Pioneers of The Past

McDonough County Genealogical Society

Foster’s Point sits up in the northeast corner of Eldorado Township, and it takes its name from the Arthur J. Foster family, who settled there back in 1831. One of Arthur’s boys, Samuel Joseph Foster—the fourth of five sons—holds the distinction of being the first white child born in the township.

S. J. grew up to be a farmer, as so many did, and married Mary MacMahan. Together they raised a big, bustling family of nine children on their 500 acre farms: Sarah V.

(who married William T. Vail), Alonzo D., James M., John Lemuel, Henry Lincoln, Eva H. (wife of Rev. Henry A.

Brown), Nellie Cornelia (who married William D. Barclay), Luella (wife of Edward Thomas Ausbury), and Samuel Roy. Mary passed on in 1910, and not long after, Samuel began turning the farms over to his sons. He’d done well for himself—his livestock was known all over the county—but like a lot of farmers, he never did take too kindly to sitting still. Retirement didn’t suit him much, and before long he was right back at it, raising stock and making his daily rounds to the farm, keeping an eye on things just the way he always had.

That went on until his health gave way in 1917. The next year, on November 27, 1918, S. J. Foster passed away at the age of 85.

He left behind quite a legacy. There was still a brother and sister living, along with twenty-one grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren. Three of his and Mary’s sons even served over in France during the Great War.

Today, a small cemetery at Foster’s Point marks the old home place in Eldorado Township. Many of the Foster family rest there still, a quiet reminder of those early days and the folks who helped settle that corner of the county.

Pioneers of the Past by Julie L. Terstriep, of the McDonough County Genealogical Society, facebook.com/ mcdcgs, www.mcdcgs.com/pioneers-of-the-past/