HENRY TRUE FOSTER, the well-known first settler of Beardstown yet living, was born on February 3, 1815, in Lincoln county, Maine. He grew up and acquired a practical education at Warren and Newcastle, and when seventeen years of age went to Bangor, Maine, and spent three years in the clothing store of Thomas Furber, the first store of that kind in the city. When twenty years of age he came with his father to Illinois, where they had landed interests. After landing at Meredosia, on the Illinois river, he came to Beardstown, where Mr. Foster has since resided. He has engaged in a variety of occupations, having been a farmer, merchant, manufacturer, grain buyer, packer, and dealer in grain. He was an active business man and was very successful in his many business ventures. He is generous to a fault, and never paused to consider his personal gain or loss if an enterprise was started that was likely to prove a benefit to the city. It was through his personal efforts that the railroads were run to Beardstown. In 1861 he was appointed Postmaster of the place and held the office for seven years, and in 1868 was placed at the head of the municipality of Beardstown. He infused new life into the place by promoting the welfare of the city. He introduced new enterprises, and it is doubtful if there is another citizen of the city who has devoted so much time and energy to the development of that place as Mr. Foster. He has been a prominent Republican in politics since the organization of the party. He has been an active work in that party in local matters. President Lincoln and he were personal friends, and he was a member of the State Central Committee during the second campaign of Mr. Lincoln. He is a member of the Congregational Church of which he is a Deacon and of which he was for years a Trustee. Mr. Foster was one of those who voted for William H. Harrison in 1836 and 1840.

Mr. Foster was married in Beardstown, 1839, to Mary De Haven, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was born, reared and educated in that city and came west when a young woman. She died at her home January 11, 1888, at the age of seventy-seven. She ever proved herself a true and noble wife and mother, and her death was deeply felt by those she left behind her. She left two sons: Edwin C., who married Isabel Dale and who now resides in Waterloo, Iowa; and Robert Harry, who married Emma Logan and they live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They are both prosperous young men.