Walter
FOSTER is an intelligent and respected agriculturist of Roberts
township, Marshall county, living on section 25, and it was in
this township that his birth occurred, October 31, 1860. His
father was Joshua FOSTER, who was born in Ohio near New London
on the 21st of March, 1821. He came to Marshall county in 1841,
then a young man of twenty years, and cast in his lot with the
early settlers of this portion of the state. He drove cattle
through with his father in 1835. In the early days of his
residence here he shared in the hardships and privations of
pioneer life and aided in reclaiming the district for the
purposes of civilization. As the years went by success crowned
his labors and he was at one time the owner of eight hundred
acres of valuable land, which he shared with his children. His
political views were in accord with the principles of Jacksonian
democracy. He passed away May 3, 1895, and thus was ended a
useful and honorable life, which covered a period of
seventy-four years. The members of his family were: Benjamin,
who was born in 1844 and is now a retired farmer living in Evans
township, Marshall county; Thomas Edwin, who was born in 1846
and died in 1881; John Lewis, who follows farming in Iowa;
Albert, who is living retired in Illinois; George E., a retired
farmer of Evans township; James, a retired farmer of Roberts
township; Walter, of this review; and Wilbur, who is living
retired in Tazewell county, Illinois.
Reared under the parental roof in the county of his nativity, Walter FOSTER attended the Fairview district school and began work for himself at the age of twenty-one years, previous to which time he had received ample training in the work of the farm through the assistance which he had rendered his father in the care and cultivation of the fields upon the old home place. He now owns the old homestead, which comprises one hundred and seventy-four acres of land that is very rich and productive and responds readily to the care and labor bestowed upon the fields by yielding golden harvests.
On the 5th of March, 1891, Mr. FOSTER was united in marriage to Miss Sylvia TRAVER and unto them have been born six children: Emory, Holland, Nellie, Edith, Jessie and May, all yet at home. Mr. FOSTER votes the prohibition ticket and attends the Christian church, and these associations are indicative of the character of the man and the high principles which govern his life and are manifest in his conduct.
Extracted July 2011 by Norma Hass from Past and Present of Marshall and Putnam Counties Illinois, 1907.
| Bureau | Putnam | |
| Stark |
 |
La Salle |
| Peoria | Woodford |
