Foster, Lemuel

Born: 1799-11-24 Connecticut

Died: 1872-04-01 Cook County, Illinois

Flourished: 1833-1838 Bloomington, Illinois

Foster became a member of the Presbyterian Church at fourteen while living in Connecticut. He studied theology at Yale University and was then licensed as a Presbyterian minister. In 1832, Foster and his wife Lydia moved to Illinois and in 1833, he was ordained in Sangamon County. Beginning in 1833, Foster and his wife moved to various locations in Illinois, where he ministered, and they together taught school. While living in Bloomington, Foster twice retained the law firm of Stuart & Lincoln to recover debts owed to him. In 1851, Foster became a Congregationalist minister, in which capacity he worked in churches in northern Illinois, where he lived for the remainder of his life. Foster was an outspoken Abolitionist.

Foster v. Diamond, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=139205; Augustus T. Norton, History of the Presbyterian Church, in the State of Illinois (St. Louis: W. S. Bryan, 1879), 1:193-94; U.S. Census Office, Sixth Census of the United States (1840), Bond County, IL, 135; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Madison County, IL, 394; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Iroquois County, IL, 131.