Sidney A. Foster

Sidney A. Foster is the secretary of the Royal Union Mutual Insurance Company of Des Moines but for a considerable period was connected with Mitchell and Worth counties, in which he still retains a close and friendly interest. He was born in Wirt township, Allegany. county, New York, May 17, 1849, a son of Austin B. and Sarah W, (Stout) Foster, both of whom were of English descent, the ancestors of the former settling in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1636, while the ancestors of the latter came in 1638.

Sidney A. Foster attended the country schools until he reached the age of ten years, then worked on a farm and came west in 1865 to Friendship, Wisconsin, and there, apprenticed himself to a printer and continued in the printing .and publishing business for eighteen, years, or from 1866 until 1884. He came to Iowa in 1874, in the employ of the Lakeside Publishing Company of Chicago. He wrote the histories of Dubuque, Fayette, Howard and Mitchell, and Floyd counties for the Andreas Atlas, published in 1875. He was editor and publisher of the Mitchell County News at Osage until 1878 and then purchased the Worth County Eagle at Northwood, Worth county, continuing its publication until 1884. He took an active interest in public affairs in Worth county and was behind many of its progressive movements. On the 21st of September, 1884, he began the organization of the Royal Union Mutual Life Insurance Company at Marshalltown, Iowa, paying a rental of eight dollars per month for his first office and fourteen dollars and a half for the second-hand furniture with which it was equipped. He became the secretary of the company, which on the 21st of September, 1886, removed its headquarters to Des Moines, Iowa. He still continued as secretary and superintendent of agents and with the passing years the volume of business grew rapidly and along substantial lines. Later he was elected to the first vice presidency in addition to the other, official positions which he held with the company. He still remains one of its directors and its secretary, and the development and upbuilding of the business are largely attributable to his well defined plan and purposes and his untiring efforts.

On the 13th of June, 1877, Mr. Foster was married to Miss Clara P. Hill, a daughter of John and Dianna Hill, who became residents of Wisconsin in 1856, the father there carrying on merchandising with success. To Mr. and Mrs. Foster have been born three children; Don Hill, who was born in Northwood and who married Miss Geraldine Jones, of Des Moines; Gladys Hill, the wife of J. Stuart Davis, of Des Moines; and Willard Hill, who married Miss Marguerite Borgmeyer, of Brooklyn, New York.

Mr. Foster holds membership in the Plymouth Congregational church at Des Moines, but is not a, strong denominationalist. He was made a Master Mason in l870 and belongs to Capital City Lodge,. F..& A. M.; to Corinthian Chapter, R, A. M.; to Temple Commandery, K, T.; and to Za-Ga-Zig Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Des Moines, being a charter member of the last named. In politics he is a republican of the "stand pat" type and he was chief clerk of .the house of representatives of .the twentieth general assembly of Iowa in 1884. He was elected for two terms of six years each as park commissioner of Des Moines and was the original advocate for improvement of the river front. He won the fight, and work has been well begun and is still being continued. He held the position of park commissioner until the Des Moines commission form of government, was adopted and the commissioner law thereby repealed. He was offered the nomination for congress in 1885 at the Cedar Rapids convention of the republican party but declined to become a candidate. His military record covers service as a sergeant and later a lieutenant of the Osage Company in 1877, a company which drilled in the Woods & Hastings hall. He is identified with numerous clubs of Des Moines and has held the position of president, director or other official place, He is popular, prominent and widely known not only as one of the representative business men of the state but as one who has done not a little in molding public thought and action along the lines of progress and improvement.

SOURCE: HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, 1918, VOL. II; Pages 327 & 328

Transcription by Gordon Felland, 10/5/2006