- JOHN FOSTER, head of the John FOSTER Company, of Beloit,
Wis., manufacturer of the
- celebrated Foster shoes, was born and passed his early life
on a farm in Burlington township, Kane county, Illinois, and
is a son of Samuel and Malinda (PETERS) FOSTER, the former a
native of Halifax, Yorkshire, England, and the latter of Darien,
N.Y. The parents came West in 1842 and in 1843 settled on a tract
of land in Kane county, Illinois, which the father purchased
from the United States government and where the family home was
for many years. In 1864 the father retired from active work and
later he moved to Beloit, Wis., where he died in 1884 and where
his wife died in 1874.
- Our subject was reared on his father's farm and received
a good English education, attending the
- district schools and Elgin Academy and one year at private
school. Mr. FOSTER first engaged in the manufacture of shoes
in 1867 at St. Charles, Ill., as a member of the firm of LIBBY
& FOSTER, which moved its business to Beloit, Wis., in 1870.
The business, at first conducted on a moderate scale, was located
in the building which is now known as the Grand Hotel block,
but changed its location from time to time to suit the demands
of its development and growth. The policy of the company has
always been to excel in everything pertaining to its finished
products. To this end its factory and plant are equipped with
the most approved machinery and appliances; only material of
the highest grade enters into the products manufactured, and
only skilled workmen of the highest type and character are employed.
As a result of this wise and far-sighted policy the John FOSTER
Shoe Company has attained a wide and well-merited reputation
both as the originator of novel and practical ideas in designs
and styles of ladies' fine shoes, its exclusive specialty, and
also as the producer of the very best products in its line, comprising
high shoes, oxfords, low cuts, pumps, slipper - in short, everything
pertaining to ladies' fine footwear, in every variety of leather,
canvas, silk, etc. Mr. FOSTER has made his business his life
study and the success that has come to him is a gratifying and
just reward for his conscientious and painstaking work. As a
man Mr. FOSTER is modest, quiet and unassuming, seldom talking
of himself or his achievements, satisfied to let his work, to
which he devotes his energies and talents, speak for itself.
He is a man who loves his home and delights in social enjoyments.
He is a member of the Order of Elks, a Republican in politics,
and in religious faith a Christian Scientist.
- On September 3, 1873, Mr. FOSTER married Miss Marcia E. DEARBORN,
of Beloit, Wis., a
- daughter of Rice and Luscena (CHENEY) DEARBORN, the former
a native of Saco, Maine, and the latter of Lunenburg, Vt. They
settled in Beloit in 1838 and were married there, and there spent
their lives - the father's death occurring in 1866 and that of
the mother in 1901. Six children were born to them, of whom the
eldest son, Horace Dearborn was a prominent lawyer in Beloit,
where he died in 1881.
- Mr. and Mrs. FOSTER have three adopted children, and their
beautiful home at 638 Broad street,
- over which Mrs. FOSTER presides with true womanly grace,
is a center of social and domestic refinement and happiness.
-
- Taken from "Rock County, Wisconsin, Vol. II"
by William Fiske Brown, (c)1908, pp. 807-808.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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