaining to the general welfare. He is a stalwart Republican, having cast his first vote for Garfield. In August, 1895, he accepted the office of trustee of West Creek township, and during the five years and three months of his tenure of this office many of the most important public improvements effecting the people and material progress were brought about. He caused the erection of several of the fine modern school buildings in the township, which would be a credit to any community, and during his official career, also, the West Creek high school was organized, and education in general received a most stimulating influence in all directions. In 1900 he was appointed by Judge Gillette as drainage commissioner in Lake county. He has often been selected as delegate to his party's county, district and state conventions. Fraternally he affiliates with Colfax Lodge No. 378, F. & A. M., and served as worshipful master one year. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, No. 300, at Lowell, and belongs to the uniform rank of that order. Additional Comments: Extracted from: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Genealogy and Biography OF LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA, WITH A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY 1834—1904 A Record of the Achievements of Its People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. REV. T. H. BALL OF CROWN POINT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ILLUSTRATED CHICAGO NEW YORK THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1904 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/lake/bios/foster537gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/infiles/ File size: 9.4 Kb