User Home Pages Descendants of Norris & Martha Wall Foster

Descendants of Norris & Martha Wall Foster

Updated February 18, 2004
The saga begins in Daviess County, KY in 1825 with the birth of our patriarch, Norris Foster. This research journey has been 20 years in the making. Today, we have identified and located every descendant of Norris(1825-1894) and Martha Wall Foster's (1833-1914) son, Napoleon Reed Foster (1859-1927). We live in Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Virginia, California, and Oregon.
This labor of love has its brick walls as nearly everyone's genealogy research does. Strong evidence indicates the parents of our patriarch are James Foster (b PA about 1797 - d after 1850 KY Census) and Mary "Polly" Kelly Foster (b SC about 1801 - d after 1850 KY Census). Here is our dilema... finding enough proof to connect the next generation of ancestors. If you have the key or even a remarkable clue, you are invited to help us identify the parents of our patriarch.
Norris (1825 - 1894)appears on the census in Daviess Co., KY 1850; McLean Co., KY 1860 & 1870; Comanche Co., TX 1880; and lived in Jones Co., TX from 1881 until his death in 1894. On Jan. 1, 1900, the Fosters moved to Abilene, Taylor Co., TX.
Norris had at least 2 brothers, Charles Thompson (1829 KY - 1910 CA), and Dr. James T (Tom) Foster (1840 KY - 1895 TX). Dr. J.T. Foster lived around Stephenville, Erath Co., TX between 1861 and 1895 when he and his wife died within a week of each other. However, on the 1880 Comanche Co., TX census, Dr. Tom and his wife Emmy Toliver Foster, lived next door to the Norris Foster family.
Charles T. Foster is listed as a saddler on the 1850 Daviess Co., KY census. In 1852 he migrated to the gold fields of El Dorado County, CA. There he married, raised a family, and actively served his community. He and his wife Charlotte Cedar Foster died within days of each other in 1910. The Foster - Cedar families are buried in Placerville, CA.
G. M. Foster

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Family Photos

  • 1913 - Four Generations of Fosters, Abilene, TX (16 KB)
    Martha Wall Foster, widow of our patriarch Norris, hugs her oldest gr-grandson Pete Foster. Her son, Napoleon Reed "Nap" Foster, holds Pete's young brother Hohen. Standing l-r: Nap's wife, Annie Brown Foster and their daughter Laura Matt, and sons Charles Arthur, Tom Nap, and William Norris, and his wife Mable Brooks Foster. The young boys are the children of Norris and Mable Foster. Photo made late in 1913 in Abilene, Taylor County, TX.