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Name sometimes written Colly A. Foster. Some diocese records call him Charles A Foster.
Seems to have been christened at St. Catherine (Church of England) in Jamaica on December 7, 1810 - aged 2 1/2 years old (possibly another child/relative with an identical name). Other records say born around 1803. His father was Irish and he was born at sea on an English naval vessel. I am still unsure his relation to the Colley L. L. Foster who was also serving in Jamaica about that time - he may be an uncle of C.A. Foster.
Another source says born "On the high seas," 1802. (from "Goodly Heritage: 150 Years of Craft Freemasonry in Indiana" by D.L. Smith).
"Colley A. Foster, of Evansville, was born on the ocean, his parents then being on their way to the West Indies to look after their estate. His parents died while he was quite young, and he was left to fight the battle of life alone. He was educated at Oxford, and later went to Canada and studied law with an uncle who was a lawyer in the employ of the British government. The practice of law was not to his taste, and he soon abandoned it and entered the ministry of the Episcopal Church. His first appearance in the Grand Lodge was at the session of 1848, when he was made chairman of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence. (From "History of Freemasonry in Indiana" - 1898)"
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Fifty-Five Years A Minister.
Death of Rev. Dr. C.A. Foster, Episcopalian, of Sedalia, Mo.
[Special Dispatch to the Boston Herald.]
Sedalia, Mo., July 26, 1891. Rev. C.A. Foster, D.D. LL. D., one of the oldest ministers in central Missouri, died at his home in this city last night, aged 89 years. He was born at Seaton, an English naval station, his father being an officer in the British army. Dr. Foster was educated at Oxford, and after graduating went to Canada and began the practice of law, but while a comparatively young man entered the ministry, in which he served for 55 years.
He was probably the oldest Episcopal clergyman in the West, both in age and length of his ministry. He he remained in England he would have been a baron in his own right.
(Boston Herald - Monday, July 27, 1891)
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Applied for Citizenship through the Probate Court of Vanderburgh County, Indiana during February Form 1849 (Volume D, page 175).
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Rev. Dr Foster, D.D. LL. D., Episcopalian Clergyman and Missionary, was the son of Sir Colley Foster, an English Baronet and an officer in her majesty's navy. A few of the out-of-town newspaper obituaries gave his name as Dr J.F. Foster, instead of C.A. Foster by mistake. I do not know who J.F. Foster was but believe that the newspaper made a fact-checking error.
1840 Census - Marshall County, Mississippi
1850 Census - Evansville, Indiana
1860 Census - Elkhart, Indiana
1870 Census - Kalamazoo, Michigan
1880 Census - Sedalia, Missouri
He is said to have studied law at Oxford. I have yet to find an official record of this.
He is the roll of Gentlemen in Canada upon whom the degree of Barrister at Law was conferred by the Law Society of Upper Canada. (Michaelmas T., 9 Geo IV, 1828. Another similar book says Michaelmas T., 10, Geo IV, 1829). In 1830 he was also listed as a notary public appointed in Canada.
At the time of his marriage in Niagara in 1830 he is living in Hamilton, Ontario.
On June 13, 1834 he lived at Brantford as he and William Muirhead Esq are listed as the witnesses with that as his residence for the marriage of Joseph Brant Thomas and Deborah Ramsay in Ontario. (In 1837 is still appearing in an almanac for lawyers as being in Brantford).
The parents of his first wife had left Niagara around 1826 to live in Cleveland, Ohio.
C.A. Foster filed a declaration to become a U.S. citizen on March 23, 1835 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. It is unclear if he ever naturalized, at least before 1842 (as discussed in the Colley & Wife v Alston court case in 1842 Mississippi).
In October 1835 C.A. Foster has an ad posted in the paper about a cottage for rent across from his residence on St. Clair St. The ad said he could also be reached at N. Dockstader's Hat Store.
In December 1835 he was advertising to Cleveland to take on six pupils for an education in Greek and Latin languages, Moral and Natural Philosophy, Rhetoric, Drawing, and Music. His residence is given as being at the corner of Ontario and St. Clair streets. (In the mid-1830s Rev. Colley Foster, had a classical academic school at the corner of Ontario and St. Clair streets in Cleveland, Ohio in Cuhahoga, County). Sometime after 1836 most of his pupils were with Franklin T Backus.
"By the Rt. Rev. Bishop Otey of Tennessee - May 7, at Nashville, Mr. Colley Alexander Foster was admitted to the Holy order of Deacons. The Rev. Dr. Weller, and the Rev. Mr. Polk assisted in the services on the occasion." (Southern Churchman, Friday, Jun 2, 1837)
In 1837, The Rev. Colley A Foster, Deacon, canonically removed from the Diocese of Tennessee (I assume this refers to Nashville where he had been admitted), is became the minister of Trinity Church, Fishkill, Dutchess county. Rev. C.A. Foster succeeded Rev. R.B. Van Kleeck, DD in 1837 atTrinity Church in Fishkill, NY. Foster's wife died in October and is buried in the churchyard. He stayed at that place until 1838 and Rev. Richard F. Burnhman became minister after he left. His next move was to Randolph, Tennessee.
From Rev. C.A. Foster, Missionary at Randolph (published in "The Spirit of Missions). "I arrived at Randolph on the 7th of February [1838], and assumed the work of my Mission."
During this time in Tennessee he stayed with the Alston family. The widow of a deceased Alston brother also lived in the household as her brother-in-law was the legal guardian of her children. Rev. C.A. Foster and and Frances were married in January1839 and were told to leave the household after they were married. The family didn't like Rev. Foster and his young son.
In April 1839 Rev. C.A. Foster was transferred from Randolph, in Tennessee, to Holly Springs and Salem, in Mississippi, and fixing his salary as Missionary at the latter station.
He once wrote to Bishop Leonidas Polk that the organization of an Episcopal Church in Holly Springs had excited interest because the church used a prayer book in its services. Foster told the bishop that extra benches had to be procured for the courthouse, where the initial services were conducted. He said: "The Episcopal Church is in every person's mouth as the common topic of conversation."
Christ Episcopal Church was officially organized on April 21, 1839 by the Reverend C. A. Foster (Holly Springs, Mississippi). He was the Rector of Christ Church. Also rector and principal of a school there.
Holly Springs was then a mushroom town; in 1836 it had been a cotton farm in a high and healthy country; by 1839 the inhabitants were numbered by thousands. It was a fine field for the church and the Rev. Colley A. Foster was just taking up residence. the bishop [Bishop Polk] remained in Holly Springs until February 26th [1839], unable to visit outside of the town because of the lack of conveyance, but he ascertained that church people were living in Pontotoc county and at Hernando in De Soto County. (From "The First Missionary Tour" - Missionary Episcopate in the Southwest from the Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Dec. 1938).
Polk Place House - Marshall, Mississippi. On September 5, 1839, Colley Foster bought these two lots for $1500. He built a log house on the property and originated the Episcopal Church in Holly Springs.. Polk Place was built by General Thomas G. Polk (1791-1869) in 1849 in the Greek Revival style and was built on the spot of the previous log house built by Reverend C. A. Foster in 1839. He was the half-brother General Leonidas Polk, the "Fighting Bishop of the Confederacy" and his second cousin, President James K. Polk. Polk and his family originally moved to Holly Springs in 1840. Another site says that Miss Emily Polk bought the property in 1849 from Foster and was the guardian for his children. Emily was the daughter of General Thomas Gilchrist Polk. The house was later sold and known as "Tuckahoe".
On the 1840 Census in Marshall, Mississippi the C.A. Foster household has 4 total free white persons. This includes a male under the age of 39, a female under age of 29, 5-9 year old boy, and a boy under 5 years old. There are also 3 slaves (old man, middle-aged woman, and a younger woman). This is probably Colley, his 2nd wife Frances, Colley William Foster, and ???. It is later in 1840 that previously widowed Frances also reclaims her 2 daughters back from Tennessee. The official date of the 1840 census was 1 June 1840.
In late 1840 Frances took her children still living in Tennessee from her brother-in-law by force to get custody. The in-laws didn't believe that the married mother should have the two remaining children (one had already passed away) when the brother had put the children in their care. Ultimately after multiple appeals in court the Mississippi courts ruled in 1842 that the children should stay with their birth mother unless there was some clear moral reason that they shouldn't and that the will/testament of the father at best could give the uncle custody of the children's finances. The opposing judge wrote his minority opinion that the father of the children should should choose and delegate who raises his children.
Around this time in Holly Springs schools being established. In 1842 it was opened in the building directly opposite of the residence of H.M. Lusher, Esq. [Henry Mills Lusher, Colonsay Cottage?]
"In the summer of 1841 an opposition school appeared. The Rev. C.A. Foster, an Episcopalian clergyman, published in the Holly Springs Gazette, a card proposing to open a high school for young ladies under the name of The Holly Springs Female Institute. This card excited the ire of the Rev. Mr. Parish. He addressed a series of open letters to the papers on the subject. Of course he could not challenge the right of Mr. Foster to open a rival school; but he made very severe criticism on the name selected for that school. "The Holly Springs Female Institute" was a style that belonged to the school under the writer's charge, etc.
Mr. Foster's reply was that the Parish school was named by its charter, and that its name was properly the Holly Springs Female Academy; to which Mr. Parish rejoined that the charter name was a blunder of the legislature, and that "institute" was the true term, on which he insisted. Each man stood on his own judgment, and for a while there were two schools in Holly Springs called the Holly Springs Female Institute; and the geographical discrimination of the eastern and the western parts of the town becomes prominent.
Mr. Foster won the battle. Exactly how is not known; but in January, 1842, Mr. Parish resigned and Mr. Foster was elected to succeed him. Mr. Parish's resignation was received with regret; and the board passed very complimentary resolutions that occasion. During his presidency several young ladies were graduated with the degree of M.P.L., presumably meaning mistress of polite literature.
The new faculty consisted of Rev. C.A. Foster, rector and principal; Rev. A.P. Merrill, associate principal; Mrs. A.P. Merrill, preceptress; Miss Martha W. Fraser, assistant tutoress; J.F. Goneke, esq., professor music; Miss M. Goneke, teacher on pianoforte; Mrs. Sarah B. Thompson, matron. A fine cabinet of minerals had been provided, and a good philosophical apparatus. Part of the intitute grounds was laid off for a botanical garden. A library was also provided. Mr. Foster's administration was for a time remarkably successful. The attendance of pupils for 1842 was about 100; that for 1843, 120; and that for 1844, 150. In 1843 Profressor Goneke and his daughter were gone, and their places were supplied by a Mr. Morse (late of Jackson) and a Miss Covington (Conyngton).
On the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of the last week in December, 1844, there was a public examination, of which a full account remains. The pupils gave numerous experiments and illustrations in practical chemistry; they conversed publicly in French, and read compositions in that tongue; they were quizzed in mental philosophy, in geometry, and in geology; they gave a public concert, etc.; they are said to have acquitted themselves with great credit.
Mr. Foster took a lease of the institute for five and a half years.
In the spring of the year 1845 Principal Foster resigned. His successor was promptly summoned. It was the Rev. James Weatherby, until then the principal of the Oxford Female Academy."
(from History of Education in Mississippi - Dead College of Mississippi - 1899)
(The Holly Springs Female Institute was started in 1841 in Holly Springs by Rev. Foster. Rev. C. Parish, A. M. already ran a different school of that name that had an earlier founding. The Foster school won out and Parish resigned and Foster took over. The degree presented was M.P.L. (Mistress of Polite Literature?) The school was lost when the building was burned in the Civil War).
According to the "Mississippi Democrat" newspaper on Wednesday, Jun 11, 1845, "The Rev. C.A. Foster, principal of the Female Institute of Holly Springs, has been compelled to resign his station on account of making matrimonial proposals to several of the young ladies under his charge!" There must have been a tiny bit of truth in this gossip as he married one of the teachers (Miss Mary L Conyngton) on July 14, 1845 in Vanderburgh County, Indiana.
"Rev. C.A. Foster incontinently resigned the office of Principal of the Female Institute at Holly Springs, Miss., a few weeks since, in consequence of a difficulty which arose from his having made matrimonial proposals to several of the young ladies who were pupils at the Institute. Report gave a much worse feature to the cause of his abdication."
(Albany Evening Atlas - Tuesday, June 3, 1845)
There is a scan of the Christ Church (Mississippi) Records. Starts out as Rev. C.A. Foster. Missionary Journal & Private Register and begins March 1st, 1839. Records by Foster end on May 15, 1844. There is also an Appendix he kept updated with the communicants. There is then a note by a different handwriting stating "This Register was lost and not recovered until 1855 on account of which the records of the parish have not been preserved. After the resignation of Rev. Mr. Foster, the Rev. Dr. ??? was elected Rector ? in charge of the Parish til his removal to New Orleans in the winter of 1844..."
Another Episcopal minister, Rev. F. L. Lister, also came to the area. He ran a school for boys also.
Rev. Foster was in Muncy, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania around 1846-1847. (Aug 25, 1845 - Oct 4, 1847). He was involved in the schooling there as well.
"The historical records note that, as strong and binding as the Borough's charter was for maintaining a school for girls, the trustees of the Muncy Female Seminary had great difficulty in locating and maintaining suitable teachers. In tracing the history of the educational institution (Muncy, Pennsylvania), it is noted that in 1846 the Rector of the local Episcopalian parish had offered his church for classes for "The Young Ladies Institute." Two sisters were hired by the Rev. C.A. foster to teach at the new girls' school. Unfortuntately, the Misses Ellen and Elizabeth Conyngton, who lived in the South, never arrived in time for the school's opening day, which was in May. The Episcopalian minister advised the community: "I will take a class of six young ladies for the higher branches of education, devoting a few hours of the afternoon to their instruction." It is fair to assume, that it must have been with some frustration that the Rector of the Episcopalian church had to give his wife the charge of the school's "ornamental department." No explanation is offered as to what that department entailed." (Where Wigwams Stood - A History of Muncy Pennsylvania - 1994).
"On the 25th day of the following August [1845] he was succeeded by the Rev Colly Alexander Foster, who remained in charge a little more than two years, resigning his charge on the 31st of October, 1847."
"His stay in Muncy, though brief, seemed to have been a gratifying one to himself. On the eve of his departure he records "with gratitude the fact that the people of this parish ahd ever shown him the utmost kindness," and prays God may "bless them one and all.""
(From an old newspaper clipping about the history of the St. James' Parish in Muncy).
In 1847 was Rector of St . Paul's Church, Evansville, Indiana. He was also an early member of the newly formed Masonic Lodge in his town. In fact, he was the first WM in Evansville, Indiana.
"On November 5, 1847, Rev. Colley A. Foster was elected rector. He was a scholarly gentleman and an eloquent and forceful speaker. When he left in 1856, he accepted a rectorate at Kalamazoo, Mich."
In 1848 was also advertising in the paper that he was offering lectures on Chemistry at the old Odd Fellows' Hall.
For the Medical College of Evansville in 1849 the Lecture Session advertisement in the local newspaper says that C.A. Foster, A.M. is teaching Chemistry and Pharmacy. The Medical College of Evansville (Founded 1849) was a private medical college, one of the very first in the state, and had no affiliation with IU School of Medicine, or the current IUSM Evansville campus. It was suspended in 1854, reorganized in 1871, and was finally extinct in 1884.
"The Evansville Medical College wsa incorporated under a charter from the Legislature of Indiana in 1845-6, and commenced operations in 1847-8, but discontinued after five sessions. The Faculty at its organization was as follows: MlJ. Bray, M.D., Chair of Surgery; C.S. Weever, M.D., Anatomy; Geo. B. Walker, M.D., Obstetrics and Diseases of Women; L.L. Laycock, M.D., Theory and Practice of Medicine; Jno. R. Wilcox, M.D., Materia Medica and Therapeutics; C.A. Foster, M.D., Chemistry; Wm. H. Byford, M.D., Institutes of Medicine; Wm. A. McDowell, M.D., Medical Jurisprudence; W. Walling, M.D., Physiology; Mark Trafton, M.D. Demonstrator of Anatomy. (Evansville, Her Commerce and Manufactures. Charles E. Robert, 1874)"
He advertised for his school in the 1850 Evansville Daily Journal. "Evansville Female Institute - A Select School for Young Ladies, of which the Rev. C.A. Foster is Rector, will be opened by the Misses E. Conyngton, at the Brick School House, adjoining the Episcopal Church on Monday, the 11th day of February next." He explains the Course of Study and fees. Also, he mentions "Mrs. C.A. Foster takes the charge of the French, Italian and Music Department. The Rector will daily visit the School, deliver two familiar Lectures a week on Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, and, occasionally, examine the classes in the studies they have been pursuing." The Misses Conyngton would have been at least two of the sisters of his wife (Emily and Ellen. Possibly also Elizabeth as she had not married yet).
Was calling himself M.D. in Indiana by 1853.
In 1855 in Evansville he advertised the "Select Female Institute of Evansville. The Rev. C.A. Foster, about to undertake personally the thorough education of his own daughter is willing to receive ten young ladies between the ages of ten and fourteen years, with whom and his daughter to form a class." He also mentions "Mrs. Foster will aid the Rector. The religion-government to the young ladies shall be strictly practical and in no way denominational. Until the first of August, foreign applications for entrance shall not be received, in order to give the citizens of this city the preference." He updated later in August that by request the number of pupils accepted was enlarged to 24, of all ages.
In 1857 he advertised for the "Mt. Vernon Female Institute. Rev. C.A. Foster, A.M. M.D., Principal, Lecturer on Chemistry, Natural Philosphy, &c. Mrs. C.A. Foster, Vice Principal, aided by competent Teachers." He also mentions that "For further particulars, inquire of the Board of Visitors: Messrs. Charles F. Leonard, Alvin P. Hovey, Esq., Geo. S Green, Esq.; Thos. J. Hinch, Ed. T. Sullivan, John R. Evertson and Walter F. Larkin. If necessary, the Principal can furnish references to the numerous heads of families whose daughters he has educated.
In January 1856 there is is a notice in the paper for "Instruction in Music. Mrs. C.A. Foster has a few vacancies for Pupils desirous of taking lessons on the Piano, Harp, or Guitar. Terms for each Instrument $10 per quarter.
In May 1856 the paper says "The Episcopal Church in Evansville is at this time without a Pastor. A short time since the Rev. C.A. Foster removed from this city to Newport, Ky. Desirous of making a change, he received invitations from churches in several of our largest Western cities, and finally accepted that which he thought would be most congenial to his own tastes and the interests of his family. Mr. Foster had resided in this city as Pastor of St. Paul's church the last eight or nine years. His departure from among us is not only a severe loss to the congregation of that church, irreparable, we think, at the present time at least, but a source of sincere regret to his numerous personal friends outside of as well as in his church. Mr. Foster's scholastic attainments are not merely such as to grace the theologian and adorn the pulpit, but to shine among the intelligent in the private circle, and rank him with the scientific. As a speaker he is forcible in his reasoning, profoundly versed in theology, and often eloquent in his illustration. Although he had many admirers here, we never though him fully appreciated. We have heard as beautiful discourses from his lips as any to which we ever listened, and very rarely a sermon not above the average of pulpit discourses from those who have not become distinguished in this field of labor. THe he was not as successful as many other preachers in the great object of ministerial labors, the regeneration of many souls, was probably because his appeals were more directed to the reason than to the passions-to the brain than to the instincts more closely connected with the physical nature.
We shall, in common with Mr. Foster's many friends in this city, be glad to hear that his pleasant anticipations in connection with his new home have been realized. We think the members of his church in Newport will have no cause to regret their invitation to Mr. Foster. If they do, there is still an earnest desire among his friends here for his return. On the eve of his departure, a strong effort was made to get him to rescind his resolution, and remain with us. Although unsuccessful, it was at least a compliment to himself, which we trust he will remember as among the more precious recollections of those he left behind him. He and his amiable and accomplished lady, have our best wishes. (The Evansville Daily - Wednesday, May 14, 1856)
It doesn't seem that he was in Kentucky long. Soon he was back in Mt. Vernon and was a pastor at the church in Goshen, Indiana when it was built. This seems to be St. James Episcopal Church in Elkhart, Indiana. The parish was first organized on Easter Monday March 26, 1859. Rev. H.M. Thompson called to preach every other Sunday on July 11, 1859. Rev. C.A Foster was the first resident rector and while the parish was under his charge, in 1861, the present house of worship was completed.
In 1860 when his daughter Julia died of convulsions, the death records say that Dr. C.A Foster was her medical attendant (Evansville Cemetery records).
In 1860 they were Family XV in the St. James Register of Goshen, Indiana.
Rev. C.A. Foster
Mrs -
Ellen
Reginald
Edward
Mary
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Mem:
By Divine Permission I laid the corner stone of this (St James') Church on Wednesday the 22d day of August in the year of our Lord 1860.
May countless souls be b??? in this house for Eternity - May the hearts that pray and praise in this house find at last a house ??? made with hands eternal in the Heavens-
C.A. Foster
Pastor
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Later he was in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1864-1876), and Sedalia, Missouri. (Johnston County, 1880).
While in Grand Rapids (1864) he was pursuing the medical profession as well as preaching.
At St. John's Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan around 1867.
The DeWitt Clinton Constitory S.P.R.S. 32 was organized in Kalamazoo (Charter December 1, 1866) he had a position of Grand Chancellor. (Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite).
1884 was at Missouri State Medical Association Session. Offered the prayer.
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Colley Alexander Foster (bachelor) married Ann Muirhead (widow) on March 3, 1830 in Niagara. (Ann Dockstadder, spinster, married *John B. Muirhead, Esq. May 14, 1824 in Niagara, Ontario). (From early records of St. Mark's and St. Andrew's Churches in Niagara (Ontario Historical Society). Also recorded as: Colley Alex'r Foster, Esq'r, of the Town of Hamilton, to Ann Muirhead, Widow, of the Town of Miagara. 10 Mar. 1830. Wit. James Broan and Margaret Stewart.
Next he married Frances D Yarbrough Alston in 1839. She was the widow of Alexander Scrymsour Johnston Alston of Poplar Springs, Tennessee (info from the Johnston-Alston Family Bible and marriage license). They got their marriage license in December 1838 in Fayette County, Tennessee. And the marriage was performed January 22, 1839 by a minister of a church in La Grange.
Was later married to Mary L Coryngton (b. England ~1820) on July 14, 1845 in Vanderburgh County, Indiana. I have also seen the name spelled Covington or Carrington?
Miss Mary L Conyngton had previously been the music teacher (piano, harp, guitar) at his school in Holly Springs, Mississippi which is where his first wife died. Her siblings were John Conyngton, Emily Conyngton, and Charlotte Conyngton Metcalf. Charlotte's tombstone says she was the daughter of J & M Conyngton. Records about her children say that she was born in Wiltshire, England.
C.A. Foster's Children:
Colley William Foster - baptised March 2, 1832 in Niagara, Ontario. (w/Ann Dockstadder)
Hellen Foster b. 1842 Mississippi (w/ Frances Yarbrough)
Mellville Foster b. 1844 Mississippi (w/ Frances Yarbrough)
Reginald C Foster b. 1847 Pennsylvania (w/ Mary L)
Julia Foster b 1849 Indiana (w/ Mary L)
Edward M Foster b. 1855 Indiana (w/ Mary L)
Mary E Foster b. 1859 Indiana (w/ Mary L)
*John Butler Muirhead son of James Muirhead and Deborah Butler (married May 19, 1795) was baptised March 21 1796 in Niagara, Ontario. His daughter Deborah Catharine Butler Muirhead (John B and Agnes) was baptised April 29, 1825 by Rev. Robert Addison. J.B. Muirhead, Esq. was buried on November 28, 1824 in Niagara, Ontario with Chaplain R.W. Tunney officiating (Fort George). Deborah married Sir William Buell Richards.
Claim No. 2320 on March 28, 1836 inherited 4 enslaved individuals from Kingston, Jamaica (unless there was a different Colley Alexander Foster also associated with Jamaica). Parliamentary Papers p. 39
County of Surrey, Parish of Kingston - On Uncontested Claims (Jamaica). Sums of Money Awarded for Slavery Compensation.
Date of Award:
28 Mar 1836
No. of Claim: 2320
Name of Party to whom the Payment is Awarded: Colley Alexander Foster No. of Slaves: 4
Sum: 64 pounds 2 s 5 d
From "General Report of the Emigration Commissioners - 1838)
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Interesting Relatives of Rev. C.A. Foster:
A relative in Canada was Colonel Colley L.L. Foster.
His step-daughter married a Chief Supreme Court Justice of Canada
His brother-in-law had a hat shop in Cleveland and was mayor in 1840.
His daughter-in-law and granddaughters were dance teachers in Detroit. They taught dance to the Ford family.
His second wife was involved in an early maternal rights custody case as a remarried widow in Mississippi. (Foster & Wife vs. Alston)
His second wife was also the granddaughter of the wife of the third Governor of NC. Her mother came from a later marriage, though, so she was not a descendant.
His first wife was a widow of a man that was the grandson of John Butler from the Butler's Rangers from the Revolutionary War.
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Rev. C.A. Foster, formerly rector of St. John's church, Kalamazoo, died in Sedalia, Mo., last week. He was 85 years old, and during his pastorate at Kalamazoo was one of the best known and most popular men in the city.
(True Northener - August 5, 1891)
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In the 1950s Charles Fey and Jack F. Hewson researched Rev. C.A. Foster as part of writing histories of Scottish Rite and Masonic organizations in the 1800s.
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Name sometimes written Colly A. Foster. Some diocese records call him Charles A Foster.
Seems to have been christened at St. Catherine (Church of England) in Jamaica on December 7, 1810 - aged 2 1/2 years old (possibly another child/relative with an identical name). Other records say born around 1803. His father was Irish and he was born at sea on an English naval vessel. I am still unsure his relation to the Colley L. L. Foster who was also serving in Jamaica about that time - he may be an uncle of C.A. Foster.
Another source says born "On the high seas," 1802. (from "Goodly Heritage: 150 Years of Craft Freemasonry in Indiana" by D.L. Smith).
"Colley A. Foster, of Evansville, was born on the ocean, his parents then being on their way to the West Indies to look after their estate. His parents died while he was quite young, and he was left to fight the battle of life alone. He was educated at Oxford, and later went to Canada and studied law with an uncle who was a lawyer in the employ of the British government. The practice of law was not to his taste, and he soon abandoned it and entered the ministry of the Episcopal Church. His first appearance in the Grand Lodge was at the session of 1848, when he was made chairman of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence. (From "History of Freemasonry in Indiana" - 1898)"
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Fifty-Five Years A Minister.
Death of Rev. Dr. C.A. Foster, Episcopalian, of Sedalia, Mo.
[Special Dispatch to the Boston Herald.]
Sedalia, Mo., July 26, 1891. Rev. C.A. Foster, D.D. LL. D., one of the oldest ministers in central Missouri, died at his home in this city last night, aged 89 years. He was born at Seaton, an English naval station, his father being an officer in the British army. Dr. Foster was educated at Oxford, and after graduating went to Canada and began the practice of law, but while a comparatively young man entered the ministry, in which he served for 55 years.
He was probably the oldest Episcopal clergyman in the West, both in age and length of his ministry. He he remained in England he would have been a baron in his own right.
(Boston Herald - Monday, July 27, 1891)
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Applied for Citizenship through the Probate Court of Vanderburgh County, Indiana during February Form 1849 (Volume D, page 175).
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Rev. Dr Foster, D.D. LL. D., Episcopalian Clergyman and Missionary, was the son of Sir Colley Foster, an English Baronet and an officer in her majesty's navy. A few of the out-of-town newspaper obituaries gave his name as Dr J.F. Foster, instead of C.A. Foster by mistake. I do not know who J.F. Foster was but believe that the newspaper made a fact-checking error.
1840 Census - Marshall County, Mississippi
1850 Census - Evansville, Indiana
1860 Census - Elkhart, Indiana
1870 Census - Kalamazoo, Michigan
1880 Census - Sedalia, Missouri
He is said to have studied law at Oxford. I have yet to find an official record of this.
He is the roll of Gentlemen in Canada upon whom the degree of Barrister at Law was conferred by the Law Society of Upper Canada. (Michaelmas T., 9 Geo IV, 1828. Another similar book says Michaelmas T., 10, Geo IV, 1829). In 1830 he was also listed as a notary public appointed in Canada.
At the time of his marriage in Niagara in 1830 he is living in Hamilton, Ontario.
On June 13, 1834 he lived at Brantford as he and William Muirhead Esq are listed as the witnesses with that as his residence for the marriage of Joseph Brant Thomas and Deborah Ramsay in Ontario. (In 1837 is still appearing in an almanac for lawyers as being in Brantford).
The parents of his first wife had left Niagara around 1826 to live in Cleveland, Ohio.
C.A. Foster filed a declaration to become a U.S. citizen on March 23, 1835 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. It is unclear if he ever naturalized, at least before 1842 (as discussed in the Colley & Wife v Alston court case in 1842 Mississippi).
In October 1835 C.A. Foster has an ad posted in the paper about a cottage for rent across from his residence on St. Clair St. The ad said he could also be reached at N. Dockstader's Hat Store.
In December 1835 he was advertising to Cleveland to take on six pupils for an education in Greek and Latin languages, Moral and Natural Philosophy, Rhetoric, Drawing, and Music. His residence is given as being at the corner of Ontario and St. Clair streets. (In the mid-1830s Rev. Colley Foster, had a classical academic school at the corner of Ontario and St. Clair streets in Cleveland, Ohio in Cuhahoga, County). Sometime after 1836 most of his pupils were with Franklin T Backus.
"By the Rt. Rev. Bishop Otey of Tennessee - May 7, at Nashville, Mr. Colley Alexander Foster was admitted to the Holy order of Deacons. The Rev. Dr. Weller, and the Rev. Mr. Polk assisted in the services on the occasion." (Southern Churchman, Friday, Jun 2, 1837)
In 1837, The Rev. Colley A Foster, Deacon, canonically removed from the Diocese of Tennessee (I assume this refers to Nashville where he had been admitted), is became the minister of Trinity Church, Fishkill, Dutchess county. Rev. C.A. Foster succeeded Rev. R.B. Van Kleeck, DD in 1837 atTrinity Church in Fishkill, NY. Foster's wife died in October and is buried in the churchyard. He stayed at that place until 1838 and Rev. Richard F. Burnhman became minister after he left. His next move was to Randolph, Tennessee.
From Rev. C.A. Foster, Missionary at Randolph (published in "The Spirit of Missions). "I arrived at Randolph on the 7th of February [1838], and assumed the work of my Mission."
During this time in Tennessee he stayed with the Alston family. The widow of a deceased Alston brother also lived in the household as her brother-in-law was the legal guardian of her children. Rev. C.A. Foster and and Frances were married in January1839 and were told to leave the household after they were married. The family didn't like Rev. Foster and his young son.
In April 1839 Rev. C.A. Foster was transferred from Randolph, in Tennessee, to Holly Springs and Salem, in Mississippi, and fixing his salary as Missionary at the latter station.
He once wrote to Bishop Leonidas Polk that the organization of an Episcopal Church in Holly Springs had excited interest because the church used a prayer book in its services. Foster told the bishop that extra benches had to be procured for the courthouse, where the initial services were conducted. He said: "The Episcopal Church is in every person's mouth as the common topic of conversation."
Christ Episcopal Church was officially organized on April 21, 1839 by the Reverend C. A. Foster (Holly Springs, Mississippi). He was the Rector of Christ Church. Also rector and principal of a school there.
Holly Springs was then a mushroom town; in 1836 it had been a cotton farm in a high and healthy country; by 1839 the inhabitants were numbered by thousands. It was a fine field for the church and the Rev. Colley A. Foster was just taking up residence. the bishop [Bishop Polk] remained in Holly Springs until February 26th [1839], unable to visit outside of the town because of the lack of conveyance, but he ascertained that church people were living in Pontotoc county and at Hernando in De Soto County. (From "The First Missionary Tour" - Missionary Episcopate in the Southwest from the Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Dec. 1938).
Polk Place House - Marshall, Mississippi. On September 5, 1839, Colley Foster bought these two lots for $1500. He built a log house on the property and originated the Episcopal Church in Holly Springs.. Polk Place was built by General Thomas G. Polk (1791-1869) in 1849 in the Greek Revival style and was built on the spot of the previous log house built by Reverend C. A. Foster in 1839. He was the half-brother General Leonidas Polk, the "Fighting Bishop of the Confederacy" and his second cousin, President James K. Polk. Polk and his family originally moved to Holly Springs in 1840. Another site says that Miss Emily Polk bought the property in 1849 from Foster and was the guardian for his children. Emily was the daughter of General Thomas Gilchrist Polk. The house was later sold and known as "Tuckahoe".
On the 1840 Census in Marshall, Mississippi the C.A. Foster household has 4 total free white persons. This includes a male under the age of 39, a female under age of 29, 5-9 year old boy, and a boy under 5 years old. There are also 3 slaves (old man, middle-aged woman, and a younger woman). This is probably Colley, his 2nd wife Frances, Colley William Foster, and ???. It is later in 1840 that previously widowed Frances also reclaims her 2 daughters back from Tennessee. The official date of the 1840 census was 1 June 1840.
In late 1840 Frances took her children still living in Tennessee from her brother-in-law by force to get custody. The in-laws didn't believe that the married mother should have the two remaining children (one had already passed away) when the brother had put the children in their care. Ultimately after multiple appeals in court the Mississippi courts ruled in 1842 that the children should stay with their birth mother unless there was some clear moral reason that they shouldn't and that the will/testament of the father at best could give the uncle custody of the children's finances. The opposing judge wrote his minority opinion that the father of the children should should choose and delegate who raises his children.
Around this time in Holly Springs schools being established. In 1842 it was opened in the building directly opposite of the residence of H.M. Lusher, Esq. [Henry Mills Lusher, Colonsay Cottage?]
"In the summer of 1841 an opposition school appeared. The Rev. C.A. Foster, an Episcopalian clergyman, published in the Holly Springs Gazette, a card proposing to open a high school for young ladies under the name of The Holly Springs Female Institute. This card excited the ire of the Rev. Mr. Parish. He addressed a series of open letters to the papers on the subject. Of course he could not challenge the right of Mr. Foster to open a rival school; but he made very severe criticism on the name selected for that school. "The Holly Springs Female Institute" was a style that belonged to the school under the writer's charge, etc.
Mr. Foster's reply was that the Parish school was named by its charter, and that its name was properly the Holly Springs Female Academy; to which Mr. Parish rejoined that the charter name was a blunder of the legislature, and that "institute" was the true term, on which he insisted. Each man stood on his own judgment, and for a while there were two schools in Holly Springs called the Holly Springs Female Institute; and the geographical discrimination of the eastern and the western parts of the town becomes prominent.
Mr. Foster won the battle. Exactly how is not known; but in January, 1842, Mr. Parish resigned and Mr. Foster was elected to succeed him. Mr. Parish's resignation was received with regret; and the board passed very complimentary resolutions that occasion. During his presidency several young ladies were graduated with the degree of M.P.L., presumably meaning mistress of polite literature.
The new faculty consisted of Rev. C.A. Foster, rector and principal; Rev. A.P. Merrill, associate principal; Mrs. A.P. Merrill, preceptress; Miss Martha W. Fraser, assistant tutoress; J.F. Goneke, esq., professor music; Miss M. Goneke, teacher on pianoforte; Mrs. Sarah B. Thompson, matron. A fine cabinet of minerals had been provided, and a good philosophical apparatus. Part of the intitute grounds was laid off for a botanical garden. A library was also provided. Mr. Foster's administration was for a time remarkably successful. The attendance of pupils for 1842 was about 100; that for 1843, 120; and that for 1844, 150. In 1843 Profressor Goneke and his daughter were gone, and their places were supplied by a Mr. Morse (late of Jackson) and a Miss Covington (Conyngton).
On the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of the last week in December, 1844, there was a public examination, of which a full account remains. The pupils gave numerous experiments and illustrations in practical chemistry; they conversed publicly in French, and read compositions in that tongue; they were quizzed in mental philosophy, in geometry, and in geology; they gave a public concert, etc.; they are said to have acquitted themselves with great credit.
Mr. Foster took a lease of the institute for five and a half years.
In the spring of the year 1845 Principal Foster resigned. His successor was promptly summoned. It was the Rev. James Weatherby, until then the principal of the Oxford Female Academy."
(from History of Education in Mississippi - Dead College of Mississippi - 1899)
(The Holly Springs Female Institute was started in 1841 in Holly Springs by Rev. Foster. Rev. C. Parish, A. M. already ran a different school of that name that had an earlier founding. The Foster school won out and Parish resigned and Foster took over. The degree presented was M.P.L. (Mistress of Polite Literature?) The school was lost when the building was burned in the Civil War).
According to the "Mississippi Democrat" newspaper on Wednesday, Jun 11, 1845, "The Rev. C.A. Foster, principal of the Female Institute of Holly Springs, has been compelled to resign his station on account of making matrimonial proposals to several of the young ladies under his charge!" There must have been a tiny bit of truth in this gossip as he married one of the teachers (Miss Mary L Conyngton) on July 14, 1845 in Vanderburgh County, Indiana.
"Rev. C.A. Foster incontinently resigned the office of Principal of the Female Institute at Holly Springs, Miss., a few weeks since, in consequence of a difficulty which arose from his having made matrimonial proposals to several of the young ladies who were pupils at the Institute. Report gave a much worse feature to the cause of his abdication."
(Albany Evening Atlas - Tuesday, June 3, 1845)
There is a scan of the Christ Church (Mississippi) Records. Starts out as Rev. C.A. Foster. Missionary Journal & Private Register and begins March 1st, 1839. Records by Foster end on May 15, 1844. There is also an Appendix he kept updated with the communicants. There is then a note by a different handwriting stating "This Register was lost and not recovered until 1855 on account of which the records of the parish have not been preserved. After the resignation of Rev. Mr. Foster, the Rev. Dr. ??? was elected Rector ? in charge of the Parish til his removal to New Orleans in the winter of 1844..."
Another Episcopal minister, Rev. F. L. Lister, also came to the area. He ran a school for boys also.
Rev. Foster was in Muncy, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania around 1846-1847. (Aug 25, 1845 - Oct 4, 1847). He was involved in the schooling there as well.
"The historical records note that, as strong and binding as the Borough's charter was for maintaining a school for girls, the trustees of the Muncy Female Seminary had great difficulty in locating and maintaining suitable teachers. In tracing the history of the educational institution (Muncy, Pennsylvania), it is noted that in 1846 the Rector of the local Episcopalian parish had offered his church for classes for "The Young Ladies Institute." Two sisters were hired by the Rev. C.A. foster to teach at the new girls' school. Unfortuntately, the Misses Ellen and Elizabeth Conyngton, who lived in the South, never arrived in time for the school's opening day, which was in May. The Episcopalian minister advised the community: "I will take a class of six young ladies for the higher branches of education, devoting a few hours of the afternoon to their instruction." It is fair to assume, that it must have been with some frustration that the Rector of the Episcopalian church had to give his wife the charge of the school's "ornamental department." No explanation is offered as to what that department entailed." (Where Wigwams Stood - A History of Muncy Pennsylvania - 1994).
"On the 25th day of the following August [1845] he was succeeded by the Rev Colly Alexander Foster, who remained in charge a little more than two years, resigning his charge on the 31st of October, 1847."
"His stay in Muncy, though brief, seemed to have been a gratifying one to himself. On the eve of his departure he records "with gratitude the fact that the people of this parish ahd ever shown him the utmost kindness," and prays God may "bless them one and all.""
(From an old newspaper clipping about the history of the St. James' Parish in Muncy).
In 1847 was Rector of St . Paul's Church, Evansville, Indiana. He was also an early member of the newly formed Masonic Lodge in his town. In fact, he was the first WM in Evansville, Indiana.
"On November 5, 1847, Rev. Colley A. Foster was elected rector. He was a scholarly gentleman and an eloquent and forceful speaker. When he left in 1856, he accepted a rectorate at Kalamazoo, Mich."
In 1848 was also advertising in the paper that he was offering lectures on Chemistry at the old Odd Fellows' Hall.
For the Medical College of Evansville in 1849 the Lecture Session advertisement in the local newspaper says that C.A. Foster, A.M. is teaching Chemistry and Pharmacy. The Medical College of Evansville (Founded 1849) was a private medical college, one of the very first in the state, and had no affiliation with IU School of Medicine, or the current IUSM Evansville campus. It was suspended in 1854, reorganized in 1871, and was finally extinct in 1884.
"The Evansville Medical College wsa incorporated under a charter from the Legislature of Indiana in 1845-6, and commenced operations in 1847-8, but discontinued after five sessions. The Faculty at its organization was as follows: MlJ. Bray, M.D., Chair of Surgery; C.S. Weever, M.D., Anatomy; Geo. B. Walker, M.D., Obstetrics and Diseases of Women; L.L. Laycock, M.D., Theory and Practice of Medicine; Jno. R. Wilcox, M.D., Materia Medica and Therapeutics; C.A. Foster, M.D., Chemistry; Wm. H. Byford, M.D., Institutes of Medicine; Wm. A. McDowell, M.D., Medical Jurisprudence; W. Walling, M.D., Physiology; Mark Trafton, M.D. Demonstrator of Anatomy. (Evansville, Her Commerce and Manufactures. Charles E. Robert, 1874)"
He advertised for his school in the 1850 Evansville Daily Journal. "Evansville Female Institute - A Select School for Young Ladies, of which the Rev. C.A. Foster is Rector, will be opened by the Misses E. Conyngton, at the Brick School House, adjoining the Episcopal Church on Monday, the 11th day of February next." He explains the Course of Study and fees. Also, he mentions "Mrs. C.A. Foster takes the charge of the French, Italian and Music Department. The Rector will daily visit the School, deliver two familiar Lectures a week on Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, and, occasionally, examine the classes in the studies they have been pursuing." The Misses Conyngton would have been at least two of the sisters of his wife (Emily and Ellen. Possibly also Elizabeth as she had not married yet).
Was calling himself M.D. in Indiana by 1853.
In 1855 in Evansville he advertised the "Select Female Institute of Evansville. The Rev. C.A. Foster, about to undertake personally the thorough education of his own daughter is willing to receive ten young ladies between the ages of ten and fourteen years, with whom and his daughter to form a class." He also mentions "Mrs. Foster will aid the Rector. The religion-government to the young ladies shall be strictly practical and in no way denominational. Until the first of August, foreign applications for entrance shall not be received, in order to give the citizens of this city the preference." He updated later in August that by request the number of pupils accepted was enlarged to 24, of all ages.
In 1857 he advertised for the "Mt. Vernon Female Institute. Rev. C.A. Foster, A.M. M.D., Principal, Lecturer on Chemistry, Natural Philosphy, &c. Mrs. C.A. Foster, Vice Principal, aided by competent Teachers." He also mentions that "For further particulars, inquire of the Board of Visitors: Messrs. Charles F. Leonard, Alvin P. Hovey, Esq., Geo. S Green, Esq.; Thos. J. Hinch, Ed. T. Sullivan, John R. Evertson and Walter F. Larkin. If necessary, the Principal can furnish references to the numerous heads of families whose daughters he has educated.
In January 1856 there is is a notice in the paper for "Instruction in Music. Mrs. C.A. Foster has a few vacancies for Pupils desirous of taking lessons on the Piano, Harp, or Guitar. Terms for each Instrument $10 per quarter.
In May 1856 the paper says "The Episcopal Church in Evansville is at this time without a Pastor. A short time since the Rev. C.A. Foster removed from this city to Newport, Ky. Desirous of making a change, he received invitations from churches in several of our largest Western cities, and finally accepted that which he thought would be most congenial to his own tastes and the interests of his family. Mr. Foster had resided in this city as Pastor of St. Paul's church the last eight or nine years. His departure from among us is not only a severe loss to the congregation of that church, irreparable, we think, at the present time at least, but a source of sincere regret to his numerous personal friends outside of as well as in his church. Mr. Foster's scholastic attainments are not merely such as to grace the theologian and adorn the pulpit, but to shine among the intelligent in the private circle, and rank him with the scientific. As a speaker he is forcible in his reasoning, profoundly versed in theology, and often eloquent in his illustration. Although he had many admirers here, we never though him fully appreciated. We have heard as beautiful discourses from his lips as any to which we ever listened, and very rarely a sermon not above the average of pulpit discourses from those who have not become distinguished in this field of labor. THe he was not as successful as many other preachers in the great object of ministerial labors, the regeneration of many souls, was probably because his appeals were more directed to the reason than to the passions-to the brain than to the instincts more closely connected with the physical nature.
We shall, in common with Mr. Foster's many friends in this city, be glad to hear that his pleasant anticipations in connection with his new home have been realized. We think the members of his church in Newport will have no cause to regret their invitation to Mr. Foster. If they do, there is still an earnest desire among his friends here for his return. On the eve of his departure, a strong effort was made to get him to rescind his resolution, and remain with us. Although unsuccessful, it was at least a compliment to himself, which we trust he will remember as among the more precious recollections of those he left behind him. He and his amiable and accomplished lady, have our best wishes. (The Evansville Daily - Wednesday, May 14, 1856)
It doesn't seem that he was in Kentucky long. Soon he was back in Mt. Vernon and was a pastor at the church in Goshen, Indiana when it was built. This seems to be St. James Episcopal Church in Elkhart, Indiana. The parish was first organized on Easter Monday March 26, 1859. Rev. H.M. Thompson called to preach every other Sunday on July 11, 1859. Rev. C.A Foster was the first resident rector and while the parish was under his charge, in 1861, the present house of worship was completed.
In 1860 when his daughter Julia died of convulsions, the death records say that Dr. C.A Foster was her medical attendant (Evansville Cemetery records).
In 1860 they were Family XV in the St. James Register of Goshen, Indiana.
Rev. C.A. Foster
Mrs -
Ellen
Reginald
Edward
Mary
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Mem:
By Divine Permission I laid the corner stone of this (St James') Church on Wednesday the 22d day of August in the year of our Lord 1860.
May countless souls be b??? in this house for Eternity - May the hearts that pray and praise in this house find at last a house ??? made with hands eternal in the Heavens-
C.A. Foster
Pastor
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Later he was in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1864-1876), and Sedalia, Missouri. (Johnston County, 1880).
While in Grand Rapids (1864) he was pursuing the medical profession as well as preaching.
At St. John's Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan around 1867.
The DeWitt Clinton Constitory S.P.R.S. 32 was organized in Kalamazoo (Charter December 1, 1866) he had a position of Grand Chancellor. (Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite).
1884 was at Missouri State Medical Association Session. Offered the prayer.
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Colley Alexander Foster (bachelor) married Ann Muirhead (widow) on March 3, 1830 in Niagara. (Ann Dockstadder, spinster, married *John B. Muirhead, Esq. May 14, 1824 in Niagara, Ontario). (From early records of St. Mark's and St. Andrew's Churches in Niagara (Ontario Historical Society). Also recorded as: Colley Alex'r Foster, Esq'r, of the Town of Hamilton, to Ann Muirhead, Widow, of the Town of Miagara. 10 Mar. 1830. Wit. James Broan and Margaret Stewart.
Next he married Frances D Yarbrough Alston in 1839. She was the widow of Alexander Scrymsour Johnston Alston of Poplar Springs, Tennessee (info from the Johnston-Alston Family Bible and marriage license). They got their marriage license in December 1838 in Fayette County, Tennessee. And the marriage was performed January 22, 1839 by a minister of a church in La Grange.
Was later married to Mary L Coryngton (b. England ~1820) on July 14, 1845 in Vanderburgh County, Indiana. I have also seen the name spelled Covington or Carrington?
Miss Mary L Conyngton had previously been the music teacher (piano, harp, guitar) at his school in Holly Springs, Mississippi which is where his first wife died. Her siblings were John Conyngton, Emily Conyngton, and Charlotte Conyngton Metcalf. Charlotte's tombstone says she was the daughter of J & M Conyngton. Records about her children say that she was born in Wiltshire, England.
C.A. Foster's Children:
Colley William Foster - baptised March 2, 1832 in Niagara, Ontario. (w/Ann Dockstadder)
Hellen Foster b. 1842 Mississippi (w/ Frances Yarbrough)
Mellville Foster b. 1844 Mississippi (w/ Frances Yarbrough)
Reginald C Foster b. 1847 Pennsylvania (w/ Mary L)
Julia Foster b 1849 Indiana (w/ Mary L)
Edward M Foster b. 1855 Indiana (w/ Mary L)
Mary E Foster b. 1859 Indiana (w/ Mary L)
*John Butler Muirhead son of James Muirhead and Deborah Butler (married May 19, 1795) was baptised March 21 1796 in Niagara, Ontario. His daughter Deborah Catharine Butler Muirhead (John B and Agnes) was baptised April 29, 1825 by Rev. Robert Addison. J.B. Muirhead, Esq. was buried on November 28, 1824 in Niagara, Ontario with Chaplain R.W. Tunney officiating (Fort George). Deborah married Sir William Buell Richards.
Claim No. 2320 on March 28, 1836 inherited 4 enslaved individuals from Kingston, Jamaica (unless there was a different Colley Alexander Foster also associated with Jamaica). Parliamentary Papers p. 39
County of Surrey, Parish of Kingston - On Uncontested Claims (Jamaica). Sums of Money Awarded for Slavery Compensation.
Date of Award:
28 Mar 1836
No. of Claim: 2320
Name of Party to whom the Payment is Awarded: Colley Alexander Foster No. of Slaves: 4
Sum: 64 pounds 2 s 5 d
From "General Report of the Emigration Commissioners - 1838)
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Interesting Relatives of Rev. C.A. Foster:
A relative in Canada was Colonel Colley L.L. Foster.
His step-daughter married a Chief Supreme Court Justice of Canada
His brother-in-law had a hat shop in Cleveland and was mayor in 1840.
His daughter-in-law and granddaughters were dance teachers in Detroit. They taught dance to the Ford family.
His second wife was involved in an early maternal rights custody case as a remarried widow in Mississippi. (Foster & Wife vs. Alston)
His second wife was also the granddaughter of the wife of the third Governor of NC. Her mother came from a later marriage, though, so she was not a descendant.
His first wife was a widow of a man that was the grandson of John Butler from the Butler's Rangers from the Revolutionary War.
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Rev. C.A. Foster, formerly rector of St. John's church, Kalamazoo, died in Sedalia, Mo., last week. He was 85 years old, and during his pastorate at Kalamazoo was one of the best known and most popular men in the city.
(True Northener - August 5, 1891)
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In the 1950s Charles Fey and Jack F. Hewson researched Rev. C.A. Foster as part of writing histories of Scottish Rite and Masonic organizations in the 1800s.
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Name sometimes written Colly A. Foster. Some diocese records call him Charles A Foster.
Seems to have been christened at St. Catherine (Church of England) in Jamaica on December 7, 1810 - aged 2 1/2 years old (possibly another child/relative with an identical name). Other records say born around 1803. His father was Irish and he was born at sea on an English naval vessel. I am still unsure his relation to the Colley L. L. Foster who was also serving in Jamaica about that time - he may be an uncle of C.A. Foster.
Another source says born "On the high seas," 1802. (from "Goodly Heritage: 150 Years of Craft Freemasonry in Indiana" by D.L. Smith).
"Colley A. Foster, of Evansville, was born on the ocean, his parents then being on their way to the West Indies to look after their estate. His parents died while he was quite young, and he was left to fight the battle of life alone. He was educated at Oxford, and later went to Canada and studied law with an uncle who was a lawyer in the employ of the British government. The practice of law was not to his taste, and he soon abandoned it and entered the ministry of the Episcopal Church. His first appearance in the Grand Lodge was at the session of 1848, when he was made chairman of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence. (From "History of Freemasonry in Indiana" - 1898)"
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Fifty-Five Years A Minister.
Death of Rev. Dr. C.A. Foster, Episcopalian, of Sedalia, Mo.
[Special Dispatch to the Boston Herald.]
Sedalia, Mo., July 26, 1891. Rev. C.A. Foster, D.D. LL. D., one of the oldest ministers in central Missouri, died at his home in this city last night, aged 89 years. He was born at Seaton, an English naval station, his father being an officer in the British army. Dr. Foster was educated at Oxford, and after graduating went to Canada and began the practice of law, but while a comparatively young man entered the ministry, in which he served for 55 years.
He was probably the oldest Episcopal clergyman in the West, both in age and length of his ministry. He he remained in England he would have been a baron in his own right.
(Boston Herald - Monday, July 27, 1891)
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Applied for Citizenship through the Probate Court of Vanderburgh County, Indiana during February Form 1849 (Volume D, page 175).
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Rev. Dr Foster, D.D. LL. D., Episcopalian Clergyman and Missionary, was the son of Sir Colley Foster, an English Baronet and an officer in her majesty's navy. A few of the out-of-town newspaper obituaries gave his name as Dr J.F. Foster, instead of C.A. Foster by mistake. I do not know who J.F. Foster was but believe that the newspaper made a fact-checking error.
1840 Census - Marshall County, Mississippi
1850 Census - Evansville, Indiana
1860 Census - Elkhart, Indiana
1870 Census - Kalamazoo, Michigan
1880 Census - Sedalia, Missouri
He is said to have studied law at Oxford. I have yet to find an official record of this.
He is the roll of Gentlemen in Canada upon whom the degree of Barrister at Law was conferred by the Law Society of Upper Canada. (Michaelmas T., 9 Geo IV, 1828. Another similar book says Michaelmas T., 10, Geo IV, 1829). In 1830 he was also listed as a notary public appointed in Canada.
At the time of his marriage in Niagara in 1830 he is living in Hamilton, Ontario.
On June 13, 1834 he lived at Brantford as he and William Muirhead Esq are listed as the witnesses with that as his residence for the marriage of Joseph Brant Thomas and Deborah Ramsay in Ontario. (In 1837 is still appearing in an almanac for lawyers as being in Brantford).
The parents of his first wife had left Niagara around 1826 to live in Cleveland, Ohio.
C.A. Foster filed a declaration to become a U.S. citizen on March 23, 1835 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. It is unclear if he ever naturalized, at least before 1842 (as discussed in the Colley & Wife v Alston court case in 1842 Mississippi).
In October 1835 C.A. Foster has an ad posted in the paper about a cottage for rent across from his residence on St. Clair St. The ad said he could also be reached at N. Dockstader's Hat Store.
In December 1835 he was advertising to Cleveland to take on six pupils for an education in Greek and Latin languages, Moral and Natural Philosophy, Rhetoric, Drawing, and Music. His residence is given as being at the corner of Ontario and St. Clair streets. (In the mid-1830s Rev. Colley Foster, had a classical academic school at the corner of Ontario and St. Clair streets in Cleveland, Ohio in Cuhahoga, County). Sometime after 1836 most of his pupils were with Franklin T Backus.
"By the Rt. Rev. Bishop Otey of Tennessee - May 7, at Nashville, Mr. Colley Alexander Foster was admitted to the Holy order of Deacons. The Rev. Dr. Weller, and the Rev. Mr. Polk assisted in the services on the occasion." (Southern Churchman, Friday, Jun 2, 1837)
In 1837, The Rev. Colley A Foster, Deacon, canonically removed from the Diocese of Tennessee (I assume this refers to Nashville where he had been admitted), is became the minister of Trinity Church, Fishkill, Dutchess county. Rev. C.A. Foster succeeded Rev. R.B. Van Kleeck, DD in 1837 atTrinity Church in Fishkill, NY. Foster's wife died in October and is buried in the churchyard. He stayed at that place until 1838 and Rev. Richard F. Burnhman became minister after he left. His next move was to Randolph, Tennessee.
From Rev. C.A. Foster, Missionary at Randolph (published in "The Spirit of Missions). "I arrived at Randolph on the 7th of February [1838], and assumed the work of my Mission."
During this time in Tennessee he stayed with the Alston family. The widow of a deceased Alston brother also lived in the household as her brother-in-law was the legal guardian of her children. Rev. C.A. Foster and and Frances were married in January1839 and were told to leave the household after they were married. The family didn't like Rev. Foster and his young son.
In April 1839 Rev. C.A. Foster was transferred from Randolph, in Tennessee, to Holly Springs and Salem, in Mississippi, and fixing his salary as Missionary at the latter station.
He once wrote to Bishop Leonidas Polk that the organization of an Episcopal Church in Holly Springs had excited interest because the church used a prayer book in its services. Foster told the bishop that extra benches had to be procured for the courthouse, where the initial services were conducted. He said: "The Episcopal Church is in every person's mouth as the common topic of conversation."
Christ Episcopal Church was officially organized on April 21, 1839 by the Reverend C. A. Foster (Holly Springs, Mississippi). He was the Rector of Christ Church. Also rector and principal of a school there.
Holly Springs was then a mushroom town; in 1836 it had been a cotton farm in a high and healthy country; by 1839 the inhabitants were numbered by thousands. It was a fine field for the church and the Rev. Colley A. Foster was just taking up residence. the bishop [Bishop Polk] remained in Holly Springs until February 26th [1839], unable to visit outside of the town because of the lack of conveyance, but he ascertained that church people were living in Pontotoc county and at Hernando in De Soto County. (From "The First Missionary Tour" - Missionary Episcopate in the Southwest from the Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Dec. 1938).
Polk Place House - Marshall, Mississippi. On September 5, 1839, Colley Foster bought these two lots for $1500. He built a log house on the property and originated the Episcopal Church in Holly Springs.. Polk Place was built by General Thomas G. Polk (1791-1869) in 1849 in the Greek Revival style and was built on the spot of the previous log house built by Reverend C. A. Foster in 1839. He was the half-brother General Leonidas Polk, the "Fighting Bishop of the Confederacy" and his second cousin, President James K. Polk. Polk and his family originally moved to Holly Springs in 1840. Another site says that Miss Emily Polk bought the property in 1849 from Foster and was the guardian for his children. Emily was the daughter of General Thomas Gilchrist Polk. The house was later sold and known as "Tuckahoe".
On the 1840 Census in Marshall, Mississippi the C.A. Foster household has 4 total free white persons. This includes a male under the age of 39, a female under age of 29, 5-9 year old boy, and a boy under 5 years old. There are also 3 slaves (old man, middle-aged woman, and a younger woman). This is probably Colley, his 2nd wife Frances, Colley William Foster, and ???. It is later in 1840 that previously widowed Frances also reclaims her 2 daughters back from Tennessee. The official date of the 1840 census was 1 June 1840.
In late 1840 Frances took her children still living in Tennessee from her brother-in-law by force to get custody. The in-laws didn't believe that the married mother should have the two remaining children (one had already passed away) when the brother had put the children in their care. Ultimately after multiple appeals in court the Mississippi courts ruled in 1842 that the children should stay with their birth mother unless there was some clear moral reason that they shouldn't and that the will/testament of the father at best could give the uncle custody of the children's finances. The opposing judge wrote his minority opinion that the father of the children should should choose and delegate who raises his children.
Around this time in Holly Springs schools being established. In 1842 it was opened in the building directly opposite of the residence of H.M. Lusher, Esq. [Henry Mills Lusher, Colonsay Cottage?]
"In the summer of 1841 an opposition school appeared. The Rev. C.A. Foster, an Episcopalian clergyman, published in the Holly Springs Gazette, a card proposing to open a high school for young ladies under the name of The Holly Springs Female Institute. This card excited the ire of the Rev. Mr. Parish. He addressed a series of open letters to the papers on the subject. Of course he could not challenge the right of Mr. Foster to open a rival school; but he made very severe criticism on the name selected for that school. "The Holly Springs Female Institute" was a style that belonged to the school under the writer's charge, etc.
Mr. Foster's reply was that the Parish school was named by its charter, and that its name was properly the Holly Springs Female Academy; to which Mr. Parish rejoined that the charter name was a blunder of the legislature, and that "institute" was the true term, on which he insisted. Each man stood on his own judgment, and for a while there were two schools in Holly Springs called the Holly Springs Female Institute; and the geographical discrimination of the eastern and the western parts of the town becomes prominent.
Mr. Foster won the battle. Exactly how is not known; but in January, 1842, Mr. Parish resigned and Mr. Foster was elected to succeed him. Mr. Parish's resignation was received with regret; and the board passed very complimentary resolutions that occasion. During his presidency several young ladies were graduated with the degree of M.P.L., presumably meaning mistress of polite literature.
The new faculty consisted of Rev. C.A. Foster, rector and principal; Rev. A.P. Merrill, associate principal; Mrs. A.P. Merrill, preceptress; Miss Martha W. Fraser, assistant tutoress; J.F. Goneke, esq., professor music; Miss M. Goneke, teacher on pianoforte; Mrs. Sarah B. Thompson, matron. A fine cabinet of minerals had been provided, and a good philosophical apparatus. Part of the intitute grounds was laid off for a botanical garden. A library was also provided. Mr. Foster's administration was for a time remarkably successful. The attendance of pupils for 1842 was about 100; that for 1843, 120; and that for 1844, 150. In 1843 Profressor Goneke and his daughter were gone, and their places were supplied by a Mr. Morse (late of Jackson) and a Miss Covington (Conyngton).
On the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of the last week in December, 1844, there was a public examination, of which a full account remains. The pupils gave numerous experiments and illustrations in practical chemistry; they conversed publicly in French, and read compositions in that tongue; they were quizzed in mental philosophy, in geometry, and in geology; they gave a public concert, etc.; they are said to have acquitted themselves with great credit.
Mr. Foster took a lease of the institute for five and a half years.
In the spring of the year 1845 Principal Foster resigned. His successor was promptly summoned. It was the Rev. James Weatherby, until then the principal of the Oxford Female Academy."
(from History of Education in Mississippi - Dead College of Mississippi - 1899)
(The Holly Springs Female Institute was started in 1841 in Holly Springs by Rev. Foster. Rev. C. Parish, A. M. already ran a different school of that name that had an earlier founding. The Foster school won out and Parish resigned and Foster took over. The degree presented was M.P.L. (Mistress of Polite Literature?) The school was lost when the building was burned in the Civil War).
According to the "Mississippi Democrat" newspaper on Wednesday, Jun 11, 1845, "The Rev. C.A. Foster, principal of the Female Institute of Holly Springs, has been compelled to resign his station on account of making matrimonial proposals to several of the young ladies under his charge!" There must have been a tiny bit of truth in this gossip as he married one of the teachers (Miss Mary L Conyngton) on July 14, 1845 in Vanderburgh County, Indiana.
"Rev. C.A. Foster incontinently resigned the office of Principal of the Female Institute at Holly Springs, Miss., a few weeks since, in consequence of a difficulty which arose from his having made matrimonial proposals to several of the young ladies who were pupils at the Institute. Report gave a much worse feature to the cause of his abdication."
(Albany Evening Atlas - Tuesday, June 3, 1845)
There is a scan of the Christ Church (Mississippi) Records. Starts out as Rev. C.A. Foster. Missionary Journal & Private Register and begins March 1st, 1839. Records by Foster end on May 15, 1844. There is also an Appendix he kept updated with the communicants. There is then a note by a different handwriting stating "This Register was lost and not recovered until 1855 on account of which the records of the parish have not been preserved. After the resignation of Rev. Mr. Foster, the Rev. Dr. ??? was elected Rector ? in charge of the Parish til his removal to New Orleans in the winter of 1844..."
Another Episcopal minister, Rev. F. L. Lister, also came to the area. He ran a school for boys also.
Rev. Foster was in Muncy, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania around 1846-1847. (Aug 25, 1845 - Oct 4, 1847). He was involved in the schooling there as well.
"The historical records note that, as strong and binding as the Borough's charter was for maintaining a school for girls, the trustees of the Muncy Female Seminary had great difficulty in locating and maintaining suitable teachers. In tracing the history of the educational institution (Muncy, Pennsylvania), it is noted that in 1846 the Rector of the local Episcopalian parish had offered his church for classes for "The Young Ladies Institute." Two sisters were hired by the Rev. C.A. foster to teach at the new girls' school. Unfortuntately, the Misses Ellen and Elizabeth Conyngton, who lived in the South, never arrived in time for the school's opening day, which was in May. The Episcopalian minister advised the community: "I will take a class of six young ladies for the higher branches of education, devoting a few hours of the afternoon to their instruction." It is fair to assume, that it must have been with some frustration that the Rector of the Episcopalian church had to give his wife the charge of the school's "ornamental department." No explanation is offered as to what that department entailed." (Where Wigwams Stood - A History of Muncy Pennsylvania - 1994).
"On the 25th day of the following August [1845] he was succeeded by the Rev Colly Alexander Foster, who remained in charge a little more than two years, resigning his charge on the 31st of October, 1847."
"His stay in Muncy, though brief, seemed to have been a gratifying one to himself. On the eve of his departure he records "with gratitude the fact that the people of this parish ahd ever shown him the utmost kindness," and prays God may "bless them one and all.""
(From an old newspaper clipping about the history of the St. James' Parish in Muncy).
In 1847 was Rector of St . Paul's Church, Evansville, Indiana. He was also an early member of the newly formed Masonic Lodge in his town. In fact, he was the first WM in Evansville, Indiana.
"On November 5, 1847, Rev. Colley A. Foster was elected rector. He was a scholarly gentleman and an eloquent and forceful speaker. When he left in 1856, he accepted a rectorate at Kalamazoo, Mich."
In 1848 was also advertising in the paper that he was offering lectures on Chemistry at the old Odd Fellows' Hall.
For the Medical College of Evansville in 1849 the Lecture Session advertisement in the local newspaper says that C.A. Foster, A.M. is teaching Chemistry and Pharmacy. The Medical College of Evansville (Founded 1849) was a private medical college, one of the very first in the state, and had no affiliation with IU School of Medicine, or the current IUSM Evansville campus. It was suspended in 1854, reorganized in 1871, and was finally extinct in 1884.
"The Evansville Medical College wsa incorporated under a charter from the Legislature of Indiana in 1845-6, and commenced operations in 1847-8, but discontinued after five sessions. The Faculty at its organization was as follows: MlJ. Bray, M.D., Chair of Surgery; C.S. Weever, M.D., Anatomy; Geo. B. Walker, M.D., Obstetrics and Diseases of Women; L.L. Laycock, M.D., Theory and Practice of Medicine; Jno. R. Wilcox, M.D., Materia Medica and Therapeutics; C.A. Foster, M.D., Chemistry; Wm. H. Byford, M.D., Institutes of Medicine; Wm. A. McDowell, M.D., Medical Jurisprudence; W. Walling, M.D., Physiology; Mark Trafton, M.D. Demonstrator of Anatomy. (Evansville, Her Commerce and Manufactures. Charles E. Robert, 1874)"
He advertised for his school in the 1850 Evansville Daily Journal. "Evansville Female Institute - A Select School for Young Ladies, of which the Rev. C.A. Foster is Rector, will be opened by the Misses E. Conyngton, at the Brick School House, adjoining the Episcopal Church on Monday, the 11th day of February next." He explains the Course of Study and fees. Also, he mentions "Mrs. C.A. Foster takes the charge of the French, Italian and Music Department. The Rector will daily visit the School, deliver two familiar Lectures a week on Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, and, occasionally, examine the classes in the studies they have been pursuing." The Misses Conyngton would have been at least two of the sisters of his wife (Emily and Ellen. Possibly also Elizabeth as she had not married yet).
Was calling himself M.D. in Indiana by 1853.
In 1855 in Evansville he advertised the "Select Female Institute of Evansville. The Rev. C.A. Foster, about to undertake personally the thorough education of his own daughter is willing to receive ten young ladies between the ages of ten and fourteen years, with whom and his daughter to form a class." He also mentions "Mrs. Foster will aid the Rector. The religion-government to the young ladies shall be strictly practical and in no way denominational. Until the first of August, foreign applications for entrance shall not be received, in order to give the citizens of this city the preference." He updated later in August that by request the number of pupils accepted was enlarged to 24, of all ages.
In 1857 he advertised for the "Mt. Vernon Female Institute. Rev. C.A. Foster, A.M. M.D., Principal, Lecturer on Chemistry, Natural Philosphy, &c. Mrs. C.A. Foster, Vice Principal, aided by competent Teachers." He also mentions that "For further particulars, inquire of the Board of Visitors: Messrs. Charles F. Leonard, Alvin P. Hovey, Esq., Geo. S Green, Esq.; Thos. J. Hinch, Ed. T. Sullivan, John R. Evertson and Walter F. Larkin. If necessary, the Principal can furnish references to the numerous heads of families whose daughters he has educated.
In January 1856 there is is a notice in the paper for "Instruction in Music. Mrs. C.A. Foster has a few vacancies for Pupils desirous of taking lessons on the Piano, Harp, or Guitar. Terms for each Instrument $10 per quarter.
In May 1856 the paper says "The Episcopal Church in Evansville is at this time without a Pastor. A short time since the Rev. C.A. Foster removed from this city to Newport, Ky. Desirous of making a change, he received invitations from churches in several of our largest Western cities, and finally accepted that which he thought would be most congenial to his own tastes and the interests of his family. Mr. Foster had resided in this city as Pastor of St. Paul's church the last eight or nine years. His departure from among us is not only a severe loss to the congregation of that church, irreparable, we think, at the present time at least, but a source of sincere regret to his numerous personal friends outside of as well as in his church. Mr. Foster's scholastic attainments are not merely such as to grace the theologian and adorn the pulpit, but to shine among the intelligent in the private circle, and rank him with the scientific. As a speaker he is forcible in his reasoning, profoundly versed in theology, and often eloquent in his illustration. Although he had many admirers here, we never though him fully appreciated. We have heard as beautiful discourses from his lips as any to which we ever listened, and very rarely a sermon not above the average of pulpit discourses from those who have not become distinguished in this field of labor. THe he was not as successful as many other preachers in the great object of ministerial labors, the regeneration of many souls, was probably because his appeals were more directed to the reason than to the passions-to the brain than to the instincts more closely connected with the physical nature.
We shall, in common with Mr. Foster's many friends in this city, be glad to hear that his pleasant anticipations in connection with his new home have been realized. We think the members of his church in Newport will have no cause to regret their invitation to Mr. Foster. If they do, there is still an earnest desire among his friends here for his return. On the eve of his departure, a strong effort was made to get him to rescind his resolution, and remain with us. Although unsuccessful, it was at least a compliment to himself, which we trust he will remember as among the more precious recollections of those he left behind him. He and his amiable and accomplished lady, have our best wishes. (The Evansville Daily - Wednesday, May 14, 1856)
It doesn't seem that he was in Kentucky long. Soon he was back in Mt. Vernon and was a pastor at the church in Goshen, Indiana when it was built. This seems to be St. James Episcopal Church in Elkhart, Indiana. The parish was first organized on Easter Monday March 26, 1859. Rev. H.M. Thompson called to preach every other Sunday on July 11, 1859. Rev. C.A Foster was the first resident rector and while the parish was under his charge, in 1861, the present house of worship was completed.
In 1860 when his daughter Julia died of convulsions, the death records say that Dr. C.A Foster was her medical attendant (Evansville Cemetery records).
In 1860 they were Family XV in the St. James Register of Goshen, Indiana.
Rev. C.A. Foster
Mrs -
Ellen
Reginald
Edward
Mary
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Mem:
By Divine Permission I laid the corner stone of this (St James') Church on Wednesday the 22d day of August in the year of our Lord 1860.
May countless souls be b??? in this house for Eternity - May the hearts that pray and praise in this house find at last a house ??? made with hands eternal in the Heavens-
C.A. Foster
Pastor
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Later he was in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1864-1876), and Sedalia, Missouri. (Johnston County, 1880).
While in Grand Rapids (1864) he was pursuing the medical profession as well as preaching.
At St. John's Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan around 1867.
The DeWitt Clinton Constitory S.P.R.S. 32 was organized in Kalamazoo (Charter December 1, 1866) he had a position of Grand Chancellor. (Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite).
1884 was at Missouri State Medical Association Session. Offered the prayer.
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Colley Alexander Foster (bachelor) married Ann Muirhead (widow) on March 3, 1830 in Niagara. (Ann Dockstadder, spinster, married *John B. Muirhead, Esq. May 14, 1824 in Niagara, Ontario). (From early records of St. Mark's and St. Andrew's Churches in Niagara (Ontario Historical Society). Also recorded as: Colley Alex'r Foster, Esq'r, of the Town of Hamilton, to Ann Muirhead, Widow, of the Town of Miagara. 10 Mar. 1830. Wit. James Broan and Margaret Stewart.
Next he married Frances D Yarbrough Alston in 1839. She was the widow of Alexander Scrymsour Johnston Alston of Poplar Springs, Tennessee (info from the Johnston-Alston Family Bible and marriage license). They got their marriage license in December 1838 in Fayette County, Tennessee. And the marriage was performed January 22, 1839 by a minister of a church in La Grange.
Was later married to Mary L Coryngton (b. England ~1820) on July 14, 1845 in Vanderburgh County, Indiana. I have also seen the name spelled Covington or Carrington?
Miss Mary L Conyngton had previously been the music teacher (piano, harp, guitar) at his school in Holly Springs, Mississippi which is where his first wife died. Her siblings were John Conyngton, Emily Conyngton, and Charlotte Conyngton Metcalf. Charlotte's tombstone says she was the daughter of J & M Conyngton. Records about her children say that she was born in Wiltshire, England.
C.A. Foster's Children:
Colley William Foster - baptised March 2, 1832 in Niagara, Ontario. (w/Ann Dockstadder)
Hellen Foster b. 1842 Mississippi (w/ Frances Yarbrough)
Mellville Foster b. 1844 Mississippi (w/ Frances Yarbrough)
Reginald C Foster b. 1847 Pennsylvania (w/ Mary L)
Julia Foster b 1849 Indiana (w/ Mary L)
Edward M Foster b. 1855 Indiana (w/ Mary L)
Mary E Foster b. 1859 Indiana (w/ Mary L)
*John Butler Muirhead son of James Muirhead and Deborah Butler (married May 19, 1795) was baptised March 21 1796 in Niagara, Ontario. His daughter Deborah Catharine Butler Muirhead (John B and Agnes) was baptised April 29, 1825 by Rev. Robert Addison. J.B. Muirhead, Esq. was buried on November 28, 1824 in Niagara, Ontario with Chaplain R.W. Tunney officiating (Fort George). Deborah married Sir William Buell Richards.
Claim No. 2320 on March 28, 1836 inherited 4 enslaved individuals from Kingston, Jamaica (unless there was a different Colley Alexander Foster also associated with Jamaica). Parliamentary Papers p. 39
County of Surrey, Parish of Kingston - On Uncontested Claims (Jamaica). Sums of Money Awarded for Slavery Compensation.
Date of Award:
28 Mar 1836
No. of Claim: 2320
Name of Party to whom the Payment is Awarded: Colley Alexander Foster No. of Slaves: 4
Sum: 64 pounds 2 s 5 d
From "General Report of the Emigration Commissioners - 1838)
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Interesting Relatives of Rev. C.A. Foster:
A relative in Canada was Colonel Colley L.L. Foster.
His step-daughter married a Chief Supreme Court Justice of Canada
His brother-in-law had a hat shop in Cleveland and was mayor in 1840.
His daughter-in-law and granddaughters were dance teachers in Detroit. They taught dance to the Ford family.
His second wife was involved in an early maternal rights custody case as a remarried widow in Mississippi. (Foster & Wife vs. Alston)
His second wife was also the granddaughter of the wife of the third Governor of NC. Her mother came from a later marriage, though, so she was not a descendant.
His first wife was a widow of a man that was the grandson of John Butler from the Butler's Rangers from the Revolutionary War.
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Rev. C.A. Foster, formerly rector of St. John's church, Kalamazoo, died in Sedalia, Mo., last week. He was 85 years old, and during his pastorate at Kalamazoo was one of the best known and most popular men in the city.
(True Northener - August 5, 1891)
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In the 1950s Charles Fey and Jack F. Hewson researched Rev. C.A. Foster as part of writing histories of Scottish Rite and Masonic organizations in the 1800s.
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Name sometimes written Colly A. Foster. Some diocese records call him Charles A Foster.
Seems to have been christened at St. Catherine (Church of England) in Jamaica on December 7, 1810 - aged 2 1/2 years old (possibly another child/relative with an identical name). Other records say born around 1803. His father was Irish and he was born at sea on an English naval vessel. I am still unsure his relation to the Colley L. L. Foster who was also serving in Jamaica about that time - he may be an uncle of C.A. Foster.
Another source says born "On the high seas," 1802. (from "Goodly Heritage: 150 Years of Craft Freemasonry in Indiana" by D.L. Smith).
"Colley A. Foster, of Evansville, was born on the ocean, his parents then being on their way to the West Indies to look after their estate. His parents died while he was quite young, and he was left to fight the battle of life alone. He was educated at Oxford, and later went to Canada and studied law with an uncle who was a lawyer in the employ of the British government. The practice of law was not to his taste, and he soon abandoned it and entered the ministry of the Episcopal Church. His first appearance in the Grand Lodge was at the session of 1848, when he was made chairman of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence. (From "History of Freemasonry in Indiana" - 1898)"
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Fifty-Five Years A Minister.
Death of Rev. Dr. C.A. Foster, Episcopalian, of Sedalia, Mo.
[Special Dispatch to the Boston Herald.]
Sedalia, Mo., July 26, 1891. Rev. C.A. Foster, D.D. LL. D., one of the oldest ministers in central Missouri, died at his home in this city last night, aged 89 years. He was born at Seaton, an English naval station, his father being an officer in the British army. Dr. Foster was educated at Oxford, and after graduating went to Canada and began the practice of law, but while a comparatively young man entered the ministry, in which he served for 55 years.
He was probably the oldest Episcopal clergyman in the West, both in age and length of his ministry. He he remained in England he would have been a baron in his own right.
(Boston Herald - Monday, July 27, 1891)
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Applied for Citizenship through the Probate Court of Vanderburgh County, Indiana during February Form 1849 (Volume D, page 175).
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Rev. Dr Foster, D.D. LL. D., Episcopalian Clergyman and Missionary, was the son of Sir Colley Foster, an English Baronet and an officer in her majesty's navy. A few of the out-of-town newspaper obituaries gave his name as Dr J.F. Foster, instead of C.A. Foster by mistake. I do not know who J.F. Foster was but believe that the newspaper made a fact-checking error.
1840 Census - Marshall County, Mississippi
1850 Census - Evansville, Indiana
1860 Census - Elkhart, Indiana
1870 Census - Kalamazoo, Michigan
1880 Census - Sedalia, Missouri
He is said to have studied law at Oxford. I have yet to find an official record of this.
He is the roll of Gentlemen in Canada upon whom the degree of Barrister at Law was conferred by the Law Society of Upper Canada. (Michaelmas T., 9 Geo IV, 1828. Another similar book says Michaelmas T., 10, Geo IV, 1829). In 1830 he was also listed as a notary public appointed in Canada.
At the time of his marriage in Niagara in 1830 he is living in Hamilton, Ontario.
On June 13, 1834 he lived at Brantford as he and William Muirhead Esq are listed as the witnesses with that as his residence for the marriage of Joseph Brant Thomas and Deborah Ramsay in Ontario. (In 1837 is still appearing in an almanac for lawyers as being in Brantford).
The parents of his first wife had left Niagara around 1826 to live in Cleveland, Ohio.
C.A. Foster filed a declaration to become a U.S. citizen on March 23, 1835 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. It is unclear if he ever naturalized, at least before 1842 (as discussed in the Colley & Wife v Alston court case in 1842 Mississippi).
In October 1835 C.A. Foster has an ad posted in the paper about a cottage for rent across from his residence on St. Clair St. The ad said he could also be reached at N. Dockstader's Hat Store.
In December 1835 he was advertising to Cleveland to take on six pupils for an education in Greek and Latin languages, Moral and Natural Philosophy, Rhetoric, Drawing, and Music. His residence is given as being at the corner of Ontario and St. Clair streets. (In the mid-1830s Rev. Colley Foster, had a classical academic school at the corner of Ontario and St. Clair streets in Cleveland, Ohio in Cuhahoga, County). Sometime after 1836 most of his pupils were with Franklin T Backus.
"By the Rt. Rev. Bishop Otey of Tennessee - May 7, at Nashville, Mr. Colley Alexander Foster was admitted to the Holy order of Deacons. The Rev. Dr. Weller, and the Rev. Mr. Polk assisted in the services on the occasion." (Southern Churchman, Friday, Jun 2, 1837)
In 1837, The Rev. Colley A Foster, Deacon, canonically removed from the Diocese of Tennessee (I assume this refers to Nashville where he had been admitted), is became the minister of Trinity Church, Fishkill, Dutchess county. Rev. C.A. Foster succeeded Rev. R.B. Van Kleeck, DD in 1837 atTrinity Church in Fishkill, NY. Foster's wife died in October and is buried in the churchyard. He stayed at that place until 1838 and Rev. Richard F. Burnhman became minister after he left. His next move was to Randolph, Tennessee.
From Rev. C.A. Foster, Missionary at Randolph (published in "The Spirit of Missions). "I arrived at Randolph on the 7th of February [1838], and assumed the work of my Mission."
During this time in Tennessee he stayed with the Alston family. The widow of a deceased Alston brother also lived in the household as her brother-in-law was the legal guardian of her children. Rev. C.A. Foster and and Frances were married in January1839 and were told to leave the household after they were married. The family didn't like Rev. Foster and his young son.
In April 1839 Rev. C.A. Foster was transferred from Randolph, in Tennessee, to Holly Springs and Salem, in Mississippi, and fixing his salary as Missionary at the latter station.
He once wrote to Bishop Leonidas Polk that the organization of an Episcopal Church in Holly Springs had excited interest because the church used a prayer book in its services. Foster told the bishop that extra benches had to be procured for the courthouse, where the initial services were conducted. He said: "The Episcopal Church is in every person's mouth as the common topic of conversation."
Christ Episcopal Church was officially organized on April 21, 1839 by the Reverend C. A. Foster (Holly Springs, Mississippi). He was the Rector of Christ Church. Also rector and principal of a school there.
Holly Springs was then a mushroom town; in 1836 it had been a cotton farm in a high and healthy country; by 1839 the inhabitants were numbered by thousands. It was a fine field for the church and the Rev. Colley A. Foster was just taking up residence. the bishop [Bishop Polk] remained in Holly Springs until February 26th [1839], unable to visit outside of the town because of the lack of conveyance, but he ascertained that church people were living in Pontotoc county and at Hernando in De Soto County. (From "The First Missionary Tour" - Missionary Episcopate in the Southwest from the Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Dec. 1938).
Polk Place House - Marshall, Mississippi. On September 5, 1839, Colley Foster bought these two lots for $1500. He built a log house on the property and originated the Episcopal Church in Holly Springs.. Polk Place was built by General Thomas G. Polk (1791-1869) in 1849 in the Greek Revival style and was built on the spot of the previous log house built by Reverend C. A. Foster in 1839. He was the half-brother General Leonidas Polk, the "Fighting Bishop of the Confederacy" and his second cousin, President James K. Polk. Polk and his family originally moved to Holly Springs in 1840. Another site says that Miss Emily Polk bought the property in 1849 from Foster and was the guardian for his children. Emily was the daughter of General Thomas Gilchrist Polk. The house was later sold and known as "Tuckahoe".
On the 1840 Census in Marshall, Mississippi the C.A. Foster household has 4 total free white persons. This includes a male under the age of 39, a female under age of 29, 5-9 year old boy, and a boy under 5 years old. There are also 3 slaves (old man, middle-aged woman, and a younger woman). This is probably Colley, his 2nd wife Frances, Colley William Foster, and ???. It is later in 1840 that previously widowed Frances also reclaims her 2 daughters back from Tennessee. The official date of the 1840 census was 1 June 1840.
In late 1840 Frances took her children still living in Tennessee from her brother-in-law by force to get custody. The in-laws didn't believe that the married mother should have the two remaining children (one had already passed away) when the brother had put the children in their care. Ultimately after multiple appeals in court the Mississippi courts ruled in 1842 that the children should stay with their birth mother unless there was some clear moral reason that they shouldn't and that the will/testament of the father at best could give the uncle custody of the children's finances. The opposing judge wrote his minority opinion that the father of the children should should choose and delegate who raises his children.
Around this time in Holly Springs schools being established. In 1842 it was opened in the building directly opposite of the residence of H.M. Lusher, Esq. [Henry Mills Lusher, Colonsay Cottage?]
"In the summer of 1841 an opposition school appeared. The Rev. C.A. Foster, an Episcopalian clergyman, published in the Holly Springs Gazette, a card proposing to open a high school for young ladies under the name of The Holly Springs Female Institute. This card excited the ire of the Rev. Mr. Parish. He addressed a series of open letters to the papers on the subject. Of course he could not challenge the right of Mr. Foster to open a rival school; but he made very severe criticism on the name selected for that school. "The Holly Springs Female Institute" was a style that belonged to the school under the writer's charge, etc.
Mr. Foster's reply was that the Parish school was named by its charter, and that its name was properly the Holly Springs Female Academy; to which Mr. Parish rejoined that the charter name was a blunder of the legislature, and that "institute" was the true term, on which he insisted. Each man stood on his own judgment, and for a while there were two schools in Holly Springs called the Holly Springs Female Institute; and the geographical discrimination of the eastern and the western parts of the town becomes prominent.
Mr. Foster won the battle. Exactly how is not known; but in January, 1842, Mr. Parish resigned and Mr. Foster was elected to succeed him. Mr. Parish's resignation was received with regret; and the board passed very complimentary resolutions that occasion. During his presidency several young ladies were graduated with the degree of M.P.L., presumably meaning mistress of polite literature.
The new faculty consisted of Rev. C.A. Foster, rector and principal; Rev. A.P. Merrill, associate principal; Mrs. A.P. Merrill, preceptress; Miss Martha W. Fraser, assistant tutoress; J.F. Goneke, esq., professor music; Miss M. Goneke, teacher on pianoforte; Mrs. Sarah B. Thompson, matron. A fine cabinet of minerals had been provided, and a good philosophical apparatus. Part of the intitute grounds was laid off for a botanical garden. A library was also provided. Mr. Foster's administration was for a time remarkably successful. The attendance of pupils for 1842 was about 100; that for 1843, 120; and that for 1844, 150. In 1843 Profressor Goneke and his daughter were gone, and their places were supplied by a Mr. Morse (late of Jackson) and a Miss Covington (Conyngton).
On the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of the last week in December, 1844, there was a public examination, of which a full account remains. The pupils gave numerous experiments and illustrations in practical chemistry; they conversed publicly in French, and read compositions in that tongue; they were quizzed in mental philosophy, in geometry, and in geology; they gave a public concert, etc.; they are said to have acquitted themselves with great credit.
Mr. Foster took a lease of the institute for five and a half years.
In the spring of the year 1845 Principal Foster resigned. His successor was promptly summoned. It was the Rev. James Weatherby, until then the principal of the Oxford Female Academy."
(from History of Education in Mississippi - Dead College of Mississippi - 1899)
(The Holly Springs Female Institute was started in 1841 in Holly Springs by Rev. Foster. Rev. C. Parish, A. M. already ran a different school of that name that had an earlier founding. The Foster school won out and Parish resigned and Foster took over. The degree presented was M.P.L. (Mistress of Polite Literature?) The school was lost when the building was burned in the Civil War).
According to the "Mississippi Democrat" newspaper on Wednesday, Jun 11, 1845, "The Rev. C.A. Foster, principal of the Female Institute of Holly Springs, has been compelled to resign his station on account of making matrimonial proposals to several of the young ladies under his charge!" There must have been a tiny bit of truth in this gossip as he married one of the teachers (Miss Mary L Conyngton) on July 14, 1845 in Vanderburgh County, Indiana.
"Rev. C.A. Foster incontinently resigned the office of Principal of the Female Institute at Holly Springs, Miss., a few weeks since, in consequence of a difficulty which arose from his having made matrimonial proposals to several of the young ladies who were pupils at the Institute. Report gave a much worse feature to the cause of his abdication."
(Albany Evening Atlas - Tuesday, June 3, 1845)
There is a scan of the Christ Church (Mississippi) Records. Starts out as Rev. C.A. Foster. Missionary Journal & Private Register and begins March 1st, 1839. Records by Foster end on May 15, 1844. There is also an Appendix he kept updated with the communicants. There is then a note by a different handwriting stating "This Register was lost and not recovered until 1855 on account of which the records of the parish have not been preserved. After the resignation of Rev. Mr. Foster, the Rev. Dr. ??? was elected Rector ? in charge of the Parish til his removal to New Orleans in the winter of 1844..."
Another Episcopal minister, Rev. F. L. Lister, also came to the area. He ran a school for boys also.
Rev. Foster was in Muncy, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania around 1846-1847. (Aug 25, 1845 - Oct 4, 1847). He was involved in the schooling there as well.
"The historical records note that, as strong and binding as the Borough's charter was for maintaining a school for girls, the trustees of the Muncy Female Seminary had great difficulty in locating and maintaining suitable teachers. In tracing the history of the educational institution (Muncy, Pennsylvania), it is noted that in 1846 the Rector of the local Episcopalian parish had offered his church for classes for "The Young Ladies Institute." Two sisters were hired by the Rev. C.A. foster to teach at the new girls' school. Unfortuntately, the Misses Ellen and Elizabeth Conyngton, who lived in the South, never arrived in time for the school's opening day, which was in May. The Episcopalian minister advised the community: "I will take a class of six young ladies for the higher branches of education, devoting a few hours of the afternoon to their instruction." It is fair to assume, that it must have been with some frustration that the Rector of the Episcopalian church had to give his wife the charge of the school's "ornamental department." No explanation is offered as to what that department entailed." (Where Wigwams Stood - A History of Muncy Pennsylvania - 1994).
"On the 25th day of the following August [1845] he was succeeded by the Rev Colly Alexander Foster, who remained in charge a little more than two years, resigning his charge on the 31st of October, 1847."
"His stay in Muncy, though brief, seemed to have been a gratifying one to himself. On the eve of his departure he records "with gratitude the fact that the people of this parish ahd ever shown him the utmost kindness," and prays God may "bless them one and all.""
(From an old newspaper clipping about the history of the St. James' Parish in Muncy).
In 1847 was Rector of St . Paul's Church, Evansville, Indiana. He was also an early member of the newly formed Masonic Lodge in his town. In fact, he was the first WM in Evansville, Indiana.
"On November 5, 1847, Rev. Colley A. Foster was elected rector. He was a scholarly gentleman and an eloquent and forceful speaker. When he left in 1856, he accepted a rectorate at Kalamazoo, Mich."
In 1848 was also advertising in the paper that he was offering lectures on Chemistry at the old Odd Fellows' Hall.
For the Medical College of Evansville in 1849 the Lecture Session advertisement in the local newspaper says that C.A. Foster, A.M. is teaching Chemistry and Pharmacy. The Medical College of Evansville (Founded 1849) was a private medical college, one of the very first in the state, and had no affiliation with IU School of Medicine, or the current IUSM Evansville campus. It was suspended in 1854, reorganized in 1871, and was finally extinct in 1884.
"The Evansville Medical College wsa incorporated under a charter from the Legislature of Indiana in 1845-6, and commenced operations in 1847-8, but discontinued after five sessions. The Faculty at its organization was as follows: MlJ. Bray, M.D., Chair of Surgery; C.S. Weever, M.D., Anatomy; Geo. B. Walker, M.D., Obstetrics and Diseases of Women; L.L. Laycock, M.D., Theory and Practice of Medicine; Jno. R. Wilcox, M.D., Materia Medica and Therapeutics; C.A. Foster, M.D., Chemistry; Wm. H. Byford, M.D., Institutes of Medicine; Wm. A. McDowell, M.D., Medical Jurisprudence; W. Walling, M.D., Physiology; Mark Trafton, M.D. Demonstrator of Anatomy. (Evansville, Her Commerce and Manufactures. Charles E. Robert, 1874)"
He advertised for his school in the 1850 Evansville Daily Journal. "Evansville Female Institute - A Select School for Young Ladies, of which the Rev. C.A. Foster is Rector, will be opened by the Misses E. Conyngton, at the Brick School House, adjoining the Episcopal Church on Monday, the 11th day of February next." He explains the Course of Study and fees. Also, he mentions "Mrs. C.A. Foster takes the charge of the French, Italian and Music Department. The Rector will daily visit the School, deliver two familiar Lectures a week on Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, and, occasionally, examine the classes in the studies they have been pursuing." The Misses Conyngton would have been at least two of the sisters of his wife (Emily and Ellen. Possibly also Elizabeth as she had not married yet).
Was calling himself M.D. in Indiana by 1853.
In 1855 in Evansville he advertised the "Select Female Institute of Evansville. The Rev. C.A. Foster, about to undertake personally the thorough education of his own daughter is willing to receive ten young ladies between the ages of ten and fourteen years, with whom and his daughter to form a class." He also mentions "Mrs. Foster will aid the Rector. The religion-government to the young ladies shall be strictly practical and in no way denominational. Until the first of August, foreign applications for entrance shall not be received, in order to give the citizens of this city the preference." He updated later in August that by request the number of pupils accepted was enlarged to 24, of all ages.
In 1857 he advertised for the "Mt. Vernon Female Institute. Rev. C.A. Foster, A.M. M.D., Principal, Lecturer on Chemistry, Natural Philosphy, &c. Mrs. C.A. Foster, Vice Principal, aided by competent Teachers." He also mentions that "For further particulars, inquire of the Board of Visitors: Messrs. Charles F. Leonard, Alvin P. Hovey, Esq., Geo. S Green, Esq.; Thos. J. Hinch, Ed. T. Sullivan, John R. Evertson and Walter F. Larkin. If necessary, the Principal can furnish references to the numerous heads of families whose daughters he has educated.
In January 1856 there is is a notice in the paper for "Instruction in Music. Mrs. C.A. Foster has a few vacancies for Pupils desirous of taking lessons on the Piano, Harp, or Guitar. Terms for each Instrument $10 per quarter.
In May 1856 the paper says "The Episcopal Church in Evansville is at this time without a Pastor. A short time since the Rev. C.A. Foster removed from this city to Newport, Ky. Desirous of making a change, he received invitations from churches in several of our largest Western cities, and finally accepted that which he thought would be most congenial to his own tastes and the interests of his family. Mr. Foster had resided in this city as Pastor of St. Paul's church the last eight or nine years. His departure from among us is not only a severe loss to the congregation of that church, irreparable, we think, at the present time at least, but a source of sincere regret to his numerous personal friends outside of as well as in his church. Mr. Foster's scholastic attainments are not merely such as to grace the theologian and adorn the pulpit, but to shine among the intelligent in the private circle, and rank him with the scientific. As a speaker he is forcible in his reasoning, profoundly versed in theology, and often eloquent in his illustration. Although he had many admirers here, we never though him fully appreciated. We have heard as beautiful discourses from his lips as any to which we ever listened, and very rarely a sermon not above the average of pulpit discourses from those who have not become distinguished in this field of labor. THe he was not as successful as many other preachers in the great object of ministerial labors, the regeneration of many souls, was probably because his appeals were more directed to the reason than to the passions-to the brain than to the instincts more closely connected with the physical nature.
We shall, in common with Mr. Foster's many friends in this city, be glad to hear that his pleasant anticipations in connection with his new home have been realized. We think the members of his church in Newport will have no cause to regret their invitation to Mr. Foster. If they do, there is still an earnest desire among his friends here for his return. On the eve of his departure, a strong effort was made to get him to rescind his resolution, and remain with us. Although unsuccessful, it was at least a compliment to himself, which we trust he will remember as among the more precious recollections of those he left behind him. He and his amiable and accomplished lady, have our best wishes. (The Evansville Daily - Wednesday, May 14, 1856)
It doesn't seem that he was in Kentucky long. Soon he was back in Mt. Vernon and was a pastor at the church in Goshen, Indiana when it was built. This seems to be St. James Episcopal Church in Elkhart, Indiana. The parish was first organized on Easter Monday March 26, 1859. Rev. H.M. Thompson called to preach every other Sunday on July 11, 1859. Rev. C.A Foster was the first resident rector and while the parish was under his charge, in 1861, the present house of worship was completed.
In 1860 when his daughter Julia died of convulsions, the death records say that Dr. C.A Foster was her medical attendant (Evansville Cemetery records).
In 1860 they were Family XV in the St. James Register of Goshen, Indiana.
Rev. C.A. Foster
Mrs -
Ellen
Reginald
Edward
Mary
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Mem:
By Divine Permission I laid the corner stone of this (St James') Church on Wednesday the 22d day of August in the year of our Lord 1860.
May countless souls be b??? in this house for Eternity - May the hearts that pray and praise in this house find at last a house ??? made with hands eternal in the Heavens-
C.A. Foster
Pastor
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Later he was in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1864-1876), and Sedalia, Missouri. (Johnston County, 1880).
While in Grand Rapids (1864) he was pursuing the medical profession as well as preaching.
At St. John's Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan around 1867.
The DeWitt Clinton Constitory S.P.R.S. 32 was organized in Kalamazoo (Charter December 1, 1866) he had a position of Grand Chancellor. (Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite).
1884 was at Missouri State Medical Association Session. Offered the prayer.
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Colley Alexander Foster (bachelor) married Ann Muirhead (widow) on March 3, 1830 in Niagara. (Ann Dockstadder, spinster, married *John B. Muirhead, Esq. May 14, 1824 in Niagara, Ontario). (From early records of St. Mark's and St. Andrew's Churches in Niagara (Ontario Historical Society). Also recorded as: Colley Alex'r Foster, Esq'r, of the Town of Hamilton, to Ann Muirhead, Widow, of the Town of Miagara. 10 Mar. 1830. Wit. James Broan and Margaret Stewart.
Next he married Frances D Yarbrough Alston in 1839. She was the widow of Alexander Scrymsour Johnston Alston of Poplar Springs, Tennessee (info from the Johnston-Alston Family Bible and marriage license). They got their marriage license in December 1838 in Fayette County, Tennessee. And the marriage was performed January 22, 1839 by a minister of a church in La Grange.
Was later married to Mary L Coryngton (b. England ~1820) on July 14, 1845 in Vanderburgh County, Indiana. I have also seen the name spelled Covington or Carrington?
Miss Mary L Conyngton had previously been the music teacher (piano, harp, guitar) at his school in Holly Springs, Mississippi which is where his first wife died. Her siblings were John Conyngton, Emily Conyngton, and Charlotte Conyngton Metcalf. Charlotte's tombstone says she was the daughter of J & M Conyngton. Records about her children say that she was born in Wiltshire, England.
C.A. Foster's Children:
Colley William Foster - baptised March 2, 1832 in Niagara, Ontario. (w/Ann Dockstadder)
Hellen Foster b. 1842 Mississippi (w/ Frances Yarbrough)
Mellville Foster b. 1844 Mississippi (w/ Frances Yarbrough)
Reginald C Foster b. 1847 Pennsylvania (w/ Mary L)
Julia Foster b 1849 Indiana (w/ Mary L)
Edward M Foster b. 1855 Indiana (w/ Mary L)
Mary E Foster b. 1859 Indiana (w/ Mary L)
*John Butler Muirhead son of James Muirhead and Deborah Butler (married May 19, 1795) was baptised March 21 1796 in Niagara, Ontario. His daughter Deborah Catharine Butler Muirhead (John B and Agnes) was baptised April 29, 1825 by Rev. Robert Addison. J.B. Muirhead, Esq. was buried on November 28, 1824 in Niagara, Ontario with Chaplain R.W. Tunney officiating (Fort George). Deborah married Sir William Buell Richards.
Claim No. 2320 on March 28, 1836 inherited 4 enslaved individuals from Kingston, Jamaica (unless there was a different Colley Alexander Foster also associated with Jamaica). Parliamentary Papers p. 39
County of Surrey, Parish of Kingston - On Uncontested Claims (Jamaica). Sums of Money Awarded for Slavery Compensation.
Date of Award:
28 Mar 1836
No. of Claim: 2320
Name of Party to whom the Payment is Awarded: Colley Alexander Foster No. of Slaves: 4
Sum: 64 pounds 2 s 5 d
From "General Report of the Emigration Commissioners - 1838)
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Interesting Relatives of Rev. C.A. Foster:
A relative in Canada was Colonel Colley L.L. Foster.
His step-daughter married a Chief Supreme Court Justice of Canada
His brother-in-law had a hat shop in Cleveland and was mayor in 1840.
His daughter-in-law and granddaughters were dance teachers in Detroit. They taught dance to the Ford family.
His second wife was involved in an early maternal rights custody case as a remarried widow in Mississippi. (Foster & Wife vs. Alston)
His second wife was also the granddaughter of the wife of the third Governor of NC. Her mother came from a later marriage, though, so she was not a descendant.
His first wife was a widow of a man that was the grandson of John Butler from the Butler's Rangers from the Revolutionary War.
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Rev. C.A. Foster, formerly rector of St. John's church, Kalamazoo, died in Sedalia, Mo., last week. He was 85 years old, and during his pastorate at Kalamazoo was one of the best known and most popular men in the city.
(True Northener - August 5, 1891)
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In the 1950s Charles Fey and Jack F. Hewson researched Rev. C.A. Foster as part of writing histories of Scottish Rite and Masonic organizations in the 1800s.
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Family Members
Spouses
Children
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Colley William Foster
1832 – unknown
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Henry Yarbrough Foster
1841–1846
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Hellen Foster DeVoe
1842 – unknown
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Alexander Melville Foster
1844–1913
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Reginald Conyngton Foster
1847 – unknown
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Herbert Gillespie Foster
1849–1851
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Julia Foster
1849–1860
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Edward M Foster
1854–1922
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Mary Elizabeth Foster Whipple
1858–1949
