Andrew Foster Biography, 1916

From The History of Kenosha County Wisconsin, Volume II
By Frank H. Lymna, published 1916


From an article on Volney L. Basset, pp540, 543, 544
Note: Genealogical information on the Foster family extracted from this piece.

Mr. Bassett was married on the 25th of December, 1855, to Miss Adeline Foster, who was a daughter of Andrew W. Foster and Prudence (Cornwall) Foster and was born in Oswego County, New York, on the 26th day of September, 1831. The Foster family is one of the oldest in Massachusetts �{what follows is a list of illustrious Fosters, none of whom I have been able to directly connect to our Foster family} William Foster, the grandfather of Mrs. Bassett, was born on the 22nd of November, 1783, and followed agricultural pursuits in Oswego County, New York. He fought in the War of 1812 and while at the front participated in the Battle of Sackett�s Harbor. He married Olive Bettis, who was born July 10, 1785, and who passed away on the 19th of February, 1877. They had a family of thirteen children, all of whom are deceased save Julia, who was born on the 12th of February, 1830, and is the widow of Joseph Hicks, her home being at Genoa Junction.

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew W. Foster were both born in New York and resided in Oswego County for many years. He was a carpenter by trade but on removing to Kenosha County, Wisconsin with his family in 1841, purchased a farm of sixty acres in that township about three miles northeast of Salem Station. His wife, who was born in 1808, passed away in 1895, when in her eighty-seventh year. In early life they belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church but later became identified with the Spiritualists. They were the parents of six children: Mrs. Adeline Bassett; Betsey A, the wife of Fred Plank of Petaluma, California; Andrew W, who died in Genoa Junction in 1900; Leander E, who died when nineteen years old; Orlando J, a resident of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin; and Julian A, of Salem Station. Mrs. Bassett was one of the first teachers of Kenosha County, opening her first school in her father�s bedroom with a few children in attendance.

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