Foster, James

JAMES FOSTER, farmer, was born in Sugar Creek township, February 14, 1810, son of John and Mary (Martin) Foster, both natives of Maryland, the former a son of Ross Foster, who came to Franklin at an early date, whence he removed to the vicinity of Pittsburgh and died. Mrs. Foster was a daughter of James Martin, a pioneer of Sandy Creek township, where he first improved the Kephart farm, upon which he planted an orchard of five hundred trees, one of the first in this section. He removed to Indiana at an advanced age. John and Mary Foster reared a family of seven children. The sons are Ross, James, Caleb, and John, of whom Caleb was a Methodist preacher in the Pittsburgh Conference and in the western states; the others were farmers. The daughters were as follows: Polly, wife of William Dewoody; Julia Ann, wife of John Temple, and Elizabeth, wife of Seth Temple. James Foster removed with the family of his father to this township in 1812, and has lived here ever since. He obtained a limited education at the pioneer schools, and in 1833 engaged in farming, which he has since followed. He was married in 1832 to Catharine Smith, who was the mother of two children: James M., a Methodist preacher, and Mary, wife of Jackson Gordon, of Scrubgrass township. Some months after the death of his first wife he married Margaret Armstrong, to whom five children were born: Catharine, wife of Robert Graham; Robert A., of this township; John F., of Sugar Creek township; Wesley B., of Pittsburgh, and William S., of Sandy Creek. His second wife also died, and he was married in 1853 to Mrs. Priscilla Burns, nee Robinson, and they are the parents of two children: Joseph, and Margaret H., wife of Reverend W.H. Bunce, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Foster has been a member of that church more than sixty years, and was largely instrumental in the erection of the church at East Grove. In politics he is a Republican.