Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/538

510 was exposed to the pestilence, and died, after an illness of a few days, one month after his wife's death by the same malady. Brown gave him the degree of D. D. in 1792. He was the author of "The Divine Right of Immersion"; "Primitive Baptism Defined " ; and " A Dissertation on the Seventy Weeks of Daniel" (Newport, 1787).

FOSTER, Charles, governor of Ohio, b. near Tiffin, Ohio, 12 April, 1828. He was taken by his father in his fifth year to what is now Fostoria, Ohio, then a wilderness. After receiving his education at Norwalk academy he became a successful merchant. He was also interested in politics, but held no office till 1870, when he was chosen to congress as a Republican, and three times re-elected, though his district gave a Democratic majority each time on the general ticket. While he was a member of the committee of ways and means he was active in bringing to light the Sanborn contract frauds, and in the movement that resulted in repeal of the moiety laws. Early in 1874 he visited New Orleans as chairman of an investigating committee, and in his official report he severely critisized the methods of both parties in that state. He was elected governor of Ohio in 1879, and re-elected in 1881, holding office from January, 1880, till January, 1884. His administration was marked by efforts to regulate the sale of intoxicating liquors. The constitution of the state forbade the issuing of licenses, and Gov. Foster, in his messages to the legislature, recommended the submission to the people of amendments that should establish either prohibition, high license, or local option. Before this was done the “Pond bill,” imposing a tax on liquor-dealers and declaring that such tax was not a license, became a law in the spring of 1882. This was declared unconstitutional by the supreme court, but in 1883 the “Scott law,” of a similar character, was passed and sustained by the courts. In the election of this year two constitutional amendments were submitted to the people, as had been advised by Gov. Foster, but both were defeated. The whole agitation was marked by much excitement, especially in the canvass of 1883, In 1891 he became secretary of the treasury.

FOSTER, Charles James, journalist, b. in Bicester, England, 24 Nov., 1820 ; d. in Astoria, N. Y., 12 Sept., 1883. He came to the United States in 1847, resided in Boston for some years, then went to Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, and finally settled in New York city. He edited Wood- ruff's " Trotting Horse of America " in 1868, and again in 1875, also Bogardus's " Field, Cover, and Trap Shooting " in 1874. He wrote for " The Spirit of the Times," and in 1876 established the " New York Sportsman." He was considered to be the best-informed man in the country on the sub- ject of racing. He was the author of the sketch of J. H. Hackett in his " Notes upon Shakespeare's Plays and Actors" (New York, 1863).

FOSTER, Ellen Horton, temperance advocate, b. in Lowell, Mass., 3 Nov., 1840. She is a daugh- ter of Jotham Horton, was educated at Lima, N. Y., removed to Clinton, la., and in 1869 married E. C. Foster. She studied law, and was admitted to practice in 1874, and argued a case in the supreme court in 1875. Since 1875 she has been a success- ful leader in the temperance cause, and has lec- tured in almost every state and territory of the Union, and has also been counsel for the Woman's Christian temperance union of the United States. She is the author of various pamphlets and maga- zine articles on the subject of temperance.

FOSTER, Ephraim H., senator, b. about 1795 : d. in Nashville, Tenn., 4 Sept., 1854. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practised in Nashville. In 1829 he was speaker of the Tennes- see house of representatives. He was elected to the U. S. senate in 1837 as a Whig, but resigned in 1839 rather than obey instructions of the legis- lature. In 1843 he was re-elected, and in 1845 was the unsuccessful Whig candidate tor governor.

FOSTER, George Eulas, Canadian statesman, b. in Wakefield, Carleton co.. New Brunswick, 3 Sept., 1847. He was graduated at the University of New Brunswick in June, 1868, and in 1872-'3 studied at the universities of Edinburgh and Hei- delberg. He then taught school for several years, was principal of the Ladies' high-school, Frederic- ton, New Brunswick, and held the professorship of classics and history in the University of New Brunswick from 1872 till January, 1879, when he resigned. He has been a leader in temperance agi- tation both in Canada and the United States, and is president of the International temperance asso- ciation. He was elected to the Dominion parlia- ment in 1879, resigned, and was re-elected in 1882, and in December, 1885, became minister of marine and fisheries. He is a Liberal-Conservative, and favors a civil-service system conforming, as far as possible, to that of Great Britain. He is the au- thor of the ''Prohibitionist's Hand-Book" (1880), and has also published various speeches.

FOSTER, Hannah, author, b. in 1759; d. in Montreal, Canada, in 1840. She was a daughter of Grant Webster, of Boston, and married John Foster, a minister in Brighton, Mass., from 1784 till 1827. Mrs. Foster published "The Coquette, or the History of Eliza Wharton," founded on fact (new ed., with a preface by Mrs. Jane E. Locke, 1855); "The Boarding-School " (1796) ; and "Lessons of a Preceptress " (1798).

'''FOSTER. Henry''', English navigator, b. in Wood-Plumpton, Lancashire, in 1796; d. in Panama, 5 Feb., 1831. He entered the royal marines, but after the peace of 1815 devoted his time chiefly to astronomical studies. The gold medal of the Royal society of Great Britain was presented to him for his services in the arctic expedition of Capt. Ross, 1818-19. On 27 April, 1828, he set sail in the " Chanticleer " as commander of an expedition for the purpose of ascertaining the formation and outline of coasts and the direction of the principal ocean currents in both hemispheres. He touched at the islands of Madeira, Teneriffe, St. Anthony, and Siio Fernando de Noronha, and remained a month at Rio de Janeiro, and thence went to Santa Catalina, Montevideo, and Staten Land. Having rounded Cape Horn, he bore to the south, and, after taking notes of the position of several islands, he touched at Trinity island, which he christened and of which he took possession in the name of England. He afterward visited St. Helena, Ascension island, and the West Indies, made several excursions on the Isthmus of Panama, and then sailed for Colon, which he reached on 5 Feb. He was drowned while exploring Chagres river. He was buried on the shore, where the English government has erected in his honor a superb mausoleum. He was the first European that explored and obtained exact data on the formation of the islands south of Cape Horn. Surgeon Webster, authorized by the English government, published Foster's journal of the expedition, completed from his own notes after his death, " Relation of a Journey through the South Atlantic, made upon the Royal Corvette ' Chanticleer ' during the Years 1828-'3'l " (2 vols., 8vo, with maps and illustrations, London, 1834). This work was translated into French by A. de Lacaze (1849).