Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/175

 FOSTER

FOSTER

ernor of Ohio, defeating Gen. Thomas Ewing, the Democratic and Ureenbaclc candidate, and was re-elected in 18S1. His administration of state affairs was the subject of considerable criticism, especially his action in regard to the liquor traffic then agitating the state, and he lost considerable political support, but the measures he proposed became the fixed policy of the state. In 1889 President Harrison made him chairman of a commission to negotiate a treaty "with the Sioux Indians in which he was successful. In January, 1890, he was defeated before the state legislature for U.S. senator, and in the same year was de- feated by the Democrats in the election for repre- sentative to the 52d congress. On Feb. 21, 1891, President Harrison selected him as secretary of the U.S. treasury to succeed Secretary Windom, deceased. His adjustment of the 44 per cent loan by obtaining a continuance of §25,000,000, one-half of the outstanding bonds, at 2 per cent, ■was ajiplauded, but liis method of reporting the balance in the treasury provoked the criticism of financiers and of the next administration, al- though the method remained unchanged. At the close of President Harrison's administration he returned to Fostoria, where he resumed his mer- cantile and banking business. He had previously become largely interested in outside coiiiorations for which lie had endorsed, and this brought upon him financial distress and he made a gen- eral assignment on May 26, 1893. He w-as the leading spirit in adopting the detached building or cottage plan for the construction of hospitals for the insane, and in the adoption of what is known as non-restraint treatment. For fifteen years he was president of the board of trustees of the State hospital for the insane at Toledo, during which time a hospital was constructed on the cottage plan and the non-restraint treatment practised. This hospital came to be regarded as the finest and best conducted institution of its kind in the world.

FOSTER, Dwight, senator, was born in Brookfield, Mass., Dec. 7, 1757; son of Jedediah and Dorothy (Dwight) Foster. His fatlier (born Oct. 10, 1726, died Oct. 17, 1779) was graduated at Harvard in 17-14; was a delegate to the pro- vincial congress in 1774, a member of the execu- tive council in 177.5, a judge of the sujierior court in 1776, and a member of the state consti- tutional convention in 1799. The son was grad- uated from Brown in 1774; w-as admitted to the bar in 1778 and practised in Providence, E.I. He returned to his native place in 1779 and was chosen to succeed his father as a member of the convention that framed the constitution of Massachusetts. He was justice of the peace for "Worcester county in 1781, and special justice of the court of common pleas in 1792. In the latter

year he was appointed high sheriff of Worcester county. He was repeatedly elected to the state legislature, and was a i-epresentative in the 3d, 4th and 5th congresses, 1793-99. In 1799 he was a delegate to the state constitutional convention, and in the same year was elected a U.S. senator to succeed Samuel Dexter, resigned, serving until 1803, when he resigned his seat. He was chief justice of the comity coui-t of common pleas, 1801-11, and in 1818 he w-as a member of Governor Brooks's council. He received the hon- orary degree of A.M. from Harvard in 1784. He died in Bnx.kfield, Mass., April 29, 1823.

FOSTER, Ephraim H., senator, was born in Nelson county, Ky., Sept. 17, 1794; graduated at Cumberland college, 1813; private secretary to Gen. Andrew Jackson, 1813-15; admitted to the bar in 1817; representative in state legislature, 1829; candidate for U.S. senator, 1832; U.S. sen- ator, as successor to Felix Grundy, 1838-39; re- elected for a full term, 1839; re.signed, Jan. 13, 1840; U.S. senator again, 1843-45 to fill the term of Felix Grundy, deceased, and Whig candidate for governor in 1845. He died in Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 14, 1845.

FOSTER, Frank Hugh, educator, was born in Springfield, Mass., June 18, 1851; sou of William and Mary Flagg (Miller) Foster; and grandson of Lewis Foster and of William Miller. He was grad- uated from Harvard in 1873 and from Andover theological seminary in 1877. He was assistant professor of mathematics at the U.S. naval acad- emy, Annapolis, Md., 1873-74; held a pastorate at Nortli Reading, ilass., 1877-79; was professor of philosophy and Gei'man at Middlebury college, 1882-84; professor of church history at Oberlin theological seminary, 1884-93, and in the latter year became professor of biblical and systematic theology in Pacific theological seminary, Oak- land, Cal. He i-eceived the degree of Ph. D. from Leipzig in 1882, and that of D.D. from the Chicago theological seminary in 1894. He as- sisted in the editing of The Bibliotheca Sacra; wrote editorially and largely in the Concise Dic- tionary of Iteliijious Knoicle.dije. (1891); and pub- , lished The Seminary Method (1889J; a translation of Grotius on the Satisfaction of Chnst (1889); and The Ftindaniental Ideas of the Homan Catholic Church (1898); besides a large number of tran- sient tlieological articles.

FOSTER, Qeorge Burman, educator, was born in Alderson, Va., April 2, 1858; son of Oliver H. and Elouise (Bobbitt) Foster; and grandson of John Foster. He was graduated from Shelton college. West Vii-ginia, in 1879; from the West Virginia university in 1883; from the Rochester theological seminary in 1887, and was a student in the universities of Gottingen and Berlin, 1891-92. He was pastor of the first