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John William Harrison Foster
Bill was raised on a farm and became a farmer when he grew up. He was very religious and was baptized by Reverend E. L. Tinsley as a young man. He became the clerk of the Church of Christ at Rock Creek when it was organized on 15 Feb 1880. Minerva was also a member of the Church of Christ at Rock Creek.
In Sep 1881, Bill bought the William Ross farm near Rock Creek. He and Minerva
were married in Jan 1882 by John Thornton, and in March of 1882, he was building a new house for his family. Minerva raised and sold turkeys to make a little money. She saved the money she had earned from the sale of the turkeys and used it to buy frames and enlarge pictures of Bill when he was 17, Minerva when she was about 20 and Bill's mother Betsy Hobbs together with Anna Pierce Hobbs (known as Granny
Bigsby) when Betsy was 16 and Granny Bigsby was an elderly lady of 48. It is said that Bill didn't speak to Minerva for three days because he was so angry that she wasted her money on such foolishment.
In May 1892, Bill came down with typhoid fever. He was so bad at one point, that they called for his brother Isaac to come home from Shetlerville to see him. Somewhere near the turn of the century, Bill and Minerva lived on the Spencer Farm in Point Township, Posey County, Indiana where Henry Foster (Horace's dad) later lived.
Bill had a friend, Fred Baldwin who moved to Arkansas close to Little Rock. Bill told Fred to look around and buy him (Bill) a farm. Fred did buy a farm for Bill; so Bill and family, including their daughter Elsie and their grandson Loy Holder, son of Laura Foster Holder Mills, rented train box cars and moved down to Arkansas without seeing the place! They took all their belongings. When they got close to the new farm, Bill said "If I had the money, I'd hire them to take me back home!" Six months later, Henry (Horace's dad) got a note from his father (Bill) saying: "Come down here and go back
with your Mom and the kids on the train and I'll go with the stock." Henry did go down and helped them move back to his place for a few days after which they went back to the Spencer farm.
Around the same time, Fred Baldwin decided to return to Indiana, he built a covered wagon so they could drive their belongings back. The trip by wagon took a lot longer than the trip of the Foster family. When Fred arrived, he saw Bill and his team of gray mules coming down the road. He hadn't known that Bill was moving back and when he saw them, he said: "I believe I'm seeing the ghosts of Bill Foster and his mules.
About 1918, Minerva and Bill's son, Henry, had a "nervous breakdown". Minerva went over to Posey County to stay a while and help out. She was called to go home to nurse her daughter Elsie who had contracted the swine flu. Minerva was feeling poorly herself and her daughter Florence begged her not to go but she insisted she had to go because Elsie needed her. In spite of the terrible weather, her grandson, Horace, drove her to the river and she took the ferry to Illinois where someone would meet her and take her to Elsie. Minerva chewed tobacco and was in such a hurry that she lost her plug of tobacco in the yard of Henrys place where Horace found it when he returned home.
Minerva and her daughter Elsie died within a day of each other. They were among thousands who perished during the great swine flu epidemic in the middle west. Minerva died 16 Oct 1918 near New Haven, Gallatin County, Illinois, and was buried in Union Ridge Cemetery, Herald Prairie, White County, Illinois.
After Minerva's death, Bill advertised for a housekeeper. He hired one who came from St. Louis but only stayed a few weeks. After that, he lived alone on the farm for about two years.
In 1920, he married again to a widow named Harriett Peerman. Harriet's son Burl Peerman lived with them and did the farming. Harriett was a good wife to Bill. As Bill and Harriett grew older, bought a house on a hill in New Haven where they lived at the time of his death.
BIOGRAPHY:
1. Hardin County Illinois Newspaper Abstracts 1871-1889, by
Marion Lavender Reynolds, published 1992 by Evansville Bindery Inc., Evansville
Indiana, page 135 dated 8 Jul 1881 under "Rock Creek Items; page 145 dated 9
Sep 1881 under "Rock Creek"; and page 174 dated 10 Mar 1882 under :Rock Creek
Items".
2. Hardin County Illinois Newspaper Abstracts, 1890-1908, Volume II, compiled
by Marion Lavender Reynolds, printed and bound 1993 by Evansville Bindery
Inc., Evansville Indiana, page 37 dated 11 May 1892 under "Rock Creek".
3. Essay narrated by Horace B. Foster, and written by Helena Foster titled
"Memories" about the Arkansas trip.
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