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 LI FOSTER, one of the most influential and
respected citizens of Seven Hickory Township, is an extensive stock-grower, and the
owner of a fine estate containing 370 acres of valuable land. He was born Aug. 12. 1827, in Lawrence County, Ind., and is the son of William and
Sarah (McCormic) Foster. His family were among
the early English settlers of Virginia, and William Foster was a successful farmer in that State, but
attracted by the superior advantages which the
opening of a new country offers, he came to
Indiana at an early day and made his permanent
home there. His wife was born about 1799, just
at the close of the eighteenth century, and died
Sept. 4, 1873. Her family was of Scotch and Irish
extraction, from which nationalities many among
the shrewdest and most intelligent citizens of the
country have descended. Mr. Foster was a man of great intelligence and uprightness of character. He was actively interested in promoting the cause of religion in the West, and for nearly forty years was a Deacon in the Christian Church, of which his wife was also a member. He was ever ready to forward any measures tending to promote the welfare of the community and held several of the township offices. His death occurred at the homestead in Indiana Oct. 5, 1874. The following is the record of their family: James died in childhood ; Ann Jemima, deceased, was the wife of Hyrutn Guthrey; Emarsetta is the wife of Hamilton Dixon; Susanna was married to Lemuel Proctor; Samuel, deceased, married Miss Lida Beasley; Eli is the subject of this sketch; John married Miss Catherine Beggs; Henrietta, deeased, was the wife of William Hill; Jane was married to Rapin Newkirk; Elizabeth and Nixon are single and at home. Eli Foster married Miss Harriet Armstrong in August, 1855. Mrs. Foster is the daughter of Cummings and Elizabeth (Goodman) Armstrong. Her parents were natives of Kentucky, but subsequently moved to Indiana, where their daughter Harriet was born, Sept. 2, 1831, in Clark County. Mr. Armstrong was a farmer, and passed the closing years of his life in the latter-named State, where his death occurred about forty years ago. He left a family of five children Harriet, Thomas, Elizabeth, Rebecca and James. In 1858 Mr. ’Foster carne to Illinois with his young wife. The only capital that he possessed existed in his shrewd business qualifications, energy and enterprise, and through the exercise of these, aided by the good judgment and housewifely skill of a devoted wife, he has acquired a fine property, and is numbered among the wealthy men of the township. He carries on an extensive business in stock-raising, and his residence and farm buildings are commodious and well appointed. Mr. and Mrs. Foster have had a family of seven children: Horace B. died at the age of four years; Ida B. is now Mrs. VanVoorhees; William K., Homer L., Rosina, and two who died in infancy. Mr. Foster, with his wife and daughters, has been a member of the Christian Church for many years, in which they are all earnest workers. lie is interested in educational affairs, and has held the ottice of School Trustee. |
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