Summers County, West Virginia Biography of Oliver Lee FOSTER ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , April 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 643 OLIVER LEE FOSTER. Many years of successful farming and stock raising and performance of the duties of local citizenship in the Forrest Hill district of Summers County gave Mr. Foster a reputation over the county that enabled him to command a majority vote of confidence when he wag candidate for sheriff in 1920. In this office he has made a splendid record of efficiency, and he is one of the ablest men in the court house at Hinton. Mr. Foster was born on New River Mountain in Sum- mers County, August 29, 1864, son of James E. and Mary W. (Allen) Foster, both natives of Monroe County. His father died at the age of seventy in 1902, and his mother, at the age of seventy-one in 1898. James E. Foster was a lifelong farmer and widely known as a dealer in livestock, which he bought and collected in this section of the state and drove to market. He was a republican and a Baptist. Oliver Lee Foster is the youngest in a family of six sons and six daughters. He has three living brothers: J. D. Foster, a retired farmer at Columbus, Ohio; J. A. Foster, a farmer on Little Wolf Creek; and P. M. Foster, a farmer at Forrest Hill. Oliver Lee Foster acquired a free school education. When he was thirteen years of age he joined his older brother, J. D. Foster, then fifteen, in the practical management and work of their father's farm and business. His father had become a cripple, and the management of the farm and the support of the household depended upon these young men. From this rugged apprenticeship O. L. Foster found his business vocation and farming and stock raising have been his main pursuits ever since. He takes special delight in the raising of good livestock. Mr. Foster in his home locality has been much interested in local polities and local improvements. Some years ago he was drafted as a candidate for member of the School Board, being defeated by only four votes in the Forrest Hill District. In 1912 he was put on the republican ticket for county commissioner, being defeated by one hundred and twenty votes. Summers is one of the strongest demo- cratic counties in the state. In the campaign of 1920 he was elected sheriff by a lead of three hundred votes. On January 4, 1883, Mr. Foster married Etta Frances Turner, daughter of S. P. Turner, of Forrest Hill. To their marriage have been born eight children, five sons and three daughters. Sheriff Foster is a member of the Board of Stewards in the Methodist Church, and for years was re- cording steward of his church at Forrest Hill.