SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND SERVICES OF THEODORE FOSTER. SENATOR IN CONGRESS FROM RHODE ISLAND, 1790-1803. Theodore Foster was born in Brookfield, Mass., April 29, 1752. He was the eldest of a family of six children; and with the exception of a sister who died before his birth, he was the first born of the family. His father, Judge Jedediah Foster of the Superior Court of Judicature of Massachusetts, was a descendant, in the fifth generation, from Reginald Foster, who (1) In the portion since incorporated as West Brookfield. (2) See Whitmore's "Massachusetts civil list," p. 74. 2 3 (3) See Dr. E. J. Forster's genealogy, the "Descendants of Reginald Foster." (Boston, 1876). Also printed in the New-England Historical and Genealogical Register, XXX. 83-102. Among Reginald Foster's descendants were Rufus Choate, the distinguished lawyer, and George Peabody, the eminent London merchant. Among other descendants of Reginald Foster in public life may be mentioned the following, who, like Mr. Choate and Senator Theodore Foster, have served in the national congress: Hon. Abiel Foster, one of the original members of the House, from New Hampshire, serving from 1789 to 1791, and from 1795 to 1803; Hon. Dwight Foster, (brother to Theodore), member of the House, from Massachusetts, 1793 to 1799, and of the Senate, 1800 to 1803; and Hon. William D. Williamson, member of the House, from Maine, 1821 to 1823. Hon. Lafayette S. Foster, member of the Senate, from Connecticut, 1855 to 1867, believed himself to be a descendant of Reginald, but did not succeed in establishing the connection. The number of Reginald Foster's descendants who have become disdinguished as jurists is equally striking. Among them are included Senator Dwight Foster, above mentioned, (chief-justice of the Worcester County, Mass., Court of Common Pleas); his father, Judge Jedediah Foster, (of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature), his grandson, the late Judge Dwight Foster, of Boston, of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court); also Judge Abiel Foster, above mentioned, (chief-justice of the Hillsborough County, N. H., Court of Common settled at Ipswich in Essex County, in 1638. Through his mother, Dorothy Dwight,' he traced a descent from a most distinguished ancestry. Among the ancestors on this side are John Dwight, an early settler of Dedham; William Pynchon,' whose name stands next to Winthrop as one of the incorporators, in the charter of 1629,3 and who signed the agree ment at Cambridge, and came in the fleet with Winthrop." Also no less than six clergymen, two of whom filled suc 6 Pleas); Judge Oliver Peabody, (of the Rockingham County, N. H., His descendants have also been represented on college faculties, as follows: Professor Andrew P. Peabody, (Harvard College); Professor Henry W. Haynes, (University of Vermont); and President Samuel L. Caldwell, (Vassar College). (1) See B. W. Dwight's "History of the descendants of John Dwight, of Dedham, Mass.," (1874), II. 633-34. (2) See the "Memoir of William Pynchon," by Charles Stearns, in the NewEngland Historical and Genealogical Register, XIII. 289-97, with portrait. The original portrait, from which this engraving is copied, hangs on the walls of the Essex Institute, at Salem, Mass. As is well known, he was the founder of Springfield, Mass., where his descendants of that name are still found. Senator Foster, as appears from a memorandum of his, ("Foster Papers," IX. 239), spent some portion of his youth, (probably while fitting for college), in the household of his kinsman. Edward Pynchon, at Springfield. A curious manuscript catechism of the original settler, William Pynchon, was owned by Senator Foster and is preserved in the Foster Papers, XII. 2. It covers about fifty pages of closely written manuscript, in Mr. Pynchon's own hand. It is beautifully executed, a part of the writing being in " printed letters," instead of script. It would be interesting to know whether this is referred to in a letter signed by Governor Endicott and others, October 20, 1652, (Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. 3d series, I. 35-37). There is a life of him, apparently in Senator Foster's handwriting. (Foster Papers, VI. 10, 11). Mr. Foster also left quite full genealogical memoranda of the Pynchon family, also of the Dwight and Foster families. (Foster Papers, VIII. 1, 2, 6). (3) Massachusetts Bay Colony Records, I. 6. (4) Printed in Young's "Chronicles of the first planters of the colony of Massachusetts Bay," p. 281-82. (5) Winthrop's Journal, I. 11. (6) Rev. Nathaniel Rogers, Ipswich, Mass.; Rev. William Hubbard, Ipswich, Mass.; Rev. Henry Flint, Braintree, Mass.; Rev. Edward Taylor, West cessively the position of minister of Ipswich, Rev. Nathaniel Rogers,' and Rev. William Hubbard. The latter is the author of the "General history of New-England," which, before the valuable manuscripts of Gov. Bradford and Gov. Winthrop were put in type, was very generally used for reference.* Of Judge Foster's four sons," two received a college education. He himself was a graduate from Harvard College in the class of 1744, but the two boys were sent to Rhode Island College, then at Warren, R. I., (now Brown University). Theodore entered in September, 1767, being graduated in the class of 1770, the second class sent out by the college. field; and Rev. Henry Whitfield, Guilford, Conn.; and James Fitch, Saybrook, Conn. Mr. Taylor was the grandfather of President Stiles, of Yale College, who was thus an own cousin to Senator Foster's maternal grandmother. Another president of Yale College, President Timothy Dwight, was second cousin to Senator Foster's mother. (1) See Kimball's "Sketch of the ecclesiastical history of Ipswich," (1823), p. 17-19. (2) Sibley's "Harvard graduates," I. 54-62. (3) This history forms volumes V and VI of the 2d series of the "Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society." (4) Another of his ancestors was Charles Hoare, Jr., Sheriff of Gloucester, England, among whose descendants are included President Leonard Hoar, of Harvard College, Hon. George F. Hoar, U. S. Senator from Massachusetts, E. Rockwood Hoar, formerly U. S. Attorney-general, William M. Evarts, formerly Secretary of State, Josiah Quincy; and John Quincy Adams. (Sibley's "Harvard graduates,” I. 587). (5) Theodore, b. 1752; Theophilus, b. 1754; Dwight, b 1757; Peregrine, b. 1759. (6) Harvard Quinquennial Catalogue, 1880, p. 19. Among his classmates were Thomas Cushing, of the First Continental Congress, and Rev. Dr. Edward Bass, the first bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the diocese of Massachusetts. (7) Rhode Island College," incorporated by the General Assembly, 1764; in operation at Warren, R. I., 1765-70; removed to Providence, May, 1770; name changed to "Brown University," 1804. It is the 7th college founded in America. (8) Guild's "History of Brown University," p. 14. See also p. 348, where the parts assigned at this commencement, Sept. 5, 1770, are printed. Mr. Foster delivered "An intermediate oration on catholicism," was the Dwight, entering in 1770, was graduated in the class of 1774.1 Both of the young men remained in Providence, and were engaged in the study of the law. In 1773, Theodore, on receiving his master's degree, delivered an oration on the "future greatness of the American colonies,"-certainly a somewhat suggestive subject for the last year but one before the events of Lexington and Concord. Dwight, on being graduated in 1774, immediately began the study of the law in his brother's office.3 During the years 1774 to 1779, both were well known as Rhode Island public men, and both were apparently destined to become permanently attached to this state. But the death of their father in 1779' changed the course of events. Dwight, who in 1778, had been admitted to the Providence County bar, at once returned to Brookfield," where he took his father's place in public life, and thenceforward until his own death in 1823 was identified with the interests of Massachusetts." 5 Theodore remained in Providence. In 1773 he was respondent in "a syllogistic disputation in Latin," (see the Latin programme still preserved), and took part in "a forensic dispute." (1) Guild's "History of Brown University," p. 352. (2) The full title is somewhat cumbrous;-"The discovery, progressive settlement, present state, and future greatness of the American colonies." (Guild's "Brown University," p. 349). The account is quoted from Dr. Solomon Drowne, (class of 1773), and it may be that the above is Dr. Drowne's description of the oration, rather than its title. (3) Dwight's "Descendants of John Dwight," II. 653. (4)He died Oct. 7, 1779, while a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional convention of 1779-80, The sermon preached at his funeral, Oct. 19, 1779, by Rev. Nathan Fiske, was printed at Providence, by Bennett Wheeler, in the same year; and contains interesting biographical material at the end. (5) Dwight's "Descendants of John Dwight," II. 653. (6) Ibid., II. 653. (7) A nephew of Isaiah Thomas, the distinguished printer of Worcester, enumerates as "among the most distinguished" members of the Worcester bar, in the years from 1788 to 1796, Levi Lincoln, Dwight Foster, Solomon Strong, Edward Bangs, and Pliny Merrick. In another connection he mentions Dwight Foster, as among the three or four writers whose "powerful pens" enabled Isaiah Thomas to make his paper (the |
