Biographies For Muscatine County, Iowa

Biographies
For
Muscatine County Iowa
1889

Source: Portrait and Biographical Album, Muscatine County, Iowa, 1889, page 210
SUEL FOSTER, born at Hillsboro, N. H., Aug. 26, 1811, was the eighth child of Aaron and Mehitable ( Nichols ),Foster. The family is of English origin, the great grandfather of our subject, accompanied by two brothers, emigrating to Massachusetts prior to the Revolutionary War, where a large colony of the descendants still reside. Several of them fought in the war for independence, and subsequently bore conspicuous parts in the councils of the State and Nation. Mrs. Foster, mother of our subject, was descended on the maternal side from the Bancroft family, the distinguished American historian and diplomatist. His father was a farmer, and his family of eight sons and two daughters were reared to habits of industry and morality. Like many New England fathers with large families, his means were limited, and the education of his children was confined mainly to the public schools, at that time greatly inferior to the present system, yet notwithstanding the difficulties alluded to three of his sons succeeding in obtaining educations qualifying them for professions, one being a clergyman of the Congregational Church, another a physician, and the third a West Point cadet.
At twenty years of age Mr. Foster left the parental roof, and bidding farewell to his home and family started out in life for himself. Removing to Rochester, N. Y., he there spent six years, after which he came to Muscatine County, Iowa, and continued to be one of its prominent and leading citizens until his death. With only an occasional absence he gave his entire attention to the business coming to him, and to the interests of various kinds of this commonwealth. His reputation as a kind-hearted, generous and benevolent, man extended throughout the State, and any community may well have been proud to acknowledge him as one of its citizens. He received the warmest welcomes in the richest homes, and the poor man was glad to take the hand of him who had so often given aid. He was uniformly on the right side of any subject involving a moral question, and was bold and outspoken in the advocacy and promotion of what he thought would be profitable to the people in general. It would not be difficult, perhaps, to point out flaws in his character and mistakes in his judgment, but his actions were always for the best, prompted by a spirit of benevolence and an earnest desire to benefit the people, which desire was often carried out at a sacrifice of time, money and strength. Of marked individuality, such as no other man ever possessed, his very oddly won him friends. He never thought of being a model to any one, and whether many or few followed him as an example, it made little difference. He cared as little for popularity as he did for the cut of his clothes, or the set of his collar. If he desired others to agree with him it was chiefly that some good result might be secured. The traffic in intoxicating drinks, that great urgency of Satan, which does more than anything else to degrade the manhood and womanhood of our noble country, was an object of special abhorrence to Mr. Foster. With his latest breath he condemned the greatest of all evils, speaking against the traffic as a cruel, wicked, and contemptible business. There can be no death more to be honored than that which finds a man protesting as his last act of life against the wrong and outrage done to his fellowmen. He was ever ready to aid in advancing the cause of education, morality and temperance, and his influence, which was felt throughout the community, was always exerted for the right. The ancestors of Mr. Foster were, in part at least, of the Society of Friends, and there were lines of their peculiar influence in him. None more truly deserved the profound admiration for his talents, his broad education and spiritual influence which he received on every hand.
Mr. Foster was the first in the State to move in the matter of a State Agricultural College, and for years urged the matter single-handed. In 1858 he was rejoiced to see the Iowa Legislature pass a bill establishing an agricultural college, this State being the second in the Union to provide an institution of this kind. For six years he was elected Director of the institution, five of which he was President of the board. He was a voluminous writer for horticulture and agricultural papers, besides devoting considerable time to weather statistics, making a regular record of the atmosphere and its phenomena. Mr. Foster was firm in his convictions, and very tenacious of his opinions. He was for years a member of the Congregational Church.
The Old Settlers' Society of Muscatine convened at the City Hall on the morning after his death, which occurred Jan.2, 1886. There was a large attendance of prominent members, and President Walton called the meeting to order, and G. W. Van Horn was elected Secretary. The President then stated that the meeting was called for the purpose of honoring the oldest resident, at the time of his death, of the city and county, a man who was equally distinguished for the virtues and honors of his citizenship.
Joseph Bredman then addressed the assemblage as follows: "It were perhaps better to remain silent in the presence of the dead, but we have often heard Mr. Foster in eulogy of old settlers, and there is certainly cause for paying similar honors to him. He was a rare man, eminently fitted for pioneer life in his readiness and ability and fertile resources, and to make a city, county of State better for his presence. He took great interest in every cause affecting the welfare of his town, his State, his Nation. His name is a household word in all the West."
In speaking of our subject, Hon. D. C. Richman said, "I have known Mr. Foster since 1844, and have always respected him. The striking characteristic of his life was his unselfishness. Foremost and active in every public and progressive movement, it is to be remembered that he never had an ax to grind, never a personal or selfish aim in view, but there was always simply a grand devotion to whatever promoted the private and public welfare of his fellowmen."
" I have been acquainted with Mr. Foster," said Hon. D. C. Cloud, in this meeting, "since 1839, and he possessed a character peculiarly and strongly marked. Often there were times when one might differ from his views and conduct, but there was always the highest confidence placed in his honesty and public spiritedness. Whatever he did was from the standpoint of conscience."
Many others spoke of Mr. Foster in terms of high praise, among whom were the Hon. William F. Brannan, Hon. J. Scott Richman, Peter Jackson, John Mahin and R. B. Huff. A committee of three was appointed to draft resolutions of respect, consisting of J. Scott Richman, J.G.H.Little and G. W. Van Horn, who reported as follows:
" Again and again have the old settlers of Muscatine been called upon during the present winter to express their regrets at the decease of one ot their number, and their own and public sense of loss occasioned by the inroads of death. Suel Foster, one among the earliest settlers, is no more. His familiar form will no more be seen in our public gatherings, on our streets, or at his hospitable fireside. He was old in years, but young in his activities and aspirations. He was unselfish, and spent much of his time and energy in promoting the public interest, not only of his own county but of the State, and especially were his labors concpicuous in the agricultural and horticultural and educational interests of his State. His presence, his activity, his energy, will be missed in every good work. Who will fill the void occasioned by his absence? Time alone can answer the question. Feeling his death is not only a private but a public calamity as well, we must not , while recording his public, omit to mention his private virtues. He was a religious man. He was a punctual man. He was a faithful man. He was an honest man. He obeyed his highest convictions in all things. He was a model man in his domestic relations, and she his wife, who survives him, will alone be capable of estimating her own loss. We extend to her the assurance of our kindest sympathies."
On the 8th of October, 1847, Mr. Foster was united in marriage with Sarah J., daughter of Robert Collins Hastings, of St. Lawrence Co, N. Y., and a sister of Hon. S.C. Hastings, who, early in 1849, soon after the discovery of gold in California, made an overland trip to the Pacific Coast. During the winter following, at his request, our subject accompanied his wife and three children of Mr. Hastings to the city of San Francisco, they going by way of the Isthmus, and arriving in that city in April 1850, after an arduous journey of three months. Mr. Foster spent the summer of that year as clerk in the Sacramento post-office, and the following autumn was appointed to take the census of the east half of Butte County, Cal., embracing all the mountainous country of Feather River, at the top of the Sierra Mountains. He numbered some 2,500 men engaged in digging for gold, all operating upon the surface and in the beds of streams, no blasting of quartz rock having then been done. In the winter of 1850-51 he returned home. His journey to and from the Pacific Slope, together with the seven months stay in California, was one of the most interesting periods of his life. The sea voyage from New Orleans to Chagres on the steamer "Georgia," commanded by Commodore D.D.Porter; the horseback ride across the Isthmus with the women and children, the four weeks' stay at Panama awaiting the steamer to come around the Horn; and his experience with the miners on Feather River, was a thrilling yet instructive period in his life.
Two children were born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Foster: Charles, who died in infancy, and Adelle, who died in her seventeenth year, in December, 1870. She was a most amiable and accomplished young lady, and the following lines written by D. C. Richman, are a suitable tribute to her worth and memory:
     
     Tenderly, lovingly, lay her away
          Beneath the cold earth with the dead;
     Trustfully, prayerfully, leave there the clay
          From which the sweet spirit has fled.

     Ye loved her, and fondly ye cherished the gift,
          The dearest that heaven bestows,
     To gladden and cheer the brief hours of life,
          Whate'er be its griefs and its woes.

     Too frail was the bud to blossom and flower
          In earth's uncongenial clime;
     But triumphant in Heaven t' will sweetly expand
          And bloom with a splendor sublime.

     Removed from the evils and cares of the world,
          Unfettered by weakness or pain,
     The soul with its Savior, Redeemer and Guide,
          Will never know sorrow again.

     Then tenderly, tearfully, lay her away
          In quiet, beneath the cold sod;
     Hopefully, prayerfully, leave there the clay, 
          And trust the sweet spirit with God.
Back to 1889 History of Muscatine Co. Index Page

Back to the Muscatine Co. IAGenWeb Index Page